The Alchemist Scrolls, the Aztec Code, and Other Ancient Books That Are Cited as the Strangest in History

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Throughout the history of mankind, from the appearance of the first hieroglyphs and letters, and ending with modern philosophical treatises, people have used writing to express thoughts about life, about themselves, about the world around them and about their beliefs. But some books are large, complex treatises that cannot be deciphered today. Some have a completely incomprehensible origin, while others have content. Since the inception of literature, mankind has accumulated many such works, which still do not cease to amaze scientists.

1. Code of Mendoza

The Mendoza Codex is an illustrated Aztec codex that was written around 1541. It contains an extremely detailed history of the Aztecs, their rulers, lifestyle, details of their culture and much more. The codex was written for the king of Spain by the recently conquered Aztec people, so the book contains inscriptions with Spanish translations, as well as explanatory remarks so that the work is understandable in Spain. The commentary was written by a Spanish priest, who was fluent in the Aztec language Nahuatl, although the code itself was written exclusively by representatives of the indigenous peoples.

Although this work is unusual already at least because of the time of creation, description of a distant culture and historical significance, its history is also strange. The codex was written for Emperor Charles V and was sent to Spain by ship, the manuscript never made it to its destination. The ship at sea was intercepted and plundered by French pirates, and the book ended up in France. There she was acquired by the cosmographer of the French king Henry II named André Teve, who wrote his name in the work a total of five times and. Two of these inscriptions contain the date 1553.

Later, an Englishman named Richard Hacklight bought the Mendoza Code and took it to England, although due to obvious language difficulties no one knew what it was about. It was passed from hand to hand in England on several occasions before being transferred to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University in 1659, five years after the death of the last known owner of the codex, a man named John Salden. There he remained for 172 years, collecting dust on shelves, until he was discovered, brought to the attention of scientists and recognized as a legal document in 1831.

2. The Lucifer principle

Although The Lucifer Principle is not exactly a historical work, about which nothing is known, it cannot be ignored due to the public resonance that it caused. Some even suggest that the authors of the book are trying to use science to propagate evil and even outright fascism.

This work argues that evil, according to Nietzsche's principles, is not just a bad and unwanted part of human existence that people hope to someday eradicate from society, but in fact it is a creative force inherent in the very structure of our existence. After reading some of the postulates in the book, you wonder why the "Lucifer Principle" was not completely forbidden: "You are not evil because you are imperfect; you are evil, because all the structures of life are inherently partly evil…. and biology tells us that it is. Evil is in your DNA. Deal with it…".

3. Ripley's Scroll

"Ripley's Scroll" is an English alchemical text, extremely occult and obscurantist, hidden in meaning and riddled with riddles. The work is credited to an Englishman named George Ripley, who lived from about 1415 to 1490. The content of the scroll is almost impossible to understand, and its age and obscurity only further complicate understanding. Most medieval writings read like fairy tales from another world, and this alchemical occult work is even more "distant from this world" than the ordinary writings of those days.

The book often refers to occult symbolism in the expression of concise but indecipherable statements such as: “You must make the Water of the Earth, and the Earth of Air, and the Air of Fire, and the Fire of the Earth. Black Sea. Black Moon. Black Sol. And also there is a hill on the ground. Also a snake in the well. Its tail is long with wings spread wide. Everyone is ready to run from all sides. Fix the well quickly, so that your serpent does not come out, For if it comes out, you will lose your virtue. Stone … . At first glance, the goal seems to be to explain the inner workings of alchemy, the desire to turn base metals into gold, as most lay people thought. But almost nothing is known about alchemy today.

In addition to trying to make a philosopher's stone, turn lead into gold and make the "elixir of life," the deeper meaning of alchemy was the search for a substance that could purify the soul of the alchemist. This is why Ripley's Scroll and many other alchemical works are such dark, almost surreal literary works with intentions hidden in metaphors, abstraction, poetry and symbolism. This work is a delightful medieval mystery.

4. "Satanic Writings"

While the Satanic Writings, written by Church of Satan High Priest Peter Gilmour, are by no means an age-old mystery or confusing meaning, they are a collection of essays, ideas, and social commentary that were largely based on the writings of Anton LaVey, the official founder of the Church of Satan. …

In the book, Gilmore discusses topics such as how Satanists should get married, and his views on same-sex marriage and what he sees as outdated family structures. Gilmore compares humans to black holes - some pull others into their sphere of influence, are themselves "strong" and follow an individualistic path, while others are parasitic by nature and "attach to their masters."

5. Rohontsi Code

The Rohontsi Codex has not been deciphered for 180 years. Since the manuscript was donated to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in the 19th century, it has been studied by scholars and linguists, and yet none of its words have been deciphered. Moreover, no connection has been established with any known language. This is not an ancient work of any culture that is known to have existed and been lost in time. This work was written with the intention to hide its meaning from everyone, and today even the most brilliant minds cannot understand what it is about.

