Re: Marche: VMS zodiac based on Hermetic sources going back to Dendera

[Brian Eric Farnell <bfarnell@xxxxxxx>]

Dennis wrote:
         Our best indicators to date:
> 
>         1)  Julie Porter, who has been a costumes mistress at
> several Renaissance festivals, notes that the nymphs'
> hairdos date them 1480-1520.
> 
>         2)  Jim Reeds talked to Prof. Sergio Toresella about
> the influence of the "humanist hand" on the Voynich
> script.  The "humanist hand", the bridge between the
> Gothic script of the Middle Ages and the Italic script
> of modern times, was used only for a few decades in the
> 15th century.

I hate to shoot holes in data without any better alternative to
offer (actually I love it), but there are some problems with
these ideas.  I don't say they are wrong, but I always like to
point out the uncertainty factor in any data.  

1)  The hair.  Fashions repeat themselves.  People don't
necessarily draw what is current.  Fashions appear and
dissappear at different times in different places. 

2)  Humanistic hand.  This can be applied to the above as well. 
Formalized styles appear out of what was done commonly (but not
formally) for decades or even centuries in informal settings.  A
good example of this is the 'modern' short form characters used
'only' in the PRC as 'created' under Mao.  Truthfully, all he
did was codify what people had already been doing for at least a
century in informal styles.  Taiwanese have their own short
forms that are mostly similar but not exactly because they have
never been formally codified.  I know we are talking about an
influence more than a codification, but lets not forget that
allot of people usually do something for a while before it
starts to gain enough acceptance to make itself visible.  True,
the introduction of some new idea will sometimes give you a time
period something can't predate, but I'm not sure that's the case
here.  Truthfully, I don't know what the humanistic hand is, but
these are my questions about dating based on style.  I think
we'd need at least one more indicator on top of the other two in
order to make a reliable assumption.  

Like I said, I'm not saying the dates are wrong, I just think we
should keep in mind not get married to the idea before we get to
know the girl a little better.

A humorous side note that may be apropos:  I once got bored at
work and sent an e-mail to all of my employees promising a day
off for the best answer as to why the Grateful Dead used the
dancing bear as a logo.  The best was from a Chinese friend who
said, "Well, you could read allot of things into it, but I think
it's actually much simpler.  It was the only animal they knew
how to draw."

Regards,
Brian