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Voynich's anatomy
- Voynich's anatomy
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RE: Voynich's anatomy
Linda > 01-08-2026, 04:48 PM
(01-08-2026, 12:04 PM)ololololo Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I don't deny the lack of connection to Archimedes' screw and the coincidence. I'm not really sure if the author was trying to disguise the images of internal organs. Rather, he was making them implicit to us but clear to someone who knows what they're referring to.
In any case, I didn't notice the similarity to the Archimedes screw...
Ah ok I must have misunderstood you, I thought you had said the vms drawing was stylized as an Archemedean screw.
I sit on the fence in terms of the body parts idea. It would be interesting for it to be the case, but I see something else in it, not because it looks like something else, but because I can make sense of it in terms of the iconography and what it means to me within the quire. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
RenegadeHealer > 01-08-2026, 04:49 PM
@JoJo_Jost, I remember first learning about the brain in Michelangelo’s Creazione d’Adamo when I took History of Western Art and Architecture in the late 1990s. I find it convincing. Michelangelo was an amateur anatomist and dissector, as training for his realistic portrayal of human bodies. And although this question is hotly debated by historians nowadays, I’m fairly sure a lot of people in the Middle Ages (and before) had a decently good big-picture view of what the brain did.
I later encountered this idea of God-as-brain in Michelangelo’s Creazione d’Adamo when reading about Western esoteric spirituality. The symbolism that esotericists see in this work is the idea that there is a little piece of God peering out of the eyes of every sentient being, and that the brain (the lesser mind) is like a television set receiving a signal (the greater mind). I happen to find this convincing too, for what it’s worth. But we're not here to talk about those kinds of topics.
Another anatomical similarity I’ve noticed: The You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Could the plant on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. be an herbal remedy for nasal congestion, rhinitis, or sinusitis? -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
ololololo > 01-08-2026, 07:18 PM
(01-08-2026, 04:49 PM)RenegadeHealer Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.@JoJo_Jost, I remember first learning about the brain in Michelangelo’s Creazione d’Adamo when I took History of Western Art and Architecture in the late 1990s. I find it convincing. Michelangelo was an amateur anatomist and dissector, as training for his realistic portrayal of human bodies. And although this question is hotly debated by historians nowadays, I’m fairly sure a lot of people in the Middle Ages (and before) had a decently good big-picture view of what the brain did.
In general, given that the plants in VMS are not particularly accurate (at least we can say this about the castor bean), and given that the human organs are indeed described in balneology, then yes, it is possible.
I later encountered this idea of God-as-brain in Michelangelo’s Creazione d’Adamo when reading about Western esoteric spirituality. The symbolism that esotericists see in this work is the idea that there is a little piece of God peering out of the eyes of every sentient being, and that the brain (the lesser mind) is like a television set receiving a signal (the greater mind). I happen to find this convincing too, for what it’s worth. But we're not here to talk about those kinds of topics.
Another anatomical similarity I’ve noticed: The You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Could the plant on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. be an herbal remedy for nasal congestion, rhinitis, or sinusitis?
Perhaps VMS is a herbalist with a focus on anatomy.
Also, as Ruby Novacna pointed out, the roots of the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. plant are very similar to the shape of the eye... -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
JoJo_Jost > 02-08-2026, 04:11 PM
Well, unfortunately, it’s easy to read too much into things—we humans are really good at that. The root here could represent the human heart.
If there were hidden anatomical clues in plants as well, it would definitely be clear why the VMS is so heavily encoded. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
ololololo > 02-08-2026, 04:17 PM
(02-08-2026, 04:11 PM)JoJo_Jost Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Well, unfortunately, it’s easy to read too much into things—we humans are really good at that. The root here could represent the human heart.
By the way, the reason we can't identify the plants accurately might be due to their stylization. The artist may have intentionally distorted them to emphasize their anatomical significance.
If there were hidden anatomical clues in plants as well, it would definitely be clear why the VMS is so heavily encoded.
