Re: VMs: Libra

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Dennis,

At 22:28 23/12/2003 -0600, Dennis wrote:
>         Hate to be a party-pooper, but are we really sure that
> the VMs author(s) themselves put the zodiac emblems
> there, and not a later hand?  What's the current
> thinking?

The best evidence I can point to is the Pisces diagram: that has 29 
labelled stars in the circles, plus one other labelled star in the middle 
(which would be consistent with the other zodiac diagrams, which have 
either 2 x 15 or 30 labelled stars), which is connected to the mouth of one 
of the two fishes. To my eyes, this looks like the central emblem was 
deliberately drawn at the same time as the circles, nymphs, and labels. I 
also think that the same (rough) hand drew all the central emblems in the 
zodiac section - I believe that they share a consistency of style (though I 
can't prove this).

However, the zodiac month-names look (to me) like they were written in a 
different hand, with a different quill, with a different ink consistency - 
almost certainly by a different person, in a different place and at a 
different (later) time. Logically, would it make much sense to write 200+ 
pages in code and then add in the month names in your local vernacular? 
...probably not. :-o

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


______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying:
unsubscribe vms-list