The part on the right recalls by its trisection the signr, which I regard as the week of 13 days and, in fact, the interval between the two hieroglyphs is 13 days. On theleft is the inverted figure of a person in a squatting attitude, the head surrounded by stars as on pages 57b and 58b and a sign on the back which may be a suggestion of the sun-glyph. In this figure, which occurs also in the Tro-Cort. and in the inscriptions, I see the planet Mercury and I believe that that planet's retrogression (which lasts 17-18 days) or disappearance into the light of the sun during this week, is the subject of this passage. 7 and 8 are the sign for D with the usual Ahau, and 11 and 12 are the hieroglyphs of the death-god A.
Instead of three pictures there is only one here, viz:—a woman with nose-peg, sitting on a mat and apparently waiting for something. We also find figures sitting on mats elsewhere, for example on pages 7b and 68b.
Page 21b.
This is also a Tonalamatl of 10 parts (10 × 26). The first column should be read first from top to bottom and then the second. The days are exactly the same as on page 21a, and here too Cimi and Eb have changed places.
The hieroglyphs run thus:—
The signs forming the hieroglyphs into groups are, in addition to the cross in 2, 6, 10 and 14, the heads in 1, 5, 9 and 13 with an Akbal sign (indistinct in 9) which, by the lock of hair in 5, 9 and 13, refer to a woman. This lock of hair is replaced by a hand in 1.
Sign 3, with whichmin 4 is associated as a determinative, shows that the first group ought to have a picture of the black god L grouped with a female figure.
The second group is the only one with a picture. On the right there is a female figure, which, judging by the headdress,we have already met on page 19a. Opposite her sits the dog which we saw on page 13c. Here (in sign 7), as on page 13c, the hieroglyph of the dog is combined with a Cimi sign, and this hieroglyph is repeated in 8 with the signc, which is so closely allied to Cimi.
For the third group the god A should have been represented with the woman, as is proved by sign 11 so peculiarly combined withras a superfix. To this hieroglyphais added, doubtless referring to the good days, as if merely to fill space.
The hieroglyphs of the fourth group do not, I think, convey a clear idea as to which deity belongs here. His sign is 15, which is compounded of Manik and Chuen with a superfix, nor does the Cimi added in 16 shed light on the subject. As for 15 we have already found it on page 13c with the prefixed 4, which I find prefixed in this way in at least 12 different signs.
Pages 21c—22c.
This is a Tonalamatl of five parts in which the red numerals are wanting.
The hieroglyphs are in the following order:—
Among these are hieroglyphs which are common to all the groups:—the cross in 1, 5 and 9 and the woman in 3, 7 and 15. In 13 this cross is replaced by another sign, perhaps that for the year of 360 days, and in 12 the sign for woman is replaced by the universala.
Each of the three pictures contains a woman facing a deity. I will consider first the second picture in which H is the deity, as is proved by hieroglyph 6 to which an Imix is added in 8, with the uplifted arm prefixed as in 10c and 13a.
Between the first and third pictures there is someconfusion. The first is D, for while his type inclines more to that of N, the other old god of the Maya Olympus, comparison with 23c clearly shows that D is intended here. But the year-sign on his head also suggests in some measure the Uayeyab god N and moreover this sign does not belong to D and only occurs again with him on page 23c. Further, there is no hieroglyph at all for D and instead we find in 2, 5 Zac, the regular sign of N. Also sign 4 fits N better than it does D. Furthermore this passage relates to the day Ik, which might very well be the last day of the year.
On the other hand the third picture contains, unquestionably, the figure of N. I look for his sign in the 11th hieroglyph, which is the head of an old man with a prefixed 4, referring to the four different forms of N in the Kan, Muluc, Ix and Cauac years. The Ahau in 12, however, does not fit N, but D.
This confusion can only be adjusted by transferring D from the first group to the third and also, perhaps, the sign of the woman in 3, which applies to all the three groups, and by transferring to the first group N and the 11th sign of the third group.
The fourth group has no picture. It should have, as hieroglyph 14 shows, the god F, who represents death by violence in human sacrifice and the chase. The hieroglyph Cimi in the 16th place is a suitable sign for this deity.
Pages 22c—23c.
The hieroglyphs are arranged in the following order:—
This Tonalamatl, the fifth and last of this section, presents much that is irregular and puzzling.
It can hardly be said that there are comprehensive hieroglyphs here, forming the heading of the six groups. The sign for woman occurs only in 2, 8 and 24, and the crossbonly in 14 and 18, but it is sufficient to make it clear that here, too, connection with a woman is the principal theme. Let us pass, therefore, directly to the single groups.
