THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION
The wonderful culture of the Mayan Indians to which we will now turn our
attention was developed in the humid lowlands of Central America and
especially in the Yucatan Peninsula. Artists are everywhere of the
opinion that the sculptures and other products of the Mayas deserve to
rank among the highest art products of the world, and astronomers are
amazed at the progress made by this people in the measuring of time by
the observed movements of the heavenly bodies. Moreover, they invented a
remarkable system of hieroglyphic writing by which they were able to
record facts and events and they built great cities of stone that attest
a degree of wealth and splendor beyond anything seen elsewhere in the
New World.
The Mayan culture was made possible by the agricultural conquest of the
rich lowlands where the exuberance of nature can only be held in check
by organized effort. On the highlands the preparation of the land is
comparatively easy, owing to scanty natural vegetation and a control
vested in irrigation. On the lowlands, however, great trees have to be
felled and fast-growing bushes kept down by untiring energy. But when
nature is truly tamed she returns recompense many fold to the daring
farmer. Moreover, there is reason to believe that the removal of the
forest cover over large areas affects favorably the conditions of life
which under a canopy of leaves are hard indeed.
Plate XIV. Photographs by Peabody Museum Expedition.
[Illustration: (_a_) View of the Plaza at Copan from the
Northwestern Corner. This view shows the monuments in position and
the steps which may have served as seats.]
[Illustration: (_b_) View Across the Artificial Acropolis at Copan.
A sunken court is shown and the bases of two temple structures of
the Sixth Century.]
The principal crops of the Mayas were probably much the same as on the
highlands, with maize as the great staple. Varieties favorable to a
humid environment had doubtless been developed from the highland stock
by selective breeding as agriculture worked its way down into the
lowlands. Archaic art appears along the edges of the Mayan Area in the
state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, and in the Uloa Valley, Honduras. In both
these regions are also found clay figurines that mark the transition in
style between the archaic and the Mayan, as well as finished examples of
the latter. There can be no doubt, then, that the archaic art of Mexico
marks an earlier horizon than the Mayan. Whether or not it was once laid
entirely across the Mayan Area cannot be decided on present data but it
seems unlikely. We have already seen that this first art was distributed
primarily across arid and open territory.
With their calendarial system already in working order the Mayas appear
on the threshold of history 600 years before the Christian Era,
according to a correlation with European chronology that will be
explained later. The first great cities were Tikal in northern Guatemala
and Copan in western Honduras, both of which had a long and glorious
existence. Many others sprang into prominence at a somewhat later date;
for example, Palenque, Yaxchilan or Menché, Piedras Negras, Seibal,
Naranjo, and Quirigua. The most brilliant period was from 300 to 600 A.
D., after which all these cities appear to have been abandoned to the
forest that soon closed over them. The population moved to northern
Yucatan, where it no longer reacted strongly upon the other nations of
Central America and where it enjoyed a second period of brilliancy
several hundred years later.
Plate XV.
[Illustration: (_a_) Model of the Temple of the Cross, Palenque,
designed to show the Construction. The building has three entrances
separated by piers. The middle partition is thickened to support the
weight of the roof comb which is a trellis for stucco decoration.
The sanctuary is a miniature temple in the inner chamber. The walls
are built of slabs of limestone set in lime cement.]
[Illustration: (_b_) Detail of Frieze on the Temple of the Cross.
The upper band is the sky with stars and planets. A reptilian
monster occupies the main panel with human figures as supplementary
decorations upon his legs. The Temple of the Cross represents the
highest achievement of the First Empire architects, Fifth Century
after Christ.]
Fig. 20. Groundplans of Yaxchilan Temples:
[Illustration: (_a_) Structure 42.]
[Illustration: (_b_) Structure 23.]
Architecture.