But the question is, why can't we find a liverwort in VMS that resembles a human liver in shape?.. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
JoJo_Jost > 02-08-2026, 04:30 PM
I'd be able to recognize a pancreas... with a lot (!!!) of imagination.
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RE: Voynich's anatomy
Linda > 02-08-2026, 04:51 PM
(02-08-2026, 04:11 PM)JoJo_Jost Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Well, unfortunately, it’s easy to read too much into things—we humans are really good at that. The root here could represent the human heart.
If there were hidden anatomical clues in plants as well, it would definitely be clear why the VMS is so heavily encoded.
I know you were just making a point, but I found this interesting, I think that was the banana plant you posted, and I went looking for pictures of the roots, and this was the first image that came up, they are holding a banana corm.
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RE: Voynich's anatomy
RenegadeHealer > 06-08-2026, 01:32 PM
@Linda, This whole thread is absolutely bananas.
@JoJo_Jost, your point is well taken. Trust me, I don’t take any of the suggestions made in this thread, drawing parallels between human body parts and VMS illustrations, all that seriously. I find pareidolia fun to indulge in, and enjoy entertaining the slightest possibility that just maybe there’s an intentional visual parallel or reference. I’m a long time regular at Reddit’s r/Symbology, ever since binging Dan Brown’s books. This issue comes up a lot there. Sometimes naturally occurring lines and patterns, unintentionally made marks, and images made with very specific intentions, bear striking but completely unintentional similarities to other known imagery. Not every symbol containing an upward pointing chevron and a downward pointing chevron is evidence of the Freemasons’ involvement. The difference is that for most things posted in r/Symbology, the answer is in the context: where was it emblazoned, where was it found, what was it made with, and how long ago? We don’t get that kind of context with the VMS. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
Jorge_Stolfi > 06-08-2026, 03:57 PM
(06-08-2026, 01:32 PM)RenegadeHealer Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I don’t take any of the suggestions made in this thread, drawing parallels between human body parts and VMS illustrations, all that seriously
I don't see any clear anatomical references in the illustrations of any section except Bio/Balneo. In this section, on the other hand, the anatomical refernces are too many and too clear to dismiss as mere "pareidolia". Many of the drawings clearly were meant to be seen as body organs.
The question is whether the bathing installations and nymphs were meant to be a cover to disguise the anatomical contents, or whether the section is indeed about medicinal baths and the organ drawings are meant to indicate which parts of the body that baths and waters are good for.
Both explanations have their problems. So maybe it is something else...
All the best, --stolfi -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
denty > 06-08-2026, 06:48 PM
(06-08-2026, 03:57 PM)Jorge_Stolfi Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
(06-08-2026, 01:32 PM)RenegadeHealer Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I don’t take any of the suggestions made in this thread, drawing parallels between human body parts and VMS illustrations, all that seriously
I don't see any clear anatomical references in the illustrations of any section except Bio/Balneo. In this section, on the other hand, the anatomical refernces are too many and too clear to dismiss as mere "pareidolia". Many of the drawings clearly were meant to be seen as body organs.
The question is whether the bathing installations and nymphs were meant to be a cover to disguise the anatomical contents, or whether the section is indeed about medicinal baths and the organ drawings are meant to indicate which parts of the body that baths and waters are good for.
Both explanations have their problems. So maybe it is something else...
All the best, --stolfi
I can see the body organs in the Bio/Balneo when people present them as such (I can really only think of the ovaries and the intestines, and more recently the brain example, are there more that are clearly thought to be body parts?) but it was not the first thing that came to mind, it was only in reading others' takes on them that i could see them as such. I think those things must actually be something else, although I am not sure what that might be. I also don't think it is about balneology, I would expect the drawings to adhere more closely to the drawings in the various versions of De balneis Puteolanis if that were the case, I don't see enough resemblance. It might be true that both of these types of iconography were meant to throw onlookers off the scent and keep things obscured.