(16-08-2026, 11:54 AM)Antonio García Jiménez Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I don't see biblical cosmology anywhere in the Voynich.
And I don't see any sign of religious views or concepts in the VMS either. Nothing that hints at the author being Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Satanist...
(I am convinced that the cross on You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. is a late addition, and that the "rosary" of the old woman on f85r2 was originally a light chain to gather and carry firewood -- which the VMS Scribe did not understand and turned into a string of balls. And you know my view on the "Christian charm" of f116v.)
But I believe that when the Author or the Artist had to draw a diagram of the cosmos on f68v3, he chose to copy it from the diagram that he found in some copy of Oresme's book, or in some other book that reproduced that same "Biblical" schema. Not because he meant that schema specifically, but just because.
Maybe all the Author wanted to show were the eight paths leading into (or out of) the material universe: four reaching down to the Earth, and four ending in the domain of the stars and planets, just
below the "vault of the sky". Then he only needed
some depiction of the universe that he thought readers could recognize.
Quote:The authorship of the Voynich manuscript has shifted from China to Armenia. We are getting closer to Europe.
On the contrary!
In the Chinese Origin hypothesis, I have always been assuming that the Author was an
European traveler who spent some years somewhere in East Asia, copied the Shennong Bencao and other books by dictation while he was there, then came back to
Europe,
where he recruited an
European scribe to produce a clean illustrated copy of his notes on vellum.
There was always the possibility that the Autor was not European, but maybe Arab, Jew, Turkish, etc; but in that case it seemed unlikely that he would settle in Central Europe after his return, where the Scribe seemed to be from.
But
IF those spiral arms on f68v3 are indeed copied from Anania Shirakatsi's
Eight Phases of the Moon diagram, then it raises the possibility that not only the traveling Author was Armenian rather than West European, but that the Scribe too was Armenian, and that the copying onto vellum happened in Armenia rather than in Western Europe. (That is,
closer to China and farther from Europe!) Unlike Arabic, Hebrew, and (Medieval) Turkish, the Armenian script is written left to right; and Armenians used vellum and quill pens too.
This alternative would fit better with some details. Like, a frequent objection to the Chinese Theory is "
why did the Author invent a new alphabet, instead of using Latin letters and digraphs like the Jesuits did everywhere". Well, if the Author was Armenian, he would not have thought of using Latin letters -- but on the other hand he would have found the
Հայոց այբուբեն even less convenient for that purpose.
I still give this alternative a low probability, but now somewhat higher than before. Say, 5% chance instead of 0.5%...
All the best, --stolfi