The idea of a civic center is admirably illustrated in Mayan cities,
particularly those of the first brilliant period. The principal
structures are built around courts or plazas and there is usually an
artificial acropolis which is a great terraced mound serving as a common
base or platform from which the individual pyramidal bases of several
temples rise. At some sites this acropolis is a natural hill which has
been trimmed down or added to, but at other sites it is entirely
artificial. At Copan there is an especially fine example of artificial
platform mound rising from one end of the Great Plaza and affording
space for several temples, as well as for sunken courts with stepped
sides that may have been theatres. The river washing against one side of
this great mound has removed perhaps a third of it and made a vertical
section that shows the method of construction. It is apparent that the
mound was enlarged and old walls and floors buried.
[Illustration: Fig. 21. Cross-section of Typical Mayan Temple in
Northern Yucatan: _a_, upper cornice; _b_, medial cornice; _c_,
upper zone; _d_, lower zone; _e_, wooden lintels; _f_, exterior
doorway; _g_, interior doorway; _h_, offset at spring of vault; _i_,
cap stone.]
Mayan buildings are of two principal kinds. One is a temple pure and
simple and the other has been called a palace. The temple is a
rectangular structure crowning a rather high pyramid that rises in
several steps or terraces. As a rule the temple has a single front with
one or more doorways and is approached by a broad stairway. The pyramid
is ordinarily a solid mass of rubble and earth faced with cement or cut
stone and rarely contains compartments. Some temples have but a single
chamber while others have two or more chambers, the central or innermost
one being specially developed into a sanctuary. The so-called palaces
are clusters of rooms on low and often irregular platforms. These
palaces may have been habitations of the priests and nobility. The
common people doubtless lived in palm-thatched huts similar to those
used today in the same region.
The typical Mayan construction is a faced concrete. The limestone, which
abounds in nearly all parts of the Mayan Area, was burned into lime.
This was then slaked to make mortar and applied to a mass of broken
limestone. The facing stones were smoothed on the outside and left rough
hewn and pointed on the inside. It is likely that these facing stones
were held in place between forms and the lime, mortar, and rubble filled
in between. The resulting wall was essentially monolithic. The rooms of
Mayan buildings are characteristically vaulted but the roof is not a
true arch with a keystone. The vault, like the walls, is a solid mass of
concrete that grips the cut stone veneer and that must have been held in
place by a false work form while it was hardening. The so-called
corbelled arch of overstepping stones was doubtless known to the Mayan
builders but was little used. Taking the single rectangular room as the
unit of construction the width was limited to the span of the vault,
which seldom exceeded twelve feet, while the length was indeterminate.
Plate XVI.
[Illustration: A Temple at Hochob showing Elaborate Façade
Decorations in Stucco. Probably ninth century. The design over the
door represents a grotesque front view face of which the eyes can
still be plainly made out. At either side of the door the design
represents a serpent head in profile. Photograph by Maler.]
The first variation from the temple with one rectangular room was the
two-roomed structure with one chamber directly behind the other. In this
case there were two vaulted compartments separated from each other by a
common supporting wall pierced by one or more doorways. The inner room
was naturally more dimly lighted than the other one and as a result was
modified into a sanctuary, or holy of holies, enhanced by sculptures and
paintings, while the outer room developed gradually into a portico. The
outer wall was cut by doorways till only pier-like sections remained,
and finally these piers were replaced by square or round columns. The
development of the Mayan temple may be traced through a thousand years
of change and adjustment.
Much attention was paid by Mayan builders to the question of stability
which was accomplished directly by keeping the center of gravity of the
principal masses within the supporting walls rather than by the use of
binding stones. The cross-section of a two-roomed temple of late date
will illustrate how this was done. There are three principal masses, one
over the front wall, one over the medial partition, and one over the
back wall. The roof where these sections join is of no great thickness.
The central mass is symmetrical and, if the mortar has the proper
cohesiveness, very stable. For the front and back masses the projection
of the upper or frieze zone tends to counterbalance the overhang of half
the vault. In the earlier temples the upper zone of the façade often
slopes backward so that the balance is not so perfect.
Plate XVII.
[Illustration: A Sealed Portal Vault in the House of the Governor at
Uxmal, a Building of the Second Empire, probably Thirteenth Century.
The veneer character of the cut stone comes out clearly. Peabody
Museum photograph.]
