VMs: Dacians and the VMS

["J HALEY" <j.haley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

I think that Wayne has a very interesting hypothesis here.
Although I am pursuing other lines of investigation I believe
his views deserve a fair hearing. The hairstyles in the VMS
for one thing are a very shaky point unless we can definitely
say that earlier cultures did not have the same.

About 100 miles from here is a manuscript copied from
several classical works. The figures look Egyptian in style
yet that was copied in the fifteenth century. If we did not know
that fact then we could make all sorts of assumptions if we
did not have the Latin text. The zodiac symbols in that ms
are not too dissimilar to those found in the VMS. Now we
could assume that the copyist had modernized these, but
then why keep the Egyptian looking appearance of the
various figures? The zodiac symbols probably changed
little over long periods of time.

Another manuscript several thousand miles from here has
zodiac images that look remarkably like those in the VMS
and also was copied from earlier works. It is eerie how
closely these resemble the VMS signs. Yet it was produced
at the earliest in the late fifteenth century. Considering that
knowledge was revered during the period leading up to the
renaissance it is not unreasonable to assume that accuracy
was of some importance.

As we cannot definitely say how far back certain styles go
then simply calling on relatively uninformed opinion is no
gaurantee of proof. I am now of the view that the herbal
section of the VMS has its roots further back in history than
anyone has previously imagined and I will be pursuing this
avenue of research. The current identification of Cressa
Cretica came from a related source, although if this source
is correct it would go against Wayne's current hypothesis
and place the VMS firmly in the sixteenth century.

Having said that, everything is still open to debate and to
place objections to anyone's point of view with the current
level of solid evidence is a little premature.

Nick might be pleased to hear that I am finding a possible
Italian connection with the development of the VMS. You
may well have a good point here Nick.

Jeff Haley


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