Strange Texts · Manuscripts & Books

The Rohonc Codex

An illustrated manuscript filled with unfamiliar signs and scenes whose origins and interpretation remain contested.

Page from the Rohonc Codex
Rohonc Codex page; Wikimedia Commons

Uncertain date · Undeciphered writing

The codex is associated with the historical library at Rohonc, now Rechnitz, and entered the Hungarian Academy of Sciences collections in the nineteenth century. Its pages combine densely written symbols with illustrations, many apparently religious. Claims about the language, date, or decipherment should be treated cautiously: there is no broadly accepted reading.

A point of interest

What illustrated evidence can—and cannot—tell us when the accompanying script is unfamiliar.

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