So far we have given brief space to the question of elevations. Taken
vertically there are three parts to the Mayan building: first, the
substructure or pyramidal base; second, the structure proper; third, the
superstructure. In the case of temples the structure proper is one story
in height. Two and three stories are rather common in palaces, but the
upper stories are in most cases built directly over a solid core and not
over the rooms of the lower story. The upper stories, therefore, recede,
so that the building presents a terraced or pyramidal profile. One
building at Tikal is five stories in height, in three receding planes,
the three uppermost stories being one above the other. In a tower at
Palenque we have an example of four stories but this is unusual.
On top of the building proper, especially if it is a temple, we
frequently find a superstructure. This is a sort of crest, or roof wall,
usually pierced by windows. When this wall rises from the center line of
the roof it is called a roof comb or roof crest, and when it rises from
the front wall it is called a flying façade. The highest temples in the
Mayan Area are those of Tikal that attain a total height of about 175
feet, counting pyramid and superstructure.
Massive Sculptural Art.
The decoration of Mayan buildings may be considered under three heads:
first, interior decoration; second, façade decoration; third,
supplementary monuments. In many temples at Yaxchilan, Tikal, etc., are
found splendidly sculptured lintels of stone or wood. At Copan we see
wall sculptures that adorn the entrance to the sanctuary and at Palenque
finely sculptured tablets let into the rear wall of the sanctuary.
Elsewhere are occasional examples of mural paintings, sculptured door
jambs, decorated interior steps, etc.
The façade decorations of the earlier Mayan structures are freer and
more realistic than those of the later buildings. In many cases they
consist of figures of men, serpents, etc., modeled in stucco or built up
out of several nicely fitted blocks of stone. Grotesque faces also
occur. In the later styles, decoration consists largely of “mask
panels,” which are grotesque front view faces arranged to fill
rectangular panels, but there is an increasing amount of purely
geometric ornament. The masked panels represent in most instances a
highly elaborated serpent’s face which sometimes carries the special
markings of one of the greater gods. These panels, considered
historically, pass through some interesting developments. Angular
representations of serpent heads in profile are sometimes used at the
sides of doorways.
[Illustration: Fig. 22. Mask Panel over Doorway at Xkichmook.
Yucatan.]
The supplementary monuments are stelæ and altars. These are monolithic
sculptures that are often set up in definite relation to a building
either on the terraces or at the foot of the stairway. The stelæ are
great plinths or slabs of stone carved on one or more sides with the
figures of priests and warriors loaded down with religious symbols. The
altars are small stones usually placed in front of the stelæ. Many stelæ
and altars are set up in plazas and have no definite architectural
quality.
Plate XVIII.
[Illustration: (_a_) Realistic Designs on Vases from Chamá,
Guatemala, representing the Best Mayan Period in Pottery.]
[Illustration: (_b_) The Quetzal as represented on a Painted
Cylindrical Vase from Copan. Bands of hieroglyphs are commonly found
on Mayan Pottery.]
[Illustration: Fig. 23. Design on Engraved Pot representing a Tiger
seated in a Wreath of Water Lilies. Northern Yucatan.]
[Illustration: Fig. 24. Painted Design on Cylindrical Bowl showing
Serpent issuing from a Shell. Salvador.]
Minor Arts.
While the richly ornamented temples and the great monoliths attract
first attention as works of art, the humbler products of the potter, the
weaver, and the lapidary also attained to grace and dignity.
The Mayas were expert potters and employed a variety of technical
processes in the decoration of their wares, such as painting, modeling,
engraving, and stamping. We can only take time to examine a few examples
of the best works, leaving the commoner products practically
undescribed. Suffice it to say, that tripod dishes were much used, as
well as bowls, bottle-necked vessels, and cylindrical vases, and that
the common decorative use of hieroglyphs serves to mark off Mayan
pottery from that of other Central American peoples. The realistic
designs are drawn in accordance with the highest principles of
decorative art. Serpents, monkeys, jaguars, various birds, as well as
priests and supernatural beings, are used as subjects for pottery
embellishment. Geometric decoration is also much used.
