Rene, I agree that there are significant differences, and I explain possible reasons above. The most neutral way I can put it is that the VM is not directly a part of the same tradition, so we shouldn't expect the same treatment of the contents. For example, the VM gives a decent depiction of both women blending into the festival goers, while this is omitted in the other MS. On the other hand, there isn't a single sword, and no chopping off limbs. As if the VM author went to great lengths to avoid depictions of extreme violence - for whatever reason.
Comparing these stories can give an insight into the way the VM imagery is constructed.
Even if we want to see the VM as a product of a medieval creative mind, we still have to admit that it very often deviates from the tradition - in the zodiac, in the botanical imagery - then why should it match the tradition here? I think this comparison is wonderful, since it exposes the way the VM handles imagery.
If we keep using the tradition as a standard to which the VM must obey, we will never be able to conclude anything, becaust the VM deviates from the tradition. There is overlap, of course, but in many cases it's in its own box. If it weren't, we would have solved it already.
I attach a slightly updated image, correcting the mismatch from the previous one.
About the world map: that is not an illustration of the Metamorphoses, but some elements of its design might be inspired by the world described by Ovid. For example, he discerns five regions of the earth and five regions of heaven. If you let the middle ones overlap, you get nine zones.
And in another passage, he writes:
Quote:There is a place at the centre of the World, between the zones of earth, sea, and sky, at the boundary of the three worlds. From here, whatever exists is seen, however far away, and every voice reaches listening ears. Rumor lives there, choosing a house for herself on a high mountain summit, adding innumerable entrances, a thousand openings, and no doors to bar the threshold. It is open night and day: and is all of sounding bronze.
A place at the centre of the earth, with numerous openings in bronze, from where everything is seen and heard. I know of a place in the middle of the world with numerous metallic looking openings, pointing all around... it's You are not allowed to view links.
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And another passage:
Quote:Then he ordered the seas to spread and rise in waves in the flowing winds and pour around the coasts of the encircled land. He added springs and standing pools and lakes, and contained in shelving banks the widely separated rivers
I'm not even gonna link to where you can find shelving banks on the map.
In isolation, none of this is impressive, but it does add up. Quire 13, including the large foldout, appears to me as a very peculiar interpretation of the Metamorphoses. There are some narrative threads, but they are scattered and in some places a whole has been created using information from various chapters.
I think another promising lead is the chapters about the flood, where Ovid tells a story similar to the Biblical flood. I'm currently writing out my analysis of another chapter, so I'll just put this one here already in case anyone wants to have a look. It's very symbolical though, so you can't be too uptight about the details. The VM author took language that was allegorical already, and made it even worse.
The flood chapter starts here: You are not allowed to view links.
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And this text corresponds to the utterly absurd You are not allowed to view links.
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It's pretty easy once you get the text, and know that the attributes of the characters are transposed onto their "vehicles" AND that all or most characters have been made female. For example:
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Login to view., ..His beard is heavy with rain, water streams from his grey hair, mists wreathe his forehead.... You are not allowed to view links.
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Und so weiter...
Marco - In theory, you are completely right.
What I said about the text is nothing more than an idea - I am much more certain about the imagery.
Putting the text to the test sounds easy, but there are a number of complicating factors:
- We don't know into which language it's translated.
- The labels probably do not stand for characters' names, otherwise it would be easy. I don't know what they do stand for - maybe which part of the text the drawing is about? I don't know.
- We don't know to what extent the script allows for variation in spelling.
- We don't know to what extent grammar changes names, and how this reflects in the script.
- We don't know if the text is abbreviated or adapted