VMs: Re: Mediaeval book written entirely in cipher

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dennis,

> I'm trying to collect material for an update to the Historical
> Precedents file. I can't find the posts that refer to these frescoes.
> Could you help me?

I've appended the email I posted recently to the end of this one: but also 
note the similarities of this image from the same Palazzo della Ragione...
        http://www.pd.astro.it/MOSTRA/IMAGES/PESCI.JPG
...with the VMS' own Pisces. Is it usual for the two fish to have a line 
emerging from each mouth?

Another interesting topic: has anyone properly looked at the history of 
scales? The comment in the EVT file for Libra's scales merely comments:

#   The drawing of the balance is very accurate in all details, in
#   spite of the relatively crude perspective and technique. It looks
#   as if the author was very familiar with the instrument. I suspect
#   that the model may be more appropriate for a druggist than for a
#   grocer.

This could surely be narrowed down a little? What function does the part of 
the mechanism at the top perform?

Also: if Leo's King corresponds to Regulus/basilews, what about the VMS' 
Queen in Libra? What star/degree would she most likely correspond to?

Finally: the comment about many of the VMS' representations of signs being 
divided into light and dark - Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Libra - might 
also be worth following up. Was that a recurring theme in astrological 
representations (I certainly haven't seen it anywhere else myself)?

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....

                                * * * * * * *

Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 15:00:29 +0100

Hi everyone,

Here are some pictures of the Palazzo's astrological pictures (including 
the crawfish-style crab):-
        http://www.pd.astro.it/MOSTRA/G0000SAL.HTM
        http://www.pd.astro.it/MOSTRA/IMAGES/CANCRO.JPG

Here's some more information on it (at the bottom of this page):-
        http://www.trepennelli.com/damini/articoli.phtml

Not only does the astrological cycle depicted here start in March, but it 
sounds as though the 360 degree images (based on Pietro d'Abano's work, who 
lived and worked in Padua) are all still intact.
However, my translation got a bit confused in the middle - it sounds as 
though each sign has three bands of nine images (ie, 324 images). But the 
whole cycle does contain 333 frescoes, right?

The same page describes the Palazzo as a gigantic astrological machine, 
similar to Chartres Cathedral, etc.

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....