YEAR 1054 AD DATES

At first sight the "zodiac" folios of the Voynich Manuscript appear to be just that, a zodiac, each folio containing in its centre a zodiac image correct and in  order for a European zodiac.  But there is a problem with this as all European tropical zodiacs start with Aries, even though it describes the sky as seen by in around 150 BC when it the Vernal Equinox point occurred in Aries in the Northern hemisphere and was fixed by Hipparchus as the initial point of the Greek zodiac, it has remained the standard formula.  The "zodiac" folios of the Voynich Manuscript curiously start with Pisces which is not usual for a zodiac or a European Calendar (even though in the 16^th – 17^th century the Vernal Equinox would have actually occurred in Pisces (Pisces from around 1AD) and also in 1054 AD when SN 1054 occurred).  Pisces is however the starting point for the Chinese New year in the year 1054 AD and this fits in with the interpretation of SN 1054 appearing in the "astronomical" folios.

In consideration of my interpretation of the "astronomical" folios in relation to SN 1054, information from the Voynich Manuscript folios has been compiled and compared to see if any can be linked to events of the year 1054 AD as observed from China, and decide if the zodiac pages may possibly form a temporal calendar, astronomical calendar or astrological charts.  What follows is a brief overview and the zodiac folios remain a work in progress.  The table below charts the most important events of the year, some visible some like the penumbral eclipses of the Moon or invisible Annular eclipses of the sun are included as they may be calculated even if not observed.  I have estimated the start of the New Year based on the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice.

The zodiac folios each contain 30 Nymphs, except for Pisces which has 29, but Pisces also a unique labelled star in the central image which could be designated to make up the complement of 30.  It is not known what the number 30 specifically refers to, in a zodiac it could be the divisions of the sky, in a calendar the days of a “calculated” solar month such as was used by the Egyptians with an extra 5 days added at the end to make up the full Solar year.  Ancient and not so ancient calendar years around the world have had intercalary months and extra days added to make up the full Solar year, so it is hard to judge the intention  here, it seems unlikely it is a day specific calendar based on 30 Solar days and may be representative rather than actual.  The number of stars held by the nymphs is not always the same as the number of nymphs and stars are sometimes missing, the number of stars ranging from 28 to 30.  I propose the zodiac pages may be an attempt to combine the calendars of China and Europe, merging the European solar zodiac calendar with the Chinese lunisolar calendar, the 30 Nymphs (but more specifically - the nymph titles) representing the Solar calendar month but also representing specific celestial bodies relevant to events in that month.  I suggest this also correlates with the Gemini folio depicting a total Solar eclipse as it is the only month where the labels next to the nymphs number 29 rather than 30, i.e. 1 is missing (assuming the named star in the central Pisces image completes 30 for Pisces), indicating the loss of the Sun from the sky.   I suggest the reason for the separate labelled star in the central image of Pisces is that it has been moved to show how to read the "zodiac" folios,  I suggest the star is Polaris, the North Pole star that the Chinese Astronomical maps were centred on.  Pisces however also has 30 nymph/star titles and this may be an attempt at the start of the "zodiac" folios to describe and contrast the difference between the European and Chinese system.

The stars held by the nymphs which are fewer in number may represent the lunar calendar month or indicate missing celestial bodies where absent, e.g., one not visible at conjunction.  Below is a summery of the numbers of nymphs and stars present in each zodiac folio.  Although Aries and Taurus are divided, they fall in line with the  number of nymphs on the other folios but not number of stars, suggesting they are depicted in a distinctly unique way, possibly that the information is based on data from cultures using solar calendars rather than Chinese data for these months.  Libra also follows the pattern of Aries and Taurus in the number of  labels and stars and the pattern of the nymph circles, however one star is clearly a "blob" star (outer circle of nymphs, 8.30 O'clock).   The zodiac folios have also been grouped according to the patterns of nymph circles and I assume this grouping is relevant in deciphering the meaning of the folios.

