The Voynich manuscript is one of the most mysterious books in the world. It was purchased by namesake and rare book dealer Wilfrid Voynich in 1912, and was previously owned by Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. The manuscript is said to be 240 pages long, although some pages are missing, and consists of illustrations of unknown plants, astrological charts, strange floating heads, naked women, and other images that are too bizarre to be described. Its words are written on vellum pages from left to right and have remained indecipherable for decades. Carbon dated back to the early 1400’s, it is believed that the book may have been written during the Italian Renaissance.
Many scholars, professional code breakers, and armchair experts have attempted to decode the book with no success. Its origins are said to be anything from an expired civilization to ancient aliens to a complete hoax. Until now, no one has known for sure what the 600 year old codex actually says or depicts, although it is speculated to be an early pharmacopoeia or medical text.
Many have claimed to have solved the manuscript’s mysteries, although up until now, all have been proven wrong. Last month, a German Egyptologist claims to have decoded the centuries old codex that has been kept in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University since 1969. Dr. Rainer Hannig from the Roemer -und Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany believes that after years of work, he has finally cracked the code. He says that he noticed a similarity between certain characters in the manuscript and Hebrew, which led him to first decode a few words and then full sentences.
Although he does believe he has cracked the code, Dr. Hannig says that the full manuscript will not be completely translated for at least a couple of years. He has written a full report on the subject, which can be found on his website, but it is in German and at the moment, has not been translated.
