This page is the innermost verso panel of a six-panel fold-out.
Description:
A circular diagram defined by three narrow concentric bands, each delimited by two faint, mechanically drawn circles.
The innermost band is quite narrow, and empty. The middle and outer bands contain each a ring of text, reading clockwise. The text in the middle band (unit "R1") has a slightly wider word gap at 06:00, and is interrupted at 08:30 by a black irregular spot. (The same spot appears on the facing page f71r, quod videt.) The text in the outer band (unit "R2") has a noticeably wider word gap at 03:45. Both rings are penetrated at 10:30 by "stars"---see below).
Inside the innermost band is a four-legged, hoofed animal resembling a beardless goat. The animal has short fur (dark-colored), sharp horns that curve packwards, and a short and chubby tail. It also seems to have a crest of short hairs running along the spine, from head to tip of tail.
The animal is nibbling at a bush, standing on a scalloped (rocky?) ground. Below the animal's belly is a non-Voynichese word.
In the broad space between the ouer and middle bands there are 10 human figures, or "nymphs"; and 5 more in the space between the middle and inner bands---or 15 nymphs in total. Each nymph is standing (radially, with the head outwards) in frontal view, or slightly turned towards the corresponding "star" (see below). All nymphs look female; most have prominent breasts, and the two exceptions (in frontal view) are rather poorly drawn, so the lack of breasts is not conclusive.
Some of the nymphs are dressed, but the nipples and body outline often show threough the dress. Most nymphs, even naked ones, wear some kind of headgear (hat, veil, diadem, etc.)
Every nymph is standing inside an upright cylindrical container or "barrel". In proportion to the nymph, the barrel is about two feet wide, and has a "lip" a couple of inches wide. It usually reaches up to the nymph's pelvis---sometimes bit lower, sometimes up to her chest. Most of the barrels are decorated with distinctive patterns of bars, dots, hatchings, circles, scales, etc.; but two barrels have only a ring of dots, near the top edge, and three are undecorated. The base of the barrel is hidden by the text band.
Each nymph has a star or flower by her head; usually on the clockwise side, with four exceptions (inner 00:00, 02:30, 05:00, and outer 03:30). Some stars have wire-like tails or stems. The star at 10:30 in the inner band has a thicker, distinctive tail, like a banded snake. Moreover, the two stars at 10:30 (inner and outer) intrude slightly into the surrounding text ring.
Some nymphs are holding their stars (by a ray or by the tail); others are pointing at them; and some have both hands on the hips, usually hidden by the barrel.
Between every two nymphs there is a one- or two-word label (units "S1" and "S2"), reading clockwise. From the spacing, it would seem that every label refers to the preceding nymph, going clockwise.
The following table summarizes the nymph and star attributes. The "spos" column gives the position of the star relative to the nymph: "cw" if clockwise, "ccw" if counterclockwise. The "deco" column tells whether the barrel has "full" decoration, or just a ring of "dots", or "no" decoration at all. The "dres" and "brst" columns say whether the nymph is dressed and has visible female breasts, respectively. The "hold" column says whether the nymph is holding the star (by a ray, or by the tail if present).
band label place deco dres brst spos tail hold notes ------ ----- ----- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------------------ inner S1.1 10:30 full no ? cw yes no? striped star tail inner S1.2 00:00 full no yes ccw yes no inner S1.3 02:30 dot yes ? ccw yes no inner S1.4 04:00 no yes no ccw yes no inner S1.5 08:00 dot yes yes cw yes no
outer S2.1 10:30 no no ? cw yes yes thicker star tail outer S2.2 00:00 no no yes cw no yes outer S2.3 01:30 full yes no cw yes no outer S2.4 02:45 full yes no cw no yes outer S2.5 03:45 full yes ? ccw yes no outer S2.6 04:45 full yes yes cw yes no outer S2.7 05:45 dot yes yes cw yes no outer S2.8 07:00 full no yes cw yes no outer S2.9 08:00 full yes yes cw no yes outer S2.10 09:00 full no yes cw no yes
There is a mark "10^{mg}" at the lower right corner of the page. It is certainly a gathering mark (quire number), "10th" in abbreviated Latin.
Comments:
STYLE AND LAYOUT
The ram/goat is drawn very skillfully and looks quite realistic, except that the way its front legs bend looks wrong. (But I am a city boy, what do I know...)
The barrels are drawn rather poorly: better than those of f71r (Aries light) but worse than those of f70v2 (Pisces). The width and height are quite variable. The perspective is minimally correct, but the top of the barrel is tilted at varying angles relative to the observer, from near edge-on (outer 08:00) to almost face-on (inner 02:30). In three cases (outer 02:45 and 03:45, inner 08:00) the top is rendered as an eye, not an ellipse.
The pattern on the inner barrel at 00:00 is rather peculiar. Unlike the other patterns it is neither symmetric nor repeating; it looks rather like a cubist painting. It looks as if the barrel is made of glass, so that the nymph's legs and hands are showing through. (Perhaps the pattern was drawn to hide a mistake, or an artistic failure?)
THE CENTRAL EMBLEM
The central figure is widely believed to be a symbol of the sign Aries. The word below the animal could be "ab**il" in the Latin alphabet. It is traditionally read as some variant of the month name "April". Aries goes from ??? to ???.
THE TEXT RINGS
There is no obvious starting place for the text rings. The wider breaks at 04:00 (outer) and 06:00 (inner) are not aligned, and do not seem to be natural choices for starting the text. The binding gutter at 03:00 is not it either, as the text was visibly squeezed to fit in that part of the ring.
The most likely starting places, IMHO, are the places at 10:45 where the stars intrude into the text bands. Note that the inner star has the special striped "tail", and the outer star is being held high up by the nymph. (However, the first star enters just before a "daiin", and the second one under a word; so there is reason to doubt.)
THE NYMPHS
Either the dresses are meant to be transparent, or they were added later, in an attempt to mask the naked bodies.
THE LABELS
The outer label at 08:30 (<f70v1.S1.9;U>) reads "otshshdy" in standard EVA. The two "sh" have quite different plumes---the first one is a closed drop-like loop, the second is a open hook.
Paragraph: R2 Outer ring of text Last edited on 1998-12-09 18:06:26 by stolfi
"U" transcription by J. Stolfi from scanned image.
transcribed clockwise starting from intruding star at 10:30