The first group contains A and a woman. The god, however, is not facing the woman but sits beside her. The Cimi sign in 1, the familiarcin 3 and the unknown sign in 4 (=6) hardly explain this particular proceeding.
The second group contains two persons who sit facing each other, but the representation is so obscure and peculiar that it is difficult to determine which is the male figure and which the female. The hair of the person sitting on the right stands up in a manner not found elsewhere. It forms a figure similar to that which is issuing from the mouth of the dog on pages 13c and 21b. The Cimi sign in 5 and the signcin 7 are familiar, but the infrequent 6=4 remains a puzzle.
Uncertainty regarding the third group is increased by the fact that there is no picture belonging to it. The well-known signs, 10 (Cimi) and 12 (q) afford no explanation, nor does the head with the uplifted arm in 11, which we find with the same hieroglyph on pages 8a and 36a. The most puzzling is the 9th sign, which is composed of two crouching persons leaning back to back, and who also appear in the astronomical sections of the Manuscript on page 68a, not merely in the form of a hieroglyph, but also carried out in a picture. In my article on the Maya chronology published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie of the year 1891, I attempted to explain this Janus picture as meaning the change of the year, but that interpretation would make no sense here.
The fourth group contains the woman opposite D, who is clad in the gala mantle and has on his head a bird and apparently the sign for a year, and is designated by the Ahau in 16, while Imix-Kan in 13,bin 14 andain 15 are rather meaningless.
The fifth group represents the woman united with A, who is designated by the Cimi sign in 17. 18 with itsband 19 with itsqdisplay little that is characteristic,rin 20, which I think is the sign for the week of 13 days, invites further study. The sixth picture, which is the last, is very peculiar; it represents three women sitting side by side denoting perhaps the virgins who still remain. Sign 21 as Imix-Kan, 23 asaand 24 as sign of femininity supply nothing in the way of explanation. As 6, 9 and 20 are the characteristic signs in the preceding groups, so here the characteristic sign is 22—an open hand holding the day Ben—which perhaps designates these virgins by referring to the house in which they are held fast by the hand. Cf. Tro. 23* d.
Now of the entire woman section closing with page 23 only the two Tonalamatls on pages 22b-23b remain. These Tonalamatls again display very many peculiarities and seem to be but loosely connected with the five Tonalamatls last discussed.
Page 22b.
This is a regular Tonalamatl, in which the 52 days are divided into four equal parts.
The hieroglyphs are in the following order:—
An Ahau is added here as the 17th sign, which is very unusual.
We find elements here forming the hieroglyphs into groups in three different ways.
1. The signs 1, 5, 9 and 13 designate the four cardinal points as they so often stand together in this Manuscript in the order of East, North, West and South,i.e., in the sequence of the annual and not of the diurnal course of the sun.
2. The hieroglyphs 2, 6, 10 and 14 are all alike and are the head with the Akbal eye, which in 6 is closed.
3. The three persons pictured here all carry a Kan sign in their hands, probably as the offering they have received. Similarly we found the Kan sign held in the hand twice on page 16b.
The first picture is B; his sign is the third with theqin 4 as a determinative, which has above it a Ben-Ik sign.
The second figure is a goddess with a serpent as head-ornament, though we find in the 7th sign, not her hieroglyph, but merely the one generally used to denote a woman. 8 is the usuala, which in my opinion is the sign for thegooddays, to which also the Kan sign refers in the hands of the three personages.
The third picture is that of the sun-god G; his hieroglyph is the 11th, to which in 12 is added the signq, the sign for the bad days, with a superfix.
The fourth picture is wanting. According to the 15th hieroglyph it should be the maize deity E. My theory that 16 is the sign for the week of 13 days is supported by the fact that the division into 4 × 13 days is the prevailing one.
Page 23b.
This is a Tonalamatl of 4 × 65 days divided as evenly as possible into 5 × 12 + 5. The 5th day added after the 16th must be a mistake (suggested by the 5th day of the last section) for it is usually the first of the days, which is repeated superfluously.
The hieroglyphs are:—
Contrary to practice the first section has six hieroglyphs, and the other five but four each.
As the characteristic hieroglyph we find in 1, 7, 11, 15, 19 and 23 a sign, the meaning of which is still undetermined and which we shall meet again on page 60, where it may refer to darkness.