There are also certain rare occurrences in the zodiac images, most obviously the crowned Nymphs, the double tethered stars and the heart shaped “ponds”.  I suggest the crowns mark the Summer Solstice in Cancer, the Autumnal Equinox in Libra and the appearance of SN 1054 in Leo (as recorded in Song dynasty literature).  I also suggest the Nymph in the heart shaped "container" in Gemini marks the revelation of Venus during the Solar eclipse and in Virgo marks the greatest elongation of Venus to the east (although Venus at inferior conjunction in October is a significant event it would not be visible at this time and no heart shaped "container" would be expected to be shown but the event recorded in a different manner).   The double tethered stars may represent the positions of SN 1054 in March at the Vernal Equinox and April when it was next to Venus, these may be shown differently possibly being based on calculations, and texts from cultures outside of the main Chinese sources as they occur in Aries and Taurus which I have suggested may be more representative of a solar calendar.  Other cultures both European and Arabic have recorded events that may be very early sightings of SN 1054 in March and April, none are as early as February and unless the Voynich manuscript has data from unknown sources of an earlier sighting, I would conclude that any references found in Pisces were deduced by calculation.  There are texts from the Empire of the Khitan, Northern China that record a new star at the eclipse in May, the Northern Song dynasty only has recordings from July until much later texts.  Although the eclipse was only visible from certain parts of China, one may expect that any unusual sightings from around the vast empires would have been reported back to the capital and known of, and certainly would have been calculated with a good deal of accuracy by the government astronomy department, even though not seen directly (partial eclipse) in the capital (Kaifeng) and more importantly probably not seen by the Emperor.  Below is a table recording the crowned nymphs, nymphs in “heart shaped” containers, tethered stars and nymphs on/in front of barrels after Taurus (barrels in Pisces-Taurus I suspect are different in relation to suggested interpretations), the suggested months based on Pisces representing the Chinese New Year.

The central figure in Pisces holds two extra stars, the one with the title I have allocated as Polaris marking the general interpretation of the "zodiac" folios as related to North Pole centred Chinese style star maps, and this has the effect of slightly changing which parts of the sky constellations are designated to.  The other star held by the central figure in Pisces I suggest has two roles, one marking a celestial body in relation to Polaris at the New Year (establishing again a Chinese style star map) and the other role I also suggest is the function of the extra stars held by the central figures in Virgo and Scorpio is to establish the location of  supernovae "other than SN 1054" (Taurus).  Specifically SN 1572 (Pisces), SN 1604 (Scorpio), SN 1006/Future SN (Virgo).  In relation to the missing folio of Capricorn,  I expect there to be an extra star held by the central figure in Capricorn if the folio was ever found and believe this is why it was removed.  Overall this speculatively makes the manuscript a tale of  five supernovae, ancient, contemporary to the author and not yet seen, but with the main data and emphasis on SN 1054 and SN 1572.  If the central "zodiac" stars are interpreted as "supernovae" seen here rather than "supernova", it could be a tale of  supernovae that includes many sightings, a table is given below of the well established supernovae* and the Zodiac Constellation Sectors they are part of on an NCP Centred Star Map (SN 1006/185, rather than a future supernova possibly representing the Virgo central star (or both), SN 393 rather than SN 1604  representing the Scorpio central star) and their Chinese descriptions.  Below that is a table of names of transient celestial phenomenon as recorded by the Chinese.  All the well established naked eye supernovae fit within the zodiac sectors with central stars but SN 1006, the brightest naked eye supernova ever recorded, is on the border with Virgo and Libra but only Virgo is shown with a central star.  It seems logical that it is likely to be either a record of many historical supernovae, or a contemporary record of a few specific supernovae (SN 1572 and SN 1604) with a specific comparison from Chinese records (SN 1054) and a possible interpretation of a significant celestial phenomenon in Capricorn, and in Virgo either SN 1006 recorded or a prognostication for such an event in Virgo.   Although it may sound unlikely is not out of context with the manuscript being a 17th century astronomical document and this is pretty close to what astronomers like Kepler actually pondered and calculated, and given the position and thoughts of 17th century astronomers in respect of the authorities the fact that the manuscript is coded the later scenario fits in a way that a straightforward historical record does not.  What would be striking to a 17th century author is that the "stellae novae" contemporary to them were not the first, they may have sought a connection that linked them and possibly try to calculate past and future appearances of stellae novae. Astronomy was concerned with understanding the Universe, understanding how the mechanical cycles of the Universe (such as eclipses and conjunctions and comets) and unexpected celestial events (supernovae and some comets) affected events on Earth such as the fate and fortune of people and nations, and in a very important correlation to the large number of botanical folios in the manuscript their relation to disease and notably, epidemics.  This view of the Universe was later lost and fits very well with the 17th century date I suggest for the manuscript, a later date would not be concerned with such interpretation as science and particularly the science of astronomy split away completely from its astrological roots, and a date much earlier than the 17th century and especially before Tycho would not allow the interpretations I have given to the astronomical folios and the inclusion of the details of Tycho's island and observatories.  My hypothesis relies explicitly on it being a 17th century manuscript or later, and does not allow it to be earlier than Tycho and his observatory on Ven.  My hypothesis is in direct conflict to the date obtained by the recent radio carbon dating and for this I have no explanation other than it is within the realms of possibility that old vellum was in fact used and the manuscript was deliberately made to look as though from an older era.

