The best way find answers to a tough problem is to ask the right questions, and the right ones are usually new ones. Asking the same old questions, over and over, will get one nowhere, because they usually produce the same answers. In the case of the Voynich, there must be thousands, if not millions, of good questions that have so far gone unasked. In the answers to those questions may be the golden nuggets which bring us closer to the answers we hope for.
About a year ago, Tim Tattrie asked one of those good questions, and got a very interesting, and potentially valuable, answer. He was peering at the Rosettes foldout, as thousands had before him. But Tim wondered what the rest of the mountain, the one in the upper right rosette, might be. He did not assume what it was, he wanted to know. So he wrote the Beinecke staff, and asked them if they would open the fold a bit, and take a picture. Graham Sherriff of the Yale staff quickly sent him the picture. At the time he was told that the new pictures would be included in the online database, but a year or more went by, and they did not get around to it. So Tim asked me to announce the find, as he felt it might be of value and interest to others. I agree.
Under the Rosettes Fold
As you can see, much was revealed “under the fold” of this area. Not only did the mountain reveal that it may, in fact, be a volcano, but also, the ramp like area leading up from the walled-city now shows a few more buildings. I wish I had this when I made my 3D rosettes… and in fact I may add the “volcano”, and found buildings, in a new version.
Is this a Volcano?
Well of course this may not be a volcano. Tim is pragmatic about it, and does not commit to that as an absolute identity. I don’t either, as it could be many things. The Voynich does have various pipes which also seem to “spew” various substances. Are they, and this, meant to be gas? Air? Water? The quintessence? Perhaps this is meant to be a natural fountain, or Artesian well. And the effluent is not red or “fiery” in any way… it is blue, like water. But I have to say that it looks a lot like a volcano to me. One could also assume that this is not meant to be a mountain at all, and that is lies flat, like a drain and so on. I don’t think so. It is illustrated much like the other heights of the rosettes page, and the intent seems to be implying a hill or mountain. The reader is welcome to disagree, of course.
What is that effluent, then?
Of course like many new discoveries in the Voynich, answered by these new questions, this one raises even newer questions. That is all good, I think. And also, when we see this new information, we might have a sense that it tells us something important, in its own right… but frustratingly, we are not sure “what” it is that it tells us! For me, I will not miss the opportunity to point out a couple of implications. For one thing, I note that there have been several real places suggested for the upper right rosette. One of these has been Milan. I think that the discovery of this spewing mountain, probably a volcano, might warrant a re-consideration of most of of the previous speculation of this rosette as various places. If one is going to think of the rosettes as a real place at all, in fact… an idea I wholeheartedly reject, as I think it is a fantasy land.. but if they are going to look at the castles, walkways and towers as real, then one must now look for a place which includes a spewing mountain, or volcano. And if one looks for such a fountain, it better be on a towering mount. And good luck with that.
Kircher's Volcano from "Mundus Suberraneus"
But what might be valuable is to look at the history of volcanology, and also, how volcanoes have been perceived in mythology and fiction. Knowing what volcanoes meant to people, at different times in history, and how they have been illustrated, and for what purpose, will all be potentially valuable to understanding the Rosettes in a new light. I personally feel that Tim Tattrie’s find is a very important one, not only for the actual illustration which was uncovered in this one case, but for what it tells us we must do in the future… that we can’t keep asking the same old questions, but we have to try to look for new questions, asked in new ways. I am certain that many other surprises await us if we do.
April 21, 2012 at 6:45 pm |
Thanks for posting this, Rich. This is very welcome as I’ve been trying to find images of the hidden bits of the 9 Rosette fold-out for some time.
Do you know if the other obscured sections ( upper left, rolled up corner and lower right gutter ) were imaged and will be released as well?
Best,
Ernest
April 22, 2012 at 6:52 am |
Hi Ernest: I don’t know if the Beinecke staff also imaged other hidden portions of this, or other pages. Maybe Tim will let us know if he has seen them, or you could write the staff and find out. Let us know if you find anything. Rich.