The groups have in common, furthermore, the head without an underjaw and the hair gathered up in a tuft in 4, 10, 14, 22 and 25 (in 18 perhaps represented byq, the evil days). Weshall find this sign on pages 25, 28, 30-35, 42-44 and 65-69, repeated a number of times in many instances. I consider it the sign for fast-days. It appears also in the Tro-Cort. Associated with this sign here as in other passages are the four sacrifices derived from the animal kingdom:—a haunch of venison, a bird, an iguana and a fish. The fish is beyond doubt denoted by 3, the mammal by 21 and the bird by 13, and I believe, therefore, that the iguana with its spiny back is denoted by 9. We find the four animals, though in a different order, also on pages 29b-30b, 30b-31b and 40c-41c, as well as in Cort. 3-6 and 8, for example. They seem to have a certain reference also to the four cardinal points.
Only the first of the six groups has a picture (I?). This represents a woman with a serpent in her hair, holding in her hand a dish containing a fish. The woman is denoted by the fifth hieroglyph and the fish by the third. The 6th sign is an Ahau, which is not quite intelligible here. Sign 2=5 Zac is very remarkable; it is the hieroglyph of the Uayeyab days and of their god N. If this Ahau refers, as it often does, to the god D, it suggests the relation between D and N, which follows from page 21c.
According to the 8th sign, the second group might refer to the serpent deity H, and the 9th sign would not improperly denote the iguana.
In the same way sign 12 in the third group probably denotes the storm-god K, with whom the bird in 13 accords very well.
In the fourth group both the animal and the sign of fasting, belonging to it, are wanting, while 16 and 17 as well as the unlucky day in 18 clearly refer to the death-deity A.
The fifth passage belongs, as sign 20 shows, to the maize deity E and to this is added the haunch of venison in 21.
In the sixth group we recognize Imix-Kan, the sign for food derived from the vegetable kingdom. It stands beside the grain-deity E of the fifth group. I do not understand the vulture-head in 26.
The five deities specified here may be compared with those on page 24, which are denoted by hieroglyphs 21-25 of the second column, though the agreement is not perfect.
This ends the first great section of the Manuscript, in whichTonalamatls are represented in uninterrupted succession. We come now to a page which stands quite alone, being the first which treats of astronomy and which ends the front of the first part of the Manuscript.
Page 24.
In my article "Zur Entzifferung IV" I discussed this remarkable page in detail and in what follows I shall conform to that treatise, though omitting many things which since then have become the established possession of science, and shall endeavor to shed a still clearer light upon other points.
This page presents in brief the subject which is more fully treated of on the front of the second part of the Manuscript (pages 46-60).
The first problem it presents is to find periods in which the solar year (365 days) is brought into accord with the apparent Venus year (584 days). This takes place in a term of 2920 days = 8 × 365 = 5 × 584. Sequent to this is the still higher aim of bringing the Tonalamatl (260) into harmony with this period, which is accomplished in 37,960 days (= 146 × 260 = 104 × 365 = 65 × 584).
The revolution of the moon (28), the ritual year (364 = 28 × 13) and the apparent revolution of Mercury (115) come in question as secondary matters.
I will now give an approximate reproduction of the page:—
First let me observe that I have restored the four large numbers at the top, which are almost entirely effaced, as follows:—
And furthermore, at the right, bottom, I have substituted the third month for the second of the Manuscript, which proceeding will be justified later on.
The least difficult portion of the contents of this page is the first series consisting of 16 members, each being a multiple of 2920. It begins with the date I Ahau (which is always concealed in these series), regularly stops at the month day Ahau (since 2920 = 146 × 20), but necessarily advances in the week days by 8 days each (since 2920 = 224 × 13 + 8), until 37,960 is reached, when the day I Ahau again appears (since 37,960 = 146 × 260).
According to my method of filling in the numbers, the top row of the page consists only of multiples of 37,960.
On the other hand, the four numbers of the second row from the top are more difficult. They are, it is true, all divisible without remainder by 260, but otherwise they seem to be without rule, and they give one somewhat the impression of a subsidiary computation such as one might jot down on a slip of paper in the course of some important mathematical work.
Nevertheless, the following remarkable results are obtained when the first and third and the second and fourth numbers are combined by addition or subtraction:—
1) 185,120 + 33,280 = 218,400, which is just 600 years of 13 × 28 = 364 days, 280 Mars years of 780 days, 840 Tonalamatls of 260 days or 7800 months of 28 days.
