The Voynich Manuscript and ancient-oriental attribution claims

Record summary

The Voynich Manuscript is an illustrated codex written in an undeciphered script, with botanical, astronomical, biological, and pharmaceutical-looking sections. Its vellum dates to the early fifteenth century, although its author, language, purpose, and transmission history remain unknown. Some popular theories assign it to ancient Egyptian, Near Eastern, or lost civilizations, but no such attribution is accepted. It falls outside antiquity as an object while serving as a comparative case for long-duration claims, retrospective exotic attribution, and the limits of decipherment from images and statistical patterns alone.