Mysterious Ancient Manuscripts with Hidden Secrets

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Over the years, many mysterious ancient manuscripts have been uncovered, and researchers who have examined these documents have found hidden secrets from the past. Most of these secret texts are concealed in other archaeological records, and the traces of these manuscripts are usually invisible to the naked eye. The utilization of modern technology like X-rays, CT scans and multispectral imaging are often necessary for bringing the secrets of these mysterious and long-lost works to light.

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Hidden Text of Euripides

Number 1 – The Hidden Text of Euripides. A group of researchers from the Universities of Bologna and Gottingen discovered a hidden text of a fifth-century-BC Greek drama beneath a 13th-centuary-AD prophetic book of the Old Testament. This early work is attributed to one of Athens’s foremost dramatists, Euripides, whose work became the cornerstone of education in the Hellenistic age and has significantly influenced modern drama. This hidden text was uncovered through multispectral imaging in 2013, and not only does the document contain Euripides’s work, but it is also full of ancient annotations.

Treatise of the Vessels

Number 2 – Treatise of the Vessels. Archaeologists and fortune hunters have been hard at work to find the alleged hidden treasures stashed away by Israel’s third king, Solomon, and among them is the legendary Ark of the Covenant. At present, a newly-translated ancient Hebrew text known as the Treatise of the Vessels seems to have new information about the location of the elusive Ark, along with the rest of King Solomon’s treasures. According to a translation by James Davila, a professor at the University of St. Andrews, the treasures were hidden by some Levites and prophets, and that they are stocked away in various locations in the Land of Israel and Babylonia, while others were delivered into the hands of the angels.

Codex Selden

Number 3 – Codex Selden. For decades, researchers were certain that hidden messages can be found beneath the surface of Codex Selden, which was previously lost for almost 500 years. It was only in 2016, that hyperspectral imaging finally allowed researchers to take a closer look at the surface of the precolonial Mexican manuscript, revealing hidden texts and images beneath. So far, the researchers have yet to complete scanning all the pages, and the text has not been translated, but researchers are convinced that more discoveries are to be made once the hidden messages of the Codex Selden are interpreted.

Novgorod Codex

Number 4 – Novgorod Codex. In 2000, archaeologists excavating Novgorod in Russia discovered the Novgorod Codex, the earliest known book made by the Rus’ people. This hyper-palimpsest, dated to the 11th century, preserved two Psalms. However, when the wax was removed for conservation, the restorers found retained traces of an earlier text, including several previously unknown Slavonic compositions of native origin. It is believed that the Novgorod Codex may contain several dozens of hidden text layers.

Codex Zacynthius

Number 5 – Codex Zacynthius. In the 13th century, the Codex Zacynthius were an Evangeliarium, an old manuscript that contained a collection of Gospel passages. However, in 1861, researchers detected that there is actually a hidden text in the Codex Zacynthius. The text is a sixth or seventh-century script which turned out to contain an account of the Gospel of Luke. This Codex has 176 vellum leaves, and experts believe that there are a lot more secrets to be discovered in the ancient document, and they plan to analyze the hidden text through multispectral analysis.

The Lost Gospel

Number 6 – The “Lost Gospel.” Many theologians have long speculated about Jesus’ alleged romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene. However, if the translation of the so-called “Lost Gospel” – a 1500-year-old ancient manuscript found at the British Library – is any indication, then what we believe to know about the life of Jesus Christ at present is not completely true. Translated from Aramaic, the text reveals that Jesus had indeed married Mary Magdalene and even had children with her. This makes the Christian messiah a husband and a father to a family of his own if the “Lost Gospel” is proven true.

Voynich Manuscript

Number 7 – The Voynich Manuscript. This ancient medieval manuscript was named after Wilfrid M. Voynich, a Polish-American book dealer who discovered the text in a chest in the Jesuit College at the Villa Mondragone in Frascati in 1912. The cryptic document is written on medieval parchment using an unknown script system showing basic statistical patterns which resemble a real language. However, there are also those that believe that the manuscript was a forgery intended as a hoax. Until now, the nature and origin of the manuscript have remained a mystery and have led to a lot of controversy and debate.

Sibiu Manuscript

Number 8 – The Sibiu Manuscript. In 1961, Doru Todericiu, a professor of Science and Technology at the University of Bucharest, found an ancient document, now known as the Sibiu Manuscript. The 450-page manuscript dates back to 1570, with its history even going further back by several centuries. The old text contains technical data about multi-stage rockets, artillery, and ballistics. It also reported about a “javelin” which flew with considerable effective range, and the launching of a multi-tiered rocket in the city of Sibiu, where thousands of people supposedly witnessed the event in 1555 and turned out to be a complete success.