2) 185,120 - 33,280 = 151,840,i.e., precisely the highest number of the top row, = 416 solar years of 365 days each or 260 Venus years of 584 days each,i.e., the product of the days of the Tonalamatl multiplied by the Venus years. We shall again find the 151,840 on page 51, and Seler ("Quetzalcoatl and Kukulcan," p. 400) finds this same period on a relief of Chichen Itza.
3) 68,900 + 9100 = 78,000,i.e., 100 Mars years or 300 Tonalamatls. The half of this number, or 39,000, we shall find again on pages 69-73 by computation; also the whole 78,000.
4) 68,900 - 9100 = 59,800,i.e., 520 Mercury years of 115 days, or 230 Tonalamatls, or five times the period of 11,960 days, in which these two periods are united. By computation again we find the 59,800 on page 58. This period of 11,960 days is, however, to the period of 37,960 in the proportion of 23:73,i.e., 23 × 520:73 × 520. 23 is the fifth part of the apparent Mercury year, as 73 is of the solar year.
Let us now turn to the numbers, which form the bottom of my transcription, but only the left hand lower corner in the Manuscript. Here, in the latter, we find the following (with the correction already mentioned of the second to the third month):—
The first thing to be done is to arrange and fill out these numbers to suit our purpose.
The 2200 is clearly nothing more than the difference between the two high numbers. We can therefore dispense with it.
Further, we find by the usual computation, that the second number belongs to the first date and the third to the second. Hence the number corresponding to the third date is wanting from lack of space. This number can be calculated from that date; it is 1,352,400. It would suit this date equally well if the number were higher or lower by 18,980 or a multiple of 18,980; but it will be seen directly that it agrees with the other two numbers only at the value given above.
Now, if we add to this passage the years in which the dates must lie, they are in the case of the date on the left, the year 9 Ix, in the case of the middle date, the year 3 Kan, and of that on the right hand, the year 10 Kan.
Then if we arrange the three numbers with the dates and years belonging to them, according to the value of the first, this part of the page will run as follows:—
Let us now consider the properties of the three numbers individually.
1) 1,352,400 = 28 × 48,300 and = 115 × 11,760, hence it is divisible by the month days of the year of 364 days and by the Mercury year. At all events this is the least important of the three numbers.
2) 1,364,360. This looks as if it referred particularly to the moon and to Mercury; to the latter since it is equal to 115 × 11,864, and to the former if we assume that the lunar revolution has been fixed at 29⅔ days, in which case this number is exactly equal to 46,000 such lunations. If this last number be again divided by 115, the number of days required for a revolution of Mercury, the quotient is 400, which is a round number in the vigesimal system and which was therefore denoted by a single word, by Bák in the Maya (according to Stoll) and by Huna in the Cakchiquel (according to Seler). 1,364,360, therefore, is a Huna of lunar revolutions multiplied by the number of days in the Mercury period. Later on we shall find the lunar revolution fixed at 29⅔ days.
3) 1,366,560. This is the most comprehensive number of the entire Manuscript, for it is divisible into each of the following periods:—Those of the Señores de la noche or Lords of the Cycle (9 × 151,840; this is, however, the first number of the top row), the Tonalamatls (260 × 5256), the old official years (360 × 3796), the solar years (365 × 3744), the Venus years (584 × 2340), the Mars years (780 × 1752), the Venus-solar periods (2920 × 468), the solar year-Tonalamatls (18,980 × 72), the Venus, solar, Tonalamatl periods (37,960 × 36), and the periods which are generally designated Ahau-Katuns (113,880 × 12).
We have next to consider the intervals which elapse between the three dates.
1) From 1,352,400 to 1,364,360 is 11,960 days, which period we have already found once on this page by computation.11,960, however, is equal to 104 × 115 and 46 × 260,i.e., the Mercury revolution and the Tonalamatl combined. 11,960 is again equal to 32 × 365 + 280, and from the year 10 Kan to 3 Kan it is actually 32 years, and from the date 18 Zip to 18 Kayab it is, in fact, 280 days. The day I Ahau must be common to both dates.
2) From 1,364,360 to 1,366,560 is 2200 days, as the Manuscript expressly states. 2200, however, is equal to 8 × 260+120, and the distance from the day I Ahau to IV Ahau is in fact exactly 120 days. Further 2200=6 × 365+10; from the year 3 Kan to 9 Ix it is 6 years and from the date 18 Kayab to 8 Cumhu it is 10 days.