The polychrome pottery is rare and exceptionally beautiful, with designs
relating to religious subjects. The background color of these
cylindrical vases is usually orange or yellow, the designs are outlined
in black, and the details filled in with delicate washes of red, brown,
white, etc. The surface bears a high polish made by rubbing. Plate XVIII
reproduces the design units on two vases from Chamá, Guatemala. The
first example pictures a seated man with a widespreading headdress made
of two conventional serpent heads from the ends of which issue the
plumes of the quetzal. The hieroglyphs are Mayan day signs—Ben and Imix
on the left and Kan and Caban on the right. The second example presents
a god before an altar. This god has the face of an old man and his body
is attached to a spiral shell. This divinity was probably associated
with the end of the year.
[Illustration: Fig. 25. Mayan Basket represented in Stone
Sculpture.]
In the next illustration an engraved design on a bowl from northern
Yucatan is given. A jaguar attired in the dress of man is seated in a
wreath of water lilies. After the vessel had been formed, but before it
had been fired, this design was made by cutting away the background and
incising finer details on the original surfaces. Other designs in relief
were obtained by direct modeling or by stamping. The stamps were moulds
or negatives made from bas-relief patterns.
The textile arts of the ancient Mayas can be recovered in part from a
study of the monuments since the designs on many garments are reproduced
in delicate relief. The designs are mostly all-over geometric patterns,
but borders reproducing the typical “celestial band,” a line of
astronomical symbols, are also seen. The techniques of brocade and lace
were understood by the ancient weavers. In the minor textile art of
basketry the products must also have ranked high; a typical basket
pictured on a lintel is given in Fig. 25.
Jade and other semi-precious stones were carved by the Mayas into
beautiful and fantastic shapes. There was a considerable use of mosaic
veneer on masks and other ceremonial objects. Metal was unknown during
the first centuries of Mayan florescence, later it was rare and could
not be used for tools, but the working of gold and copper in the
manufacture of ornaments was on a high plane.
Having now passed in brief review the objective side of Mayan remains,
let us turn our attention to the subjective.
The Serpent in Mayan Art.
Mayan art is strange and unintelligible at first sight, but after
careful study many wonderful qualities appear in it. In the knowledge of
foreshortening and composition, the Mayas were superior to the Egyptians
and Assyrians. They could draw the human body in pure profile and in
free and graceful attitudes and they could compose several figures in a
rectangular panel so that the result satisfies the eye of a modern
artist.
But, unfortunately for our fuller understanding, the human form had only
a minor interest because the gods were not in the image of man and the
art was essentially religious. The gods were at best half human and half
animal with grotesque elaborations. The high esthetic qualities were
therefore wasted on subjects that appear trivial to many of us. But, as
we break away more and more from the shackles of our own artistic
conventions, we shall be able to appreciate the many beauties of ancient
American sculpture.
[Illustration: Fig. 26. Typical Elaborated Serpents of the Mayas.
The serpent with a human head in its mouth is from Yaxchilan. In
this example the writhing movements of the serpent’s tail are
probably intended by the added scrolls. The plumed serpent is from
Chichen Itza.]
The serpent motive controlled the character of Mayan art and was of
first importance in all subsequent arts in Central America and Mexico.
The serpent was seldom represented realistically, and yet we may safely
infer that the rattlesnake was the prevailing model. Parts of other
creatures were added to the serpent’s body, such as the plumes of the
trogon or quetzal, the teeth of the jaguar, and the ornaments of man.
The serpent was idealized and the lines characteristic of it entered
into the delineation of many subjects distinct from the serpent itself.
Scrolls and other sinuous details were attached to the serpent’s body
and human ornaments such as earplugs, noseplugs, and even headdresses
were added to its head. Finally, a human head was placed in the
distended jaws. The Mayas may have intended to express the essential
human intelligence of the serpent in this fashion. The serpent with a
human head in its mouth doubtless belongs in the same category as the
partly humanized gods of Egypt, Assyria, and India. It illustrates the
partial assumption of human form by a beast divinity. The features
combined are so peculiar and unnatural that the influence of Mayan art
can be traced far and wide through Central America and Mexico by
comparative study of the serpent motive.
