Loading…
23
Hot take: We're totally wrong about who really wrote the Voynich manuscript
If we keep blaming monks or aliens, we'll MISS the clear signs it was a bored rich person's art project.
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
umaw697mo ago
That "bored rich person's art project" angle makes so much sense. I read a deep dive once on how expensive the pigments and parchment were, way too pricey for some random monk. It totally fits as a flex for a noble who wanted a weird book to show off, maybe copying old medical texts to look smart.
1
hannah1377mo ago
My buddy spent months on a leather-bound atlas... for his cat.
3
skyler8007mo ago
Nah, I gotta disagree on that one. If it was just some rich guy's flex, why go through all the trouble of making a whole new writing system that no one can crack? That's a ton of work for a prank. The text seems to follow real language patterns, which is way beyond a simple art project lol. Plus a lot of the plant drawings don't match anything real, so they weren't just copying old books. Feels more like someone was trying to put real, but secret, info down. A bored noble would've just made a pretty picture book.
1