3) From these two statements the third follows. The distance from 1,352,400 to 1,366,560 is 14,160. This contains first the 14040, in which both the Tonalamatl and the old official year of 360 days meet, and second 120, which is again the interval between I Ahau and IV Ahau. But 14,160 is also equal to 38 × 365 + 290, and the interval between 10 Kan and 9 Ix is of course 38 years, and from 18 Zip to 8 Cumhu it is 290 days.
The numbers with which we have had to do here will again occupy our attention further on, especially the 2920 and the 37,960 on pages 46-50, the 11,960 and 115 on pages 51-58, and the 14,040 on page 73.
That these computations are not confined to the Dresden Manuscript is proved by the cross of Palenque, where we find in signs A B 16 precisely the date I Ahau 18 Zotz, a Tonalamatl before 18 Kayab, in D 1 C 2 exactly the difference 2200 and in D 3 C 4 the date IV Ahau 8 Cumhu. This is in favor of the theory that our Manuscript did not originate far from Palenque.
Now, the question finally arises as to what may, strictly speaking, be considered the significance of these numbers, dates and differences.
In the first place, I would recall the fact that the dates of the monuments of Copan and Quirigua, which doubtless refer to present time, are in the neighborhood of 1,400,000. The high numbers of our Manuscript, so far as they are in question here, form first a group, which extends from about 1,200,000 to 1,280,000, and then there is a blank, and next a large group extendingfrom about 1,350,000 to 1,480,000, then another blank and lastly a group extending from about 1,520,000 to 1,580,000. If we assume that our Manuscript belonged to about the same date as these inscriptions, then the three numbers discussed here would extend over a past period lying about 160-170 years back, when a new period of importance had begun probably dating from the immigration of the Aztecs into Mexico, which they placed in the first half of the 14th century (see "Weltall," Vol. 5. pp. 374-377). Now, however, the number 1,366,560 contains the statement that 3744 years ago (each year having 365 days) an event must have occurred, which can hardly be anything other (according to the belief of the Mayas) than the creation of mankind. Hence all thehistoricaldates of the Mayas were computed from this starting-point. But how did this event come to have the date IV Ahau 8 Cumhu?
In my opinion this date is to be regarded only as the result of the far more important date I Ahau 18 Kayab, lying 2200 days earlier. Day 17, Ahau, belongs, without doubt, to the chief of the gods, and as the first week day it must have been especially sacred. The prophecies of the Tonalamatl preferably begin with the Ahau and with the I. The series on the page under discussion, constructed with the difference 2920 as a basis, begins with I Ahau, and the three series on pages 46-50 also have the same day as the zero point of departure. I Ahau is therefore the starting-point of the astronomical computations as IV Ahau is of the historical.
Now, however, all the periods of 260 days end each time with I Ahau. Why is precisely this day chosen here, which is the 18th day of the month Kayab, therefore in the year 3 Kan, and lying 2200 days earlier than the historical date?
Day 18 Kayab is our June 18th. In my treatise "Schildkröte und Schnecke in der Mayaliteratur" (1892), I have sought to prove that the tortoise served as symbol of the summer solstice, that the sign of Kayab was the head of a tortoise, and that probably the 18th of June was regarded as the longest day. The middle one of the three series on pages 46-50 begins with exactly this date, I Ahau 18 Kayab.
But whence come the 2200 days? I will offer a suggestion which may serve until a better theory is propounded. Let us assume that each of the five principal planets had in succession regulated its time of revolution by this astronomical starting-point, thus:—sun 365, moon 356, Mercury 115, Venus 584, and Mars 780 days, these numbers added together give exactly 2200. It will scarcely excite surprise that I should set down the lunar year at 356 days (and not at the usual 354 days) for there are 12 × 29⅔ lunations in a year and we thought we had already found this period on this page, while discussing the number 1,364,360; also on pages 51-58, in addition to the half lunar year of 177 days, we shall find one of 178 days. Were the planets therefore created 2200 days before the appearance of mankind? Jupiter and Saturn, of course, with their 397 and 380 days are probably not considered here, because their periods of revolution so nearly correspond to that of the sun, and on pages 51-60 they are also treated as of secondary importance.
I confess I am quite unable to discover what may have happened 11,960 days before the creation of the stars—possibly the birth of one of the principal deities. Perhaps one of my fellow-students may succeed in finding an answer in one of the creation myths.
We come now to the 40 hieroglyphs on the left half of the page. These are intended simply to familiarize the reader with those signs which are of importance in the calendrical-astronomical portions of the Manuscript. Since no phonetic system of writing existed, we cannot, of course, expect that the scribe should have explained these signs.
