Rohonczi Codex Still Undeciphered – Is It The Most Secret Book Written In A Code?

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - There are books that still remain unread because their writing and language are a mystery.

The Rohonczi Codex is just such a book filled with unknown sign-strings supplemented by illustrations that depict symbols of the cross, crescent, and sun/swastika, and an environment where Christian, pagan, and Muslim religions coexist.

This lengthy handwritten book has 448 paper pages. Each page has between 9 and 14 rows of symbols, which may or may not be letters. Its small format resembles a prayer book. If so, the question is to which religion it is dedicated.

The book, which most likely represents a consciously encoded or enciphered text - remains undeciphered, though many similar translation attempts have been made to solve the mystery.

All conclusions that the mysterious codex is a forgery or perhaps has East-Central European or Hungarian origin have failed. In theory, the Rohonczi Codex may be a cipher, a shorthand system, or an artificial language.

The book is now in the collections of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and is named after the city of Rohonc, in Western Hungary (now Rechnitz, Austria), where it was kept until 1838, in a private library of a Hungarian count, Gusztáv Batthyány.
How exactly the count got into the possession of this document is unknown. For many years, scientists have pondered the mysterious script. Many attempts have been made to decipher it, using even modern means like cryptography and computer-based research.

The book, which is not an original work but rather a copy of much earlier text, was written on parchment paper manufactured in the years 1530-1540 in northern Italy.

The ancient book has 87 drawings that illustrate religious events like praying for the dead or sick, climbing the Holy Mountain, passing sacred rivers, and everyday life events of people representing Pagan, Christian, and Muslim religions with their symbols of the crescent, cross, and even sun/swastika.

Apparently, this ancient mixed environment coexisted in harmony and peace. Except that, the illustrations do not provide too many valuable clues to solve the mystery of the codex. Some illustrations are familiar; others are quite alien to us.

The book cover, first and final pages are missing.

Where are exactly the beginning and the end of this most peculiar book? Based on the justification of the right margin, it seems that the symbols were written down from right to left.

In the book's so-called alphabet, there are approximately ten times more symbols than in any known alphabet but some symbols are used rarely, so the symbols in the codex might not be an alphabet.

There were used 150 unknown signs and this would indicate that a system of writing, contained signs representing syllables or something like Chinese characters, instead of individual sounds.

Many illustrations are puzzling, like for example those depicting buildings, of which many resemble temples with towers.

The towers are decorated with crosses, crescents, symbols of the sun with many rays, swastika with three or four hooks, rosetta-symbol with six or eight rays, circles, and other difficult to explain symbols.

There is also a variety of human figures wearing different types of headdresses that make us wonder.

Father Joseph Vajda, a Roman Catholic Dominican monk, considered the Rohonczi Codex, to be the most secret book, written in a code, impossible to decipher. Certainly, further efforts will be made to shed some light on this rare artifact.

For now, one must say that the Rohonczi Codex is a very ancient document with many secrets probably regarding the historical period of time, for which we do not possess written texts. We are not closer to decipher the true meaning of this artifact, which is so stubbornly resistant to translation and interpretation.

Written by – A. Sutherland AncientPages.com Staff Writer

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