Black Book of Carmarthen

Number 9 – Black Book of Carmarthen. The Black Book of Carmarthen was written by a single monk around 1250, and it is the oldest surviving manuscript which is written solely in Welsh. In 2015, Raul Russell and Myriah Williams of the University of Cambridge reported that hidden contents had been found in the book which had been invisible under normal viewing conditions. Using a variety of imaging techniques like ultraviolet lamps and photo-editing software, some of the unknown material was detected, including extensive marginal annotations such as inscriptions, poems, and even drawings.

Codex Washingtonianus

Number 10 – Codex Washingtonianus. Housed at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art, the Codex Washingtonianus is the world’s third oldest Bible. The priceless ancient book is made up of almost 200 parchment pages and is believed to be more than 1,500 years old. The Codex Washingtonianus has been the subject of controversy because of the unique insertion in the ending of the biblical gospel of Mark. Referred to as the “Freer Logion,” a part of the passage makes mention of the end of Satan’s power, seemingly addressing the question of whether God or Satan was the one in charge of mankind’s fate. The text is not found in any other manuscript, and when it was published in 1912, the passage caused much consternation as it raised another challenge to the Bible people knew.

The ancient documents we have mentioned, even without their unlocked secrets, are important archaeological artifacts that serve as an enduring testament to mankind’s complex and impressive history. And as more mysterious ancient manuscripts continue to get discovered, the potential secrets they hide could now be much easier to uncover - thanks to modern technology – allowing us to learn more about our past and possibly gain a better understanding of who we are through the works of our ancestors.

Sources:

  • http://www.messagetoeagle.com/10-mysterious-ancient-manuscripts-hidden-secrets/
  • http://listverse.com/2017/01/08/10-mysterious-hidden-texts/
  • http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/ancient-philosophical-writings-found-hidden-beneath-medieval-text-001024
  • http://www.history.com/news/fate-of-the-lost-ark-revealed
  • http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/does-newly-translated-hebrew-text-reveal-insights-king-solomon-s-treasures
  • http://www.businessinsider.com/new-technology-confirms-a-hidden-text-in-a-mixtec-book-2016-8?r=UK&IR=T
  • http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/csad/Newsletters/Newsletter10/Newsletter10d.html
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Book_of_Carmarthen
  • http://www.ancientpages.com/2015/08/04/codex-washingtonianus-contains-passage-not-seen-biblical-manuscript/

Voynich Manuscript: The Ancient Book Nobody Can Read

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The Voynich Manuscript has been dubbed as the “the most mysterious manuscript in the world.” It is considered a manuscript codex, the nature, language, date and origin of which have long remained a mystery. Over the years, the Voynich manuscript has caused a lot of controversy and debate, with some arguing that the ancient medieval text contains an encoded message written by an unknown author. Many skilled cryptographers have studied the document and attempted to break the supposed code it contains. However, up to now, none of them were able to crack it.

Because of the enigma surrounding the Voynich manuscript, many questions are left in the air. Does the Voynich manuscript really contain a secret message? If so, is this encoded message an unknown language that we are unable to break? Or, is the book a complete hoax?

What is the Voynich Manuscript?

The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex that is hand-written in an unknown writing system. The text is believed to have been composed in Northern Italy during the Italian Renaissance, and it is named after Wilfrid Voynich, the Polish book dealer who purchased the manuscript in the early 20th century. The Voynich manuscript has been studied by many professional and amateur cryptographers, which include the American and British codebreakers from the two World Wars. And since no one has succeeded in the deciphering its contents, it remains a famous and exciting case in the history of cryptography. At present, the manuscript is safeguarded in Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and is referred to as a “Cipher Manuscript.”

History of the Voynich Manuscript

Much of the early history of the book is unknown, and like its contents, the history of ownership of the Voynich manuscript is contested and filled with some gaps. However, it has generally been agreed on that the text and illustrations of the manuscript are all characteristically European. According to a radiocarbon dating performed by researchers of the University of Arizona on the manuscript’s vellum in 2009, the Voynich manuscript could be dated between 1404 and 1438.

The first confirmed owner of the text was George Baresch, an obscure alchemist from Prague who lived between the 16th and 17th century. Upon his death, the manuscript was passed on to his friend Jan Marek Marci – a rector of Charles University in Prague – who in turn, sent the text to Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher from the Collegio Romano. There are no records of the book for the next 200 years after it remained in the library of the Collegio Romano. It is assumed by some that the book probably remained there until the troops of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy captured the city in 1870 and annexed the Papal States. The new Italian government seized many properties of the church, including the library of the Collegio. Before this could be initiated, many of the university library’s books were transferred to the personal libraries of its faculty, and one of them was the Voynich manuscript which was in the private library of Petrus Beckx, the university’s rector at the time.

