Re: Why not Dee?

["Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jorge Stolfi wrote:

> As for the specific mention of Egypt, I think it would have been a
> natural guess for the epoch, since Egypt was *the* land of mysterious
> writings and fogotten knowledge. Besides, he may have used "Egyptian"
> as a surrogate for "exotic", much as we would use "Martians" to
> refer to any hypothetic extra-terrestrials.
> 
> Claiming that he wrote "Egyptian" only to draw Kircher's attention is
> pure guess, and only one of the possibilities. I think it is just as
> likely that he was moved to write to Kircher because he had already
> come to suspect that VMS was Egyptian.

That's right - I was trying to incorporate Rene's suggestion 
in his annotation of the letter (Rene's Web pages).

But if Egypt is considered at face value, then how about this:

   Christoph Harant: Putowanj aneb Cesta z Kralowstwj Czeskeho
        do Miesta Benatek, odtud po Morzi do Zemie Swate, 
        Zemie Iudske, a dale do Egypta a welikeho Miesta Kairu,
        potom na Horu Oreb, Synay a Swate Katerziny w Pustie
        Arabii lezicy. Dwa Djly, w Praze 1608. 4to

which translates as:

   Christoph Harant: Travel or journey from the Kingdom of Bohemia
        to the City of Venice, and from there by sea to the Holy
        Land, the Judean Land, and then on to Egypt and the Great
        City of Cairo, and then to the Oreb Mountain, Sinai and
        St. Catherine which lie in the Arabian Desert. Two volumes,
        [printed] in Prague, 1608. In Quarto.

It was later translated into German and published in Nurnberg 1678.
I will have to check the author - but the dating is interesting.
He may have brought a manuscript from Egypt and copy it at home.
Or Horcicky may have copied it. Or an European monk in Egypt
may have copied something.

I don't really believe it - but that is a possibility. 

> Wow, here we have another instant theory:
> 
>   Dr. Raphael writes the VMS as a demonstration of his uncrackable
>   code, gives it to Baresch, and has fun watching the poor man's
>   struggle with it for years. When the Oedipus Aegypticus comes out,
>   Raphael urges GB to send the book to Kircher --- for, what better
>   prize can he yearn for than have his secret code certified as
>   "Kircher-proof"? 

Yes, I thought of it, too - but VMS certainly does not look 17th c.
It must have been produced before 1600. Still, if the Uppsala MS
can be accessed, this possibility can be verified.

Best regards,

Rafal