Signs 1-4, which are mostly destroyed, can hardly denote anything other than the four quarters of the globe, at least we can still recognize in 4 the sign for the east, which has also the fourth place in pages 46-50. They stand thus together five times in the middle of the left side of pages 46-50, which pertain to this subject. 5 to 9 are the sign for Venus repeated 5 times, probably denoting the four parts of its revolution as on pages 46-50 and also the revolution as a whole. In connection with this first appearance of the Venus sign, I would mention thatthe same hieroglyph also occurs in the Tro-Cort.,e.g., Cort. 25c, though this Manuscript contains little else that is astronomical, yet it also has the rectangular heavenly shields.
10. This is a well-known form of the Moan sign. In the Globus, Volume LXV, 1894, I sought to make it appear probable that the Moan also denoted the Pleiades, with whose disappearance and reappearance the beginning of the years seems to be connected. Likewise on page 50, where the 2920-period ends, the Venus and Moan signs appear at the top on the right-hand side.
11 and 12 are the same sign, being that of the 13th Uinal (Mac), with which 260 days of the year end, and hence this sign is also used as the sign of the Tonalamatl. The repetition seems to show, that not until the 73 Tonalamatls of the period of 18,980 days are doubled—thus obtaining the number 37,960 of such importance here—are the sun and Venus periods brought into unison (with the whole system).
13. The Kin sign (sun, day) with the superfix, which in all probability expresses conjunction, union, and which, in my opinion, we also see on page 51, combined with Kin and Imix, as the sign for 18,980 days, is used here after the two Tonalamatls to denote the doubling of this period.
14-18. If the preceding signs led us to the Venus-solar period and to the continuation of this subject on pages 46-50, these five hieroglyphs bring us to the Mercury-lunar period and later, on pages 51-58, which are devoted to the same period, we shall find a parallel especially on the last page. First comes 14, which, as has been acknowledged, is the sign for 20 × 360 = 7200 days. 15, a hand holding a rectangle divided by a cross into four parts, is, I believe, the sign for the period of 20 days augmented to 21 by the 1 in front of it. The much more distinct form of sign 16 on the middle of page 58 and also at the top of page 53, should be compared with the sign as given here. The top part is the familiar Ben-Ik sign denoting the 10th and 19th days, and the bottom is the sign of the 14th division of 20 days, which make up the year. Now, however, the 10th day, when it becomes the 19th of the next 20 days, is distant from the first 29 days. The prefix consists of two parts:—First two small circlesjoined by a zigzag line, which I think denotes the division of a day into halves; the sign would then equal 29½ days,i.e., very nearly the true lunar month. Second, of two vertical lines, which might denote a doubling. The whole would then be equal to 2 × 29½ = 59. I admit that this interpretation is very artificial and I should be very glad if a better explanation could be found. On the other hand the 17th hieroglyph becomes quite clear when it is compared with the parallel passage on page 58; it is 13 × 360 = 4680 days, a third of the remarkable period of 14,040 days.
Thus we have
which is exactly the lunar-Mercury period.
The sign Xul = conclusion, end, is fittingly added in 18 to the end of this period, as also on page 58. This sign is very common on pages 61 and 62 at the end of the long periods.
From signs 19 and 20 we see that the four parts of the Venus year are also about to be treated of here, that is, the periods of 236, 90, 250 and 8 days respectively, which are discussed on pages 46-50. For 19 is the sign for Venus, and 20 is a hand with a knife as a superfix, which divides the Venus revolution. This hand appears 20 times in like manner on the pages mentioned above.
Signs 21-25 represent five gods, who in all probability are N, F, H, the bat-god and A. These are the same signs which are repeated twice on the left-hand side of pages 46-50, both times at the beginning and end of the period of 236 days, that is, the period during which Venus is the morning star and which is under the dominion of the east. The fact that there is a 4 with N has reference to the four forms which this Uayeyab god assumes. Now we ought to expect a similar treatment of the periods of the planet, which are under the rule of the south, west and north, but there is no room for this. Instead, we find in 26, 27 and 28 three different signs plainly belonging together, thefirst of which is the day Caban,i.e., the earth; the second may be Muluc denoting rain and water; the third is Chuen (the ape) which fittingly denotes the north, for Chuen denotes the little bear, as I have proved in my treatise on the day-signs of the Mayas. The Chuen sign in 28 also has a prefix, which probably refers to the night-god D. I find exactly the same combination in signs 8 A and 8 B of the inscription on the Cross of Palenque, but I must leave to others the task of connecting 26 and 27 likewise with the north, which is very evident in 27 (Muluc).