[Illustration: Fig. 27. Conventional Serpent of the Mayas used for
Decorative Purposes: _a_, body; _b_, ventral scale; _c_, dorsal
scale; _d_, nose; _e_, noseplug; _f_, incisor tooth; _g_, molar
tooth; _h_, jaw; _i_, eye; _j_, supraorbital plate; _k_, earplug;
_l_, ear pendant; _m_, curled fang; _n_, tongue; _o_, lower jaw;
_p_, beard; _q_, incisor tooth.]
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Upper Part of Serpent Head made into a Fret
Ornament: _a_, Ixkun; _b_, Quirigua; _c_, _d_, _g_, Copan; _e_,
Naranjo; _f_, Seibal.]
A typical serpent head in profile (with the human head omitted) as
developed by the Mayas for decorative purposes is reproduced in Fig. 27
with the parts lettered and named. It will be noted that the lines of
interest in this design are either vertical or horizontal, although the
parts themselves have sinuous outlines. Two features of the typical
serpent’s body enter widely into the enrichment of all kinds of
subjects. One of these is the double outline which is derived from the
line paralleling the base of the serpent’s body and serving to mark off
the belly region. The second feature is the small circle applied in
bead-like rows to represent scales. The profile serpent head is also
seen in scrolls and frets that elaborate many details of dress worn by
the human beings carved on the monuments. The front view of the
serpent’s head is usually extended to fill an oblong panel and is often
used to decorate the base of a monument or the façade of a building.
There are several monsters closely connected with the serpent that will
be discussed as the description proceeds.
The Human Figure.
The human beings pictured on Mayan monuments are captives, rulers, and
priests or worshippers. The captives are poor groveling creatures, bound
by rope, held by the hair or crushed under foot to fill a rectangular
space over which the conqueror stands. The rulers and priests are hard
to distinguish from each other, perhaps because the government was
largely theocratic and the ruler was looked upon as the spokesman of
divinity. The spear and shield of war served to mark off certain human
beings from others who carry religious objects such as the Ceremonial
Bar and the Manikin Scepter.
[Illustration: Fig. 29. Sculpture on Front of Lintel at Yaxchilan
showing Man holding Two-Headed Serpent with a Grotesque God’s Head
in each of its Mouths.]
Elaborate thrones on several monuments are canopied over by the arched
body of the Two-headed Dragon that bears symbols of the planets. Over
all is seen the great Serpent Bird with outstretched wings. Upon the
throne is seated a human being who may safely be called a king and a
line of footprints on the front of the throne may symbolize ascent. On
other monuments the commanding personage wears the mask of a god and
wields a club to subdue or scatters grain to placate. On the great
majority of monuments the human beings, richly attired in ceremonial
regalia and carrying a variety of objects, possibly present the great
warriors and priests of the day. Many of the early sculptures are stiff
and formal, but in a number of instances the quality of actual
portraiture is convincing.
[Illustration: Fig. 30. Types of Human Heads on the Lintels of
Yaxchilan.]
Design, Composition, and Perspective.
It is difficult to compare directly the graphic and plastic arts of
different nations where the subject matter is diverse unless we compare
them in accordance with absolute principles of design, composition, and
perspective drawing. The Mayas produced one of the few really great and
coherent expressions of beauty so far given to the world and their
influence in America was historically as important as was that of the
Greeks in Europe. Set as we are in the matrix of our own religious and
artistic conventions, we find it difficult to approach sympathetically
beauty that is overcast with an incomprehensible religion. When we can
bring ourselves to feel the serpent symbolism of the Mayan artists as we
feel, for instance, the conventional halo that crowns the ideal head of
Christ, then we shall be able to recognize the truly emotional qualities
of Mayan sculptures.
[Illustration: Fig. 31. Sculpture on Upper Part of Stela 11, Seibal.
The man wears an inlaid mask, an elaborate headdress, and a collar
of shell and jade.]
