At the suggestion of your moderator, I've done some further investigations into the Book of Kells, and it's creator...
At the suggestion of your moderator, I've done some further investigations into the Book of Kells, and it's creator St Columba, and what I've read is interesting.
It help if one suspends religious dogma for a moment and takes the view that “miracles” performed by Columba in his lifetime may have a scientific explanation.
I would refer you to the Vitae Columbae, compiled not long after Columba’s death in the 5th c. and an English translation available here: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T201040/index.html
Columba performed many unusual miracles during his life and was reported to have healed the sick and restored life to the dead. He predicted the future, including his own death to the very minute. He allegedly spoke with animals, including the earliest written account of the Loch Ness cryptid. Items that were blessed or created by his hands (including the book of Kells) took on strange properties. I have attached in the images, an account of his copying of the book of Kells.
The other suggestion was that I include some examples of glyph-like characters from Kells. I’ve also included two from the Gospels of Lindisfarne, a similar manuscript contemporary to Kells. There seem to be two forms:
The first is heavy black letters with unusual angular forms, not unlike the glyphs seen in our XM portals. Although these letters clearly form the latin text, they are strange in form, but not in a consistent way, suggesting that there may be alternative readings of the forms.
The second is zoomorphic forms, where the limbs and bodies of animals are twisted and posed into odd configurations to make the intended letters. These are a bit harder to read and familiarity with latin and with ligatured letters will help. The unusual thing is that the some of the creatures bodies and limbs are superfluous to the intended letters, again suggesting that there may be more to these initials than meets the eye. I am used to looking for the latin ligatures by habit, but fresh eyes like yourselves may be able to make out glyphs, if they are there.
I can help with page sources or latin translations if needed. The entire digitized text of Kells is available at Trinity College, Dublin’s web site. I hope this is not too many images.
It help if one suspends religious dogma for a moment and takes the view that “miracles” performed by Columba in his lifetime may have a scientific explanation.
I would refer you to the Vitae Columbae, compiled not long after Columba’s death in the 5th c. and an English translation available here: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T201040/index.html
Columba performed many unusual miracles during his life and was reported to have healed the sick and restored life to the dead. He predicted the future, including his own death to the very minute. He allegedly spoke with animals, including the earliest written account of the Loch Ness cryptid. Items that were blessed or created by his hands (including the book of Kells) took on strange properties. I have attached in the images, an account of his copying of the book of Kells.
The other suggestion was that I include some examples of glyph-like characters from Kells. I’ve also included two from the Gospels of Lindisfarne, a similar manuscript contemporary to Kells. There seem to be two forms:
The first is heavy black letters with unusual angular forms, not unlike the glyphs seen in our XM portals. Although these letters clearly form the latin text, they are strange in form, but not in a consistent way, suggesting that there may be alternative readings of the forms.
The second is zoomorphic forms, where the limbs and bodies of animals are twisted and posed into odd configurations to make the intended letters. These are a bit harder to read and familiarity with latin and with ligatured letters will help. The unusual thing is that the some of the creatures bodies and limbs are superfluous to the intended letters, again suggesting that there may be more to these initials than meets the eye. I am used to looking for the latin ligatures by habit, but fresh eyes like yourselves may be able to make out glyphs, if they are there.
I can help with page sources or latin translations if needed. The entire digitized text of Kells is available at Trinity College, Dublin’s web site. I hope this is not too many images.
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