Sign 29 is entirely effaced. Nevertheless, I am positive that it represented the day IV Ahau, the beginning of Maya chronology, for 30 may still be identified as 8 Cumhu belonging to IV Ahau, and sign 31 is the same sign as 18,i.e., the sign Xul = the end, and denoting here the end of the long period.
The comprehensive hieroglyphs, 29-31, stand here in the wrong place. A more suitable position for them would be before 19 or just after 35. For they are intended to specify the periods during which Venus is in the west and south,i.e., the time during which it is the evening star and the period of its inferior conjunction.
Sign 32 is the black deity, L according to Schellhas, here denoting the west, and 33 is the Venus sign with the prefix denoting division. In the same way we find these two signs together on page 46 at the right in the middle series, where presumably the four Venus periods are specified in close succession. The black deity is also found on page 50 in the middle of the page in the beginning, at the end of a period of 250 days. On page 24 it has as a prefix the sign Imix with three rows of dots proceeding from it. Imix, however, among the Mayas and Aztecs (as Cipactli), under some circumstances often, and under others always, denotes the first of the 20 days. Hence this sign may mean:—here begins the Venus period of 250 days.
34-35. The sign for the south still remains to be found. Sign 35 is again the Venus hieroglyph. In 34 we should expect to find one of the five gods of the south, which are found on pages 46-50,e.g., the Moan, who is represented on page 47 as the regent of this cardinal point. But there is no figure of a god here, and in place of it we find set down here, as on page 47, middle,right-hand, an actual date as the beginning of this short southern period of only eight days. It is the date 10 Zip (third month), the month sign of which does indeed suggest a hieroglyph of the Moan. Now, if we recall that in hieroglyph 21 the god N is designated in exactly the same way by an actual date, viz:—4 Zac (11th month), then we see that the interval between 4 Zac and 10 Zip of the second year following, is exactly 236 + 90 + 250 = 576 days, and this corresponds exactly to the interval of time from the beginning of the period when Venus is in the east to the beginning of the period when she is in the south. If we knew in what years the morning star made its first appearance on February 4th and disappeared as the evening star on the 3d of September, we should make some progress in the comprehension of this subject, but not much, since these events fall approximately on the same dates after each period of 8 years.
36-40. The last five of the 40 signs appear in the same order again on pages 46-50,onesign on each page, in the middle group of the right-hand half of the page at the beginning of the third line, but with this difference, that on page 24 each sign has the same prefix, which is wanting on pages 46-50, where a similar hieroglyph alwaysfollows. From their position on pages 46-50 it follows that these are hieroglyphs of five gods, each of whom belongs to a whole Venus year of 584 days. I am not very sure in regard to these gods. I prefer to call 36 K, 37 F, 38 E and 40 A. Sign 39 with the person crouching, I am obliged to leave entirely unsettled. We shall find this hieroglyph again,e.g., on pages 47 and 49 right, middle. Let it suffice that in these five signs we have a repetition of the Venus-solar period of 2920 days, with which we will end the discussion of this page. Only F and A have already been met with among the five gods denoted by hieroglyphs 21-25.
Pages 25—28.
As these four pages, which are the beginning of the back of the first part of the Manuscript, not only belong together, but also display a parallel arrangement of their separate parts, the corresponding parts will be considered together as a whole.
There are seven of these parts on each page, viz:—the column of day-signs on the left hand; the top, middle and bottom pictures, and lastly the top, middle and bottom groups of hieroglyphs; but I will consider the pictures and hieroglyphs of the same section as belonging together.
1. The Columns of Day-Signs.
On the left-hand side of each page two days are repeated 13 times. They are as follows:—On page 25 Eb and Ben, on page 26 Caban and Ezanab, on page 27 Ik and Akbal, and on page 28 Manik and Lamat. Cyrus Thomas first made the important discovery that these pages represent the transition from one year into the next, but held the erroneous opinion that the last two days of each of the four kinds of years were treated of on each page. While Seler, on the other hand, found that we have here to do with the last day of one year and the first of the following year, and that, therefore, Ben, Ezanab, Akbal and Lamat are the beginnings of the years and thus of the 20-day periods. The years, however, were always named after their second day (i.e., Kan, Muluc, Ix and Cauac years), since the New Year's Day was considered unlucky and it was the practice of the Mayas to conceal the real starting-point.
