If we require further evidence that our author/illustrator – our creator – had reference to Ptolemy’s Canones (Handy Tables) – and specifically the 9th C copy known to have been located in Brescia – we need only turn to page f57v.
I have previously explained that these figures illustrate the coincidentia oppositorum.
Be that as it may be, their gestures are taken directly from Ptolemy’s Canones: Vaticanus graecus 1291.
There is nothing new under the Sun in Voynich Studies, and no doubt this observation has been made before, many times.
All the same, it is an observation worth making again. And in the context of my recent investigations it is worth pursuing.
In the first instance, though, it amounts to very solid evidence of a connection between the two works.
In the Helios illustration in the Canones of Ptolemy we find a distinction between figures with arms outstretched and figures with one arm raised.
Regardless of what these gestures signify, we find them duplicated in the Voynich manuscript, in the centre of this this key volvelle page, used in the same way to mark binary distinctions of the year.
Admittedly, the figures with outstretched arms are facing away, which marks another binary distinction: facing forwards/facing away. But, then, there is no black/white distinction in the Voynich figures, and perhaps facing away takes the place of the black figures in the Canones?
Yet, the gestures are the same.
To reiterate: the Vaticanus graecus 1291 is a 9th C. copy of Ptolemy’s Canones, ‘Handy Tables’.
As well as being quite beautiful, it is especially valuable because it evidently records material from a much earlier period and is faithful to ancient copies.
It is known to have been in Brescia during our time window.
As per ancient Hellenic traditions, this Greek manuscript presents the zodiacal heavens populated by naked nymphs.
As such it presents an obvious source for the depiction of the celestial nymphs in the Voynich manuscript.
But it is not just naked nymphs occupying celestial stations – divisions of the path of the sun – on page f57v we also have the hand gestures used by the nymphs in the Greek manuscript.
This is on top of other, perhaps more tenuous, parallels that we can make.
This amounts to a strong case for supposing the creator of the Voynich manuscript has viewed the Brescia manuscript.
In a mystery where there are few strong links, this is a strong link.
It is enough to proceed with some confidence that there is a connection between the two works, and most likely the Voynich author has viewed the Brescia manuscript.
The Voynich manuscript is derivative. It arises from the author’s encounter with the Canones of Ptolemy.
The Handy Tables – with the illustration of Helios in his four-horsed chariot, with the heavens populated with naked nymphs – is very likely the immediate inspiration for the Voynich manuscript.
R.B.
No comments:
Post a Comment