The history of this beautifully illustrated piece is also unknown. It is believed that it first appeared "in public" in 1743 in the Rohontsi library in Hungary. While the work is definitely not written in Hungarian or a derivative of it, it is believed that at some point it was a prayer book belonging to a Hungarian. In 1838, the Hungarian prince Gustav Battyani, who lives in England, donated his entire library to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. It was then that attempts began to translate the Rohontsi Code into modern language, and they all failed. It is truly one of the most mysterious works of literature in the world, and while some think the code is a hoax, many believe it is genuine.

6. "Chronicles of omens and prophecies"

This work is also known by its English-language title, The Chronicles of Omens and Prophecies, and was written by a man named Konrad Lycosten in 1557. It contains an extensive and detailed collection of all monsters, mysterious, occult beliefs and even sightings of Halley's comet, monstrous beasts and much more, from Adam and Eve, ancient Greece and beyond to the Middle Ages.

It looks like an almanac of completely strange human beliefs from ancient history to 1557, and it contains many dark, fatalistic prophecies that, both in writing and in content, are very reminiscent of the prophecies of the modern (for that era) author Nostradamus. The Chronicles also describes sea monsters, natural disasters, and even what some believe to be UFOs (some unknown space object that was probably a comet and was seen in Arabia in 1479). It is a huge encyclopedia, written in the same style as the Book of Revelation.

7. Serafini's Code

Many readers over the centuries, from the inception of written literature to the present day, have tried to make their writings obscure and unusual for various reasons. Even in more modern times, writers use a variety of tactics such as technical terminology, abstraction, and even what appears to be almost a completely different language to get their point across. Sometimes the reader needs to get rid of their prejudices in order to see the world, as if for the first time, from a different perspective.

This is the case with one of the strangest books in history, The Serafini Code, a work created by the Italian artist, architect and thinker Luigi Serafini in the late 1970s (although it contains medieval imagery and surreal illustrations). The work, published in 1981, cannot be deciphered by anyone, as it is written in a coded language that no one can understand, and the illustrations in it look like surreal art.

8. Codes of Nag Hammadi

The Nag Hammadi codices are a vast collection of Christian manuscripts that were kept in the Egyptian desert for as many as 1600 years and were not discovered until 1945. Taken together, they form the basis of Christian Gnosticism, which today is being re-pieced together again after being forgotten for over 1,600 years. During this time, attempts were made to destroy a number of the narrative works of ancient early Christianity. Many of the works we know of today have been excluded from the Bible for political and religious reasons, and the Nag Hammadi Codes are their mainstay.

They contain the only complete text of the Gospel of Thomas, one of the most interesting books, mainly a collection of alleged sayings of Jesus. This huge library of alternative stories about the life of Jesus is made up of 52 texts in 13 leather-bound volumes. Early Christianity had many more sects and texts that scientists today are not even aware of, and this great find shed much light on the beliefs of early Christians. The Gnostic approach allows you to look at Christianity in an occult light.

9. The Voynich manuscript

The Voynich manuscript is called “the book that no one can read,” and for a very good reason: like some others on this list, absolutely no one can read it. "Idioglossia" is a term for a "private" language intended to be deciphered by only a few people, and such languages have existed since ancient times, in occult history, and even today are used every day in the modern prison system, where prisoners talk to each other in code so that the overseers do not understand them. This manuscript is written in its own writing system, which is completely unrelated to any known today. The Voynich manuscript is believed to have been written in the 15th or 16th centuries, making it yet another old work with a strange and completely incomprehensible origin. Its author is unknown.

A bookseller named Wilfrid Voynich acquired the book in 1912, hence it got its name, but what happened to the book before is unknown. The manuscript is replete with illustrations detailing many different things. Some of its pages hint at astrology, as they have symbols of the zodiac, moons, stars and other celestial bodies, while others seem to be a manual for botany or chemistry, while others may be related to medicine. There were many versions about the possible origin of the mysterious book, but they all failed miserably. Radiocarbon analysis showed that the material on which the manuscript was written dates back to the 1400s, but scientists, cryptologists and linguists have not been able to explain the origin and meaning of the book. The Voynich manuscript is one of the true modern secrets.

10. "Power is right"

Power is Right or Survival of the Fittest is a strange work written under the pen name Ragnar Redbird, although no one knows the true name of its author. The main message of this book is that the strong can do whatever they want without any hesitation, even if what they want is completely unfair. This strange, bizarre, deeply unethical and disturbing book was first published in 1890.

Not surprisingly, during the Victorian era in England, this work, which defies all cultural values, was published anonymously, as the author could have been imprisoned or killed simply because of his work. Power is Right is on many lists of prohibited books, and although the book can be found on the Internet, most publishers today refuse to publish this work because of its cold, apathetic, psychopathic nature that supports selfishness, anarchy and power. Power is Right supports the ideas of full social Darwinism and rejects any ethical standards, including natural, human and civil rights, or any rights that are not based on power and power. According to the book, power is the only thing that can establish law in this world.

And especially for lovers of antiquities, the story what the Egyptian book of spells told about, the scroll from the oasis and other ancient manuscripts that have recently been deciphered