It can be seen that the above supernovae all recorded by the Chinese are represented by the zodiac folios with central stars. "Guest stars" generally referred to short duration new stars with no movement or tail, "broom stars" to tailed comets; "bushy stars" to either tailless comets or bright, rayed new stars; "long stars" to comets with considerably long tails, sometimes reaching across the sky; "flowing stars" were meteorite showers.   The classification of the various phenomenon was general but not absolute, some "guest stars" were recorded with motion and even tails,  "bushy stars" sometimes with no motion, only the "long stars" were consistent by their definition as long tailed comets.  The "hui" star of 5 BC is thought to be the same as the "po" star recorded by the   Koreans (4 BC though to be a scribal error, correct year being 5 BC) and its identity as comet is not certain and this cross over of celestial phenomena and classification is highlighted with SN 1572 which was originally recorded as "hui" in the "Ming Shih-kao", a draft version of the official record the " Ming Shih" but it was changed to "k'o" in the official record, and the star of 247 AD which was recorded as "hui", visible for 156 days but no movement was recorded.   The "ko" and "po" stars are most likely to be used to describe nova and the Voynich Manuscript may contain references to these names. 

Although it may sound unlikely is not out of context with the manuscript being a 17th century astronomical document and this is pretty close to what astronomers like Kepler actually pondered and calculated.  Astronomy was concerned with understanding the Universe, understanding how the mechanical cycles of the Universe (such as eclipses and conjunctions and comets) and unexpected celestial events (supernovae and some comets) affected events on Earth such as the fate and fortune of people and nations, and in a very important correlation to the large number of botanical folios in the manuscript their relation to disease and notably, epidemics.  This view of the Universe was later lost and fits very well with the 17th century date I suggest for the manuscript, a later date would not be concerned with such interpretation as science and particularly the science of astronomy split away completely from its astrological roots, and a date much earlier than the 17th century and especially before Tycho would not allow the interpretations I have given to the astronomical folios and the inclusion of the details of Tycho's island and observatories.  My hypothesis relies explicitly on it being a 17th century manuscript or later, and does not allow it to be earlier than Tycho and his observatory on Ven.  My hypothesis is in direct conflict to the date obtained by the recent radio carbon dating and for this I have no explanation other than it is within the realms of possibility that old vellum was in fact used and the manuscript was deliberately made to look as though from an older era.

Following on from this I will explore the zodiac folios in more detail at least highlighting the main events and any possible markers, looking at Aries and Taurus last as they appear to be different in context to the other "zodiac" folios. 

To summarise:

Pisces/February - 10th = New Year. Sets the scene with North Pole centred Chinese style in contrast to European style star map.  Central stars - Unlabelled star = SN 1572/An other celestial body?  Labelled star = Polaris?(and SN 1181?)

Aries/March - Vernal Equinox. Early European/Arabic sighting of SN 1054?   Double stripe tethered star =  SN 1504? at the Vernal Equinox?

Taurus/April - Early European/Arabic sighting of SN 1054?  Double tethered star shown near bull's horns = SN 1504?

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Gemini/May - Total eclipse of the Sun.  First recordings of SN 1054 in China? Empire of the Khitan (Liao dynasty) recorded  in the Ch'i-tan kuo chih, 13th century (Various sources debate whether the star appeared during or "near the time of" the eclipse).  Northern Song dynasty sighting also recorded in the much later Sung-shih hsin-pien, 15th century, but no earlier mention.  Late May, Sun in Taurus, SN 1054 would not have been visible at this time, some other possible European mentions before the end of May.

Cancer/June -  Summer solstice.   Sun in Taurus, SN 1054 would not have been visible at this time.

Leo/July- First definitive recordings of SN 1054 in China and Japan.

Virgo/August. Central star = SN 1006/Unknown SN?

Libra/September - Autumnal Equinox.

Scorpio/October - Central star = SN 1604? (SN 393?)

Sagittarius/November.

Capricorn/December - Winter Solstice.  Central star = SN 5 BC?

Aquarius/January - 30th =New Year.

Copyright © 2010 P. Han