April 22, 2012 at 2:32 am |
Definitely a volcano on the shores of or visible from a lake. See if you can find the island with the city inside the lake, and if you are very clever the causeway or wier which separates the freshwater portion of the lake from the brackish portion of the lake. James Comegys, Nahuatl Hypothesis
April 22, 2012 at 6:57 am |
Hi Jim: Do you mean to say you think there is water in the inner portions of the rosettes map? That the center of the map… the center rosette… looks like an “island within and island” to you? If that is the case, then I have wondered if that is possible, as the artist did draw the (presumed) water portions similarly on the inside and the outside… first, by leaving them blank, then possibly illustrating both with “surf”. I mean, if it is “surf” on the outside, then one would assume it has to be surf on the inside. If that were the case, then one might want to look at the “volcano” laying down again, and as a water source to the inner lake… as you describe. But I do feel you have a location in mind, by your wording. Is that so? Thanks for commenting…
April 22, 2012 at 12:18 pm |
Rich,
Unfortunately, I only managed the one picture. My contact has since left so I’m afraid he cannot help on the other images under the fold.
Hopefully it will spark some interesting discussions….and hopefully not all restricted to it being a Volcano…if one looks closely at the picture, it appears to have three distinct sections, the top in particular looking ‘constructed’.
of course…just my opinion.
Tim
April 22, 2012 at 1:16 pm |
Hi Tim: Your find has already begun to strike up interesting discussion. That is unfortunate there are no other images from the page, but perhaps the image you did get will inspire others to make the request of the Beinecke. Thank you again… Rich.
April 22, 2012 at 1:44 pm |
Hello Tim.
If the one image were taken and not shown until someone asked about it, perhaps others were taken as well and just haven’t been made available yet. I would think that once the folio was readied for imaging, it would have been no more trouble to image all of the obscured parts than it was to just do the one.
I e-mailed the Beinecki several years ago and requested that these sections be scanned before additional damage ruined the gutters, but never heard back. How did you make contact with Graham Sherriff to begin with — perhaps there is another there now who would be just as forthcoming to our requests?
Should anyone be able to re-establish a dialog with the Beinekci, I would love to see similar images of the Lower Right section of the 9 Rosette folio with its folded over gutter, as well as the Upper Left corner with its rolled up edge covering part of the opening text and image.
Best,
Ernest
April 22, 2012 at 3:38 pm |
Hello all.
I just sent an Email to the research request link of the Beinecki asking about additional scans. I’ll post any response I get.
Ernest
May 14, 2012 at 2:46 am |
I have notes comparing the map of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) attributed to Hernan Cortes to a view of the lake which features Voynich Castle. That view is, I believe in one of the rosettes or near it..The small city with Voynich Castle can be interpreted as an island with the mountains in the background as volcanoes. Few lakes of any size have a volcano near them, and fewer still have a city on a lake surrounded by volcanoes so this is naturally a relevant bit of evidence for the Nahuatl Hypothesis. The Lake would be Lake Texcoco or however they are naming it depending on the year.
June 21, 2012 at 12:47 pm |
This is great! I didn’t see the volcano, but now it will always be there for me.
I have different idea about the pipes. Early 15th century is when they started to build those big cathedral pipe organ instruments. A lot of engineering went behind those. The King of the Instruments was very fashionable at the time. Can music be one of the things coming out of the pipes?
June 21, 2012 at 2:12 pm |
Hi Ellie: Of course “who knows?”, but I don’t see why not. In my personal opinion, either sounds or music were the point of these tubes. The Hellenic Greeks were already using pipes to transmit and project sound and voices, and of course musical instruments had tubing long before that. A friend of mine, Greg, did suggest cannon, also. I don’t think they are pipes for fluids, as the other piping in the Voynich pages seem to be. But of course I don’t know. Thank you for the input.
August 4, 2012 at 11:36 am |
Dear Tim:
“if one looks closely at the picture, it appears to have three distinct sections, the top in particular looking ‘constructed’.
… I couldn’t agree more.