Re: VMs: A Comment on f67r2

["Larry Roux" <lroux@xxxxxxx>]

I have been looking at this page and am convinced that the outer ring is a set of degrees.  

I will try to show this with limited graphic capabilities without including bitmaps of the numbers:

The start is the top, center with
|- -| |- -| = 00
next is 
|- -| |oooo| |- -| = 030
then
|- -||oooooooo| |- -| = 090

this goes around till the last circle
|- -| |oooo| |oooooooo| |- -| = 0360

My copy is missing a lot of the ring, so figuring out if this is right is difficult, but the second to last wedge shows:
??? |oooo| |- -| = ?30
I assume the missing part is: |- -| |oooo| (03)
making 0330 degrees...

If anyone can confirm this with a better copy of the page I would appreciate it.

This page very much resembles a greek document (see http://web.syr.edu/~lroux/mstaur.jpg) with Aries at the same start point as the Voy page.  I wish we had a better copy of the greek page (and the Voy page for that matter)




******************************
Larry Roux
Syracuse University
lroux@xxxxxxx
*******************************
>>> rteague@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 01/10/04 11:09 AM >>>
> > The "planets" consisted of the five visible, plus
> > the Sun and Moon. But the Moon is drawn in already, 
> > and since it can't appear near itself, one of
> > those words cannot be 'moon'. 
> 
> That's because you're assuming that these little
> moon figures have a certain meaning.

That's true. 

> But we can't really know what their meaning is.

That the words represent planet names has been an
assumption made long before I got here. I was merely
explaining why I'm not happy with it.

> Maybe they
> just mean that each segment is a month. Maybe the
> cresent size is not important but only the
> colour.

I did discover a lunar eclipse in late 1583, where
the Moon was red like in the drawing.

>  In fact, I would be very surprised if
> the cresent size is relevant. 

But the Moon is shown in that configuration in nearly
every folio it appears in. I think it IS important.

> There is even one
> figure where the moon has two crescents, one on
> each side.

Which I think means a solar eclipse.

> But, obviously, I don't know :-/

After all these years? Why don't you?  : )

> In the end, it becomes a matter of words.
> I don't think that the seven words are certainly
> the seven planet names, but I think it is a
> very promising lead.

Sorry, but I have to disagree, for the reasons
already stated. I've still got to tackle the idea
they are bright star names.

> Of the Pleiades I am far more confident, but
> even here one cannot be certain that the character
> string near the seven stars is actually a word
> giving the name of the Pleiades in some language
> or code.

Now here I agree with you.

Robert

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