Plate XIX.
[Illustration: Stela 13, Piedras Negras. This shattered monument is
one of the finest examples of Mayan sculpture, showing a fine sense
of composition and a considerable knowledge of perspective. Dated
March 27, 511 A. D.]
It is generally recognized that design to be successful must contain
order of various sorts (in measurements, shapes, directions, tones,
colors, etc.). In the simpler forms of decorative art the restrictions
of technical process, as in basketry, may impose order, but in freehand
sculpture it must come from an educated sense of beauty involving
selection and the reproduction of the finest qualities. Design at its
highest is embodied in the Mayan hieroglyphs. Given spaces had to be
filled with given symbols and the results attained were uniformly
excellent. Although the influence of the serpent led to the great use of
tapering flame-like masses in nearly all Mayan designs, still dominant
vertical and horizontal lines of interest were maintained.
The panel and lintel sculptures show composition achieved by simple and
subtle methods. The sweeping plumes of headdresses were skilfully used
to fill in corners, while blocks of glyphs were placed in open spaces
that might otherwise distract the attention. Many compositions appear
overcrowded to us, but this fault decreases with knowledge of the
subject matter. Also, the Mayas appear to have painted their sculptures
so that the details were emphasized by color contrast.
In perspective as applied to the human figure the Mayas were far ahead
of the Egyptians and Assyrians, since they could draw the body in front
view and pure profile without the distortions seen in the Old World.
They were even able to make graceful approximations of a three-quarters
view, as may be seen in Plate XIX, where the raising of the nearer
shoulder has a distinct perspective value.
[Illustration: Fig. 32. The Ceremonial Bar. A Two-Headed Serpent
held in the Arms of Human Beings on Stelæ: _a_, Stela P, Copan; _b_,
Stela N, Copan.]
The Mayan Pantheon.
We have seen that during the earliest culture of Mexico and Central
America there were no figurines of individualized gods, simply
straightforward representations of human beings and animals. With the
Mayan culture, however, we enter upon an epoch of rich religious
symbolism. The serpent, highly conventionalized as we have just seen,
and variously combined with elements taken from the quetzal, the jaguar,
and even from man himself, appears as a general indication of divinity.
The Ceremonial Bar, essentially a two-headed serpent carrying in its
mouths the heads of an important god, is one of the earliest religious
objects. The heads that appear in the mouths are usually those of a
Roman-nosed or of a Long-nosed god. Other representations of divinities
are combined with the Two-headed Dragon that also has reptilian
characters; still others appear as headdresses and masks on human
figures. Strange to say, the gods are supplementary to the human figures
on all the early sculptures. In the codices, however, they are
represented apart from man, as engaged in various activities and
contests. Mayan religion was clearly organized on a dualistic basis. The
powers for good are in a constant struggle with the powers for evil and
most of the benevolent divinities have malevolent duplicates. In actual
form the gods are partly human, but ordinarily the determining features
are grotesque variations from the human face and figure. While beast
associations are sometimes discernible, they are rarely controlling.
Sometimes, however, beast gods are represented in unmistakable fashion,
good examples being the jaguar, the bat, and the moan bird. All of these
have human bodies and animal heads.
[Illustration: Fig. 33. The Manikin Scepter, a Grotesque Figure with
one Leg modified into a Serpent.]
The head position in the Mayan pantheon may with some assurance be given
to a god who has been called the Roman-nosed god and who is probably to
be identified with Itzamna. According to Spanish writers Itzamna was
regarded by the Mayas as the creator and father of all, the inventor of
writing, the founder of the Mayan civilization, and the god of light and
life. This Zeus of the Mayas is represented in the form of an old man
with a high forehead, a strongly aquiline nose, and a distended mouth,
toothless, or with a single enlarged tooth in front. On the ancient
monuments he is frequently seen in the mouths of the Ceremonial Bar and
also in association with the sun, moon, and the planet Venus. In the
codices he is shown as a protector of the Maize God and in other acts
beneficial to man. There is, however, a malevolent aspect of this god or
possibly another being who imitates his features but not his qualities.
