Thread by @DavidZabinsky

It was written 600 years ago.

It's 234 pages long.

It's been studied by cryptographers and codebreakers alike.

And yet, we still have no idea what any of it means.

A thread on the the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious book in the world:

Let's start with what we DO know about the Voynich Manuscript:

The book seems to be divided into six sections of drawings and text, pertaining to:

1) Botany
2) Astronomy
3) Biology
4) Cosmology
5) Pharmacology (like medical herbs)
6) Strange recipes

We also know from a series of carbon dating, protein, and ink tests that:

• The book was put together between the years 1404 and 1438

• The author used 14 calfskins to make the pages

• The ink was made from a mix of nuts, eggs, fruit peels, and wine

The book's drawings?

Well, they include strange ones, like this green-smoke-blowing dragon...

...this frightening-looking plant...

...and this, most probably having to do with astrology:

In terms of provenance, researchers believe:

• Emperor Rudolf II of Germany bought it in 1665, possibly under the impression it was authored by famous philosopher and friar, Roger Bacon

• Then, it changed a hands a few times until landing at Rome's Jesuit College at Frascati

Until the early 1900s, the book didn't receive much publicity, until Polish book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, the work's namesake, bought it in 1912.

After his death in 1930, it was bought and sold several times until landing at Yale University in 1969, where it still sits today.

And ever since 1969, cryptographers and codebreakers have meticulously studied the book's staggering 170,000 characters and 37,919 words.

And what have they understood?

Well...not a damn thing.

Any guesses of your own?

Yeah…me neither.

In an attempt to break the code, experts even developed the European Voynich Alphabet, seen here, which matches Voynich characters with similar-looking Latin letters.

But perhaps that's a futile effort:

Who's to say that letters that look the same...have to be the same?

What's also peculiar about the text is that it appears - in a few instances - some characters have been darkened or touched up since its original publication.

But by who?

And why?

And so begins the list of other things we just don't know:

• Is the text a medieval language not used anymore? Or is it some secretive, unbreakable code?

• Is it a book about plants? Sex? The stars? All of the above? None of the above?

• Who the hell wrote it?

Take a look for yourself.

Did our mysterious author put together an educational textbook?

Was he or she trying to tell the future?

Was he or she…maybe, hallucinating?

Another theory is that Wilfrid Voynich was, well… a troll, and that this code we've spent decades trying to crack is just one big hoax.

But cynics beware:

Scientists argue the language is just too sophisticated and elaborate for it to have only been a bunch of gibberish.

And so begs the question:

If there is STILL, after decades of codebreaking and examination, SO much unknown about the Voynich Manuscript, is that to say we're doomed?

Will we ever know what any of this stuff means?

But perhaps that question is not the right one.

Perhaps it's our interpretation of the Voynich Manuscript that says more about us than what's actually written inside.

As one expert said:

“The evil beauty of the Voynich Manuscript…is that it holds a mirror up to our souls.”

Interest piqued? Learn something new?

Follow @DavidZabinsky for more threads and stories like this one.

For another strange mystery - one that profiles a lake in India bewilderingly surrounded by…ancient human remains, check out the thread below:

Sources:

beinecke.library.yale.edu/collections/hi…

theartnewspaper.com/2020/06/18/has…

vox.com/culture/2017/9…