Shepherd's Monument

[indianajoanne]

Dear Esteemed Scholars and Friends,
Did anyone ever come to any conclusion about the significance of the letters on the Shepherds' Monument?

warmth
,

indy

[Vortex]

That "code" it seems has falling into the fringes or cracks of various groups. It was a few years back a fellow from Canada claimed to have solved the riddle and I recall reading online about a big to do about it. But it never came to light or fully reported.

I'm not sure we'll ever fully know, but this mystery has sort of gone off the radar again.

[indianajoanne]

Dear Esteemed Vortex,

Greetings!!

Do you happen to have the lettering handy? I think it was concluded that their interpretation was bogus, correct?

warmth,

joanne

[Vortex]

I don't have the code handy.

The British code breakers were said to be giving him some accolades, but that was years ago. Either his translation was wrong or some one smelled something funny. I don't know what happened after that. Things just got quiet and I haven't heard anything more. I would assume it didn't pan out, but if they were going to doing something special for it you'd think they did find some merit to the translation.

I haven't seen anything on it since.

[Dashinvaine]

The 'D' and 'M' are lower, than the other letter and wider apart. Probably stand for Dis Manibus (to the shades of the departed'. It can be inferred from that that the rest stands for something in Latin, though it is unusual that a capital 'U' is included. On a classical inscription big 'U's would look like 'V's, and small 'v's like 'u's. The code-breakers apparently thought the inscription was something to do with Jesus and the Priory of Sion, only the latter never existed so that can't be right.

[indianajoanne]

The 'D' and 'M' are lower, than the other letter and wider apart. Probably stand for Dis Manibus (to the shades of the departed'. It can be inferred from that that the rest stands for something in Latin, though it is unusual that a capital 'U' is included. On a classical inscription big 'U's would look like 'V's, and small 'v's like 'u's. The code-breakers apparently thought the inscription was something to do with Jesus and the Priory of Sion, only the latter never existed so that can't be right.

O U O S V A V V

D M

DEAR ESTEEMED DASHINVAINE,

I'm sorry I am so perplexed. If a "U" could stand for a "V" why would there be a "U" and a "V" ? Am I having a blond moment again?

warmth and kind regards

indy

[Dashinvaine]

A big 'U' did not feature in the classical Latin alphabet. Us and Vs looked the same. Similarly there were no 'J's, which were written as Is.

So Julius Caesar would be written IVLIVS CAESAR.

My point is that there is a capital U in the inscription, so even though possibly referring to something in Latin, it renders it in a modern alphabet. This is quite unusual as classical inscriptions, even in English, commonly used only ancient Roman letters. Therefore you might see inscriptions like NATIONAL MVSEVM OF VSELESS OLD IVNK!)

[indianajoanne]

Thank you Esteemed DAshinvaine!!

warmth

indy