These four pages, therefore, extend over 13 × 52 years, that is, over a period of 18,980 days, after which period all the calendar dates are repeated. A list of all these dates is given in "The Maya and Tzental Calendars" by William E. Gates (Cleveland, 1900).
The transition from the Muluc to the Ix years is represented on page 25; from the Ix to the Cauac years on page 26; from the Cauac to the Kan years on page 27, and from the Kan to the Muluc years on page 28. The Ix years are represented first, because the beginning of the historical chronology lies in an Ix year (IV Ahau; 8 Cumhu). This section treats of ceremonies, especially of the setting up of the idols at the changing of the year, which I can pass over here since they have already been described by Diego de Landa and in our own day by Cyrus Thomas in his "Study of the Manuscript Troano," and elsewhere.
2. The Top Pictures.
The principal representation on all the four pages is a priest, but disguised as an animal with the head of a beast of prey as a mask (always the same one) and also with a tail. He is pictured with the same three articles in each of the four representations, viz:—First, in his right hand, the staff of office with the hand at the top, which, according to Seler, "Mittel-Amerik. Musikinstrum.," p. 112, is the rattle-stick, second the incense-pouch,i.e., for copal, and third in his left hand a rattle, or, according to Schellhas, "Vergleichende Studien" (1880), a fan. There is one point, however, in which the first two pages differ from the other two; on the first two the priest is walking on dry land and on the second two through a stream of water. Was the city, to which this calendar especially refers, bordered in two directions by water, so that the road led across it?
On all the four pages, however, the priest carries on his back a different deity, and I cannot find out by what rule these gods are connected with one another, or with the one which is represented below them, or with the years. On page 25 the god is B, on 26 he has the form of a jaguar (Ix), on 27 he is undoubtedly E, and on page 28 he is the god A, Cimi.
Now to the left of the priest on each page there is one of the familiar Chuen bundles, such as are also frequently found in the the Tro-Cortesianus. Here, on pages 25-28, there are always three of these Chuen signs in a bunch. If Chuen really denotes the eighth day (which, of course, is only possible when Kan = 1), and at the same time the period of 8 days, then in this passage these three Chuen signs would properly designate the 24 days which elapsebeforethe last day of the year, which is the last day of the 18th month. In the same way we shall find the Chuen bundle appropriately given this meaning on pages 42c-45c. Likewise the simple Chuen sign at the top of page 52 seems to denote 8 days. But what do the Chuen bundles in the Tro-Cortesianus mean, some of which are much larger?
In close proximity to these Chuen bundles we find numbers as follows:—on page 25 numbers 8 and 9, on 26 number 13, on 27 number 2 and on 28 number 13. I can offer no opinion,which would be even approximately acceptable in regard to the meaning of these numerals, but we shall discuss them later.
3. The Top Hieroglyphs.
I shall discuss these glyphs in this place, although each group seems to relate not merely to the top picture, but to the whole page. There are 16 on each page, and arranged as follows:—
Unfortunately, the writing at the top is obliterated, which makes it impossible to understand not merely this passage, but also those on all the rest of these pages. Of the 16 signs in the top line only one is legible, and that is the first on page 28. This is the usual crossb; as a comprehensive heading it perhaps occupied places 1 and 9 on each page, alternating with another sign in 2 and 10.
In spite of this obliteration there are a few points which can be profitably discussed here.
I would call attention first to signs 7 and 8 on page 25. The first seems to contain twice repeated the figure, which is thought to represent eagle feathers, and which we found on pages 10b and 13a, for example. As this double character is also used to change the 360-sign into a 7200-sign, so it may also combine the 52 years of this passage. The 8th sign on page 25 is the head with the tuft of hair and no underjaw, which I think refers to fast-days, such as might properly occur at the transition point of one long period to another.
The sign for the year stands five times on the other three pages, which is in keeping with their contents. On page 26 it appears three times. This page treats of the transition of the Ix to the Cauac years. In the 6th place the Ix sign seems actually to be used as a prefix, in 7 the prefix is plainly the Kin-Cauac sign, just as on page 37a, and in 5 the prefix is probably Ezanab, the beginning-day of the Cauac years. At this last place the suffix is the same as that which we often see with the year sign on pages 13c-14c. On page 27, in the 7th place, the year signhas a prefix and a suffix, which seem to indicate that here it was intended to represent 365 as separated into 5 × 73 or 360 + 5. Lastly, on page 28 the 8th sign can be explained as meaning that the ritual year of 364 days is separated into 4 Bacab periods of 91 days each.
Resembling the year sign in form, and placed near it on these pages, is the following sign:—