The Codex of Rohonc
Pages from the Codex of Rohonc.
The Codex of Rohonc is an illustrated book by an unknown author whose mystery rivals that of the Voynich Manuscript. It is named after the city of Rohonc in Hungary, where the book resided until 1838, after which it was donated to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The text is written in an as yet undeciphered language and writing system but is continually being investigated by scholars and aspiring cryptologists alike. The paper upon which the Codex was written has been carbon dated to the mid 1500s, though it is currently not known when the book itself was written.
In contrast to the illustrations found in the Voynich Manuscript that leave much scope for discussion, those evidenced in the Codex of Rohonc appear to have seemingly biblical leanings. Most of the imagery can be understood to be scenes as distinct as the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem or Jesus being crucified. These Christian figures would suggest the mysterious book has a religious purpose, but if that is the case then why is the text written in such a way that no one could understand it? Perhaps it was written by someone renouncing religion, and so the text is coded to hide this fact from the Church, or maybe the religious illustrations are to distract from the writing and the true nature of the book. I feel that because the illustrations would point to the book being theological in some form or another, I would propose that it is less likely to be a hoax. Of course, this is speculation, and part of the book’s allure.
It is interesting to note that the number of individual written glyphs in the Codex is ten times higher than any known alphabet - currently the list sits at 792 characters. However some symbols are scarcely used, which perhaps leads us to believe that the glyphs are encoded syllables or words, in which case they would be logograms and not letters.
If the written codex is indeed a hoax, the very fact that it is compiled in to a bound book enforces the notion that there is a story to tell. The story might be a work of fiction, a recipe book or instruction manual, but nevertheless it is the format of the writing that alludes to the promise of decipherment. I have questioned this idea before with regards to the Voynich Manuscript and the Voynich Symphony. How much of our yearning to decipher the writing comes from the fact that it is a book? I wonder how much we strive to read and understand asemic works with the hopes of grasping semantic content for the sheer fact that we understand the book format to be a method of disseminating information.
Regardless of what the true purpose of the Codex of Rohonc may be, it provides a point of discussion around the nature of the written word and its capacity to engross, fascinate and capture our attention. There are many conceivable hypotheses and educated guesses that can be reached, but it is my hope that there will always be a Codex of Rohonc or Voynich Manuscript to keep the passion for handwriting theory alive. I intend to continue researching ideas of constructed languages, universally understood languages, and also exploring the limits of the format and presentation of the written word; as this seems to be quite an integral part of how we approach our reading of both semantic and asemic words.
Pages from the Codex of Rohonc.