Around 1912, the Collegio Romano sold some of its holdings discreetly, with Wilfrid Voynich acquiring 30 manuscripts in the process. Among them was the mysterious manuscript which now bears his name. In 1930, the manuscript was inherited after Wilfrid’s death by his widow Ethel Voynich. When she died in 1960, she left the manuscript to her close friend Anne Nill, who sold the book in 1961 to antique book dealer Hans P. Kraus. When Kraus was unable to find a buyer for the manuscript, he then donated it to Yale University in 1969.

Description of the Voynich Manuscript

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The physical characteristics or the codicology of the Voynich manuscript have been studied by various researchers. Some of its pages are missing, but there are currently around 240 vellum pages in existence, with a size of 23.5 by16.2 by 5 centimeters. The manuscript contains mainly texts, consisting of over 170,000 characters that is mostly written in an unknown language which runs left to right. The book also contains various illustrations which can be identified according to different styles and subject matter.

Based on the subject matter of the drawings found in the text, the contents of the manuscripts fall into six sections: botanical, astronomical, biological, cosmological, pharmaceutical and recipes. The botanical folios contain drawings of 113 unidentified plant species. The astronomical illustrations include astral charts with radiating circles, suns and moons, as well as Zodiac symbols. A biological section contains a myriad of drawings of miniature female nudes, while the cosmological section consists of an elaborate array of cosmological medallions which possibly depict geographical forms. The pharmaceutical folios are filled with drawings of over 100 different species of medicinal herbs and roots, while the last section contains continuous pages of text – which are believed to be recipes – with star-like flowers marking each entry in the left margin.

Purpose of the Voynich Manuscript

The overall impression given by the surviving leaves of the manuscript led some to believe that the Voynich manuscript is meant to serve as a pharmacopoeia or a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, or to address topics in medieval or early modern medicine. However, the unusual and intriguing details of the drawings have fueled many theories about the book’s origin, its contents, as well as the purpose for which it was intended.

Theories About the Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich manuscript is the subject of many hypotheses, particularly about its language, the Voynichese. According to the “letter-based cipher” theory, the manuscript contains meaningful text that was written in some European language that was intentionally rendered obscure. This was done by mapping the message to the alphabet of the manuscript by means of a cipher whose algorithm operated on individual letters. The main argument of this theory maintains that it is difficult to explain a European author using a strange and mysterious alphabet if not to conceal information. For most 20th-century experts who attempted to decipher the text, like the informal team of NSA cartographers led by William F. Friedman in the early 1950s, this particular theory is heavily supported as a working hypothesis that could unlock the alleged secrets of the manuscript.

There is also another theory – the “codebook cipher” theory – claiming that the “words” found in the Voynich manuscript could actually be codes that can be looked up in a “dictionary” or codebook. Another theory holds that the text of the manuscript is mostly meaningless, but contains meaningful information hidden in inconspicuous details – for example, the second letter of each word, or the number of letters in each line. Needless to say, none of these working hypotheses have successfully decoded the message concealed in the words and illustrations of the manuscript, if there were such hidden information in the first place.

Is the Book a Hoax?

Because of the bizarre features of the texts of the Voynich manuscript, as well as the suspicious contents of its illustrations, there are also theories that support the idea that the manuscript is nothing more than a hoax. According to the supporters of this theory, if no one is able to extract the meaning of the book’s contents, then perhaps it is because the document contains no meaningful content at all.

Those who argue for authenticity, however, maintain that the manuscript appears to be too sophisticated to be just a hoax. While hoaxes during that period were usually crude, the Voynich manuscript exhibits several subtle characteristics that only become evident after careful statistical analysis. If the book is simply a hoax, why would the author employ a complex and difficult algorithm if no one in the expected audience could be able to tell the difference?

Marcelo Montemurro, a theoretical physicist from the University of Manchester, for example, studied the linguistic patterns in the Voynich manuscript extensively. He found the presence of semantic networks like content-bearing words occurring in a clustered pattern, as well as new words being utilized when there was a shift in topic. With this evidence, Montemurro believed that it is highly unlikely that these features were just “incorporated” into the text to make a hoax seem more realistic.

At the way things are going at present, the Voynich manuscript is still a long way from being understood, and it will most likely remain a riddle for a very long time, if not permanently. What we can be sure of is that the manuscript will continue to become a subject matter that sparks intense debates among scientists, pseudoscientists and mystics. And even without wild speculations, the Voynich manuscript is, without a doubt, a fascinating artifact of mankind’s history and culture. 

Sources:

http://www.messagetoeagle.com/the-ancient-book-nobody-is-able-to-read-voynich-manuscript/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_voynich_manuscript_the_book_nobody_can_read
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-unsolvable-mysteries-of-the-voynich-manuscript
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/collections/highlights/voynich-manuscript
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/12/01/the-pleasures-of-incomprehensibility/
http://www.crystalinks.com/voynich.html