This being may be an old woman goddess who wears a serpent headdress and
who is associated with destructive floods, the very opposite of
life-giving sunshine.
Of almost equal importance to the Roman-nosed god is a god whose face is
a more or less humanized serpent. His proper name is Ah Bolon Dzacab.
[Illustration: Fig. 34. The Two-Headed Dragon, a Monster that passes
through many Forms in Mayan Sculpture. It apparently symbolizes
calamities at inferior conjunction of Venus and the Sun. Copan.]
On the early monuments this god is shown in connection with the
Ceremonial Bar. He also appears at a somewhat later date as the Manikin
Scepter, an object in the form of a manikin that is held out by a leg
modified into a serpent’s body. Since a celt is usually worn in the
forehead of the manikin it has been suggested that this curious object
represents a ceremonial battle-ax. The face of the Long-nosed god is
frequently worn by high priests and rulers either as a headdress or,
more rarely, as a mask. It is possible that this divinity was regarded
as primarily a war god but in the codices he is evidently a universal
deity of varied powers. Especially he is shown in connection with water
and maize and it seems likely that his principal function was to cause
life-giving rain. A malevolent variant of the Long-nosed god has a bare
bone for the lower jaw, a sun symbol on his forehead, and a headdress
consisting of three other symbols. This head is associated with the
Two-headed Dragon, a monster which brings calamity at times of the
inferior conjunction of Venus and the Sun.
[Illustration: Fig. 35. Gods in the Dresden Codex: God B, the
Long-Nosed God of Rain; God A, the Death God; God G, the Sun God.]
Ah Puch, the Lord of Death, was the principal malevolent god. His body
as figured in the codices is a strange compound of skeletal and
full-fleshed parts. His head is a skull except for the normal ears. His
spinal column is usually bare and sometimes the ribs as well, but the
arms and legs are often covered with flesh. As added symbols black spots
and dotted lines are sometimes drawn upon his body and a curious device
like a percentage sign upon his cheek. The Death God in complete form is
rarely shown in the earlier sculptures, although grinning skulls and
interlacing bones occur as temple decorations. As has already been
pointed out, Mayan religion was strongly dualistic and the evil powers
are usually to be identified by death symbols such as a bare bone for
the lower jaw, or the percentage symbol noted above on the cheek. Death
heads of several kinds are frequent in the hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Plate XX.
[Illustration: (_a_) Top of Stela 1 at Yaxchilan, dealing with the
Heavens. The Sky God is seen in the center with the moon at the left
and the sun at the right. Below these is the Two-Headed Dragon
bearing planet signs and additional heads of the Sky God.]
[Illustration: (_b_) Analogous Detail of Stela 4, Yaxchilan. The
moon is at the right and the sun at the left. The figure in the sun
is male and that in the moon, female. The faces of the Sky God hang
from the lower part of the Two-Headed Dragon, being attached to it
by symbols of the planet Venus.]
The Maize God, figured so frequently on the ancient monuments and in the
Mayan codices may be the same that in the time of the Conquest was
called Yum Kaax, Lord of the Harvest. He is represented as a youth with
a leafy headdress that is possibly meant to represent an opening ear of
maize. The _kan_ sign, a grain of maize, is constantly associated with
him. He appears to be at the mercy of the evil deities when not
protected by the good ones.
Space considerations forbid a further study of Mayan gods. Suffice it to
say that several other divinities are shown in the sculptures and
codices including a somewhat youthful appearing war god, as well as a
more mature and grotesque war god called Ek Ahau, the Black Captain.
There is an old god with a shell attached to his body, a god with the
face of a monkey who is associated with the North Star, a god in the
form of a frog and another in the form of a bat. In the Spanish accounts
we can also glean scanty information concerning Ixchel, Goddess of the
Rainbow and mate of Itzamna; Ixtubtun, patroness of jade carvers;
Ixchebelyax, patroness of the art of weaving and decorating cloth, etc.
How Mayan History has been Recovered.
The arrangement of Mayan remains on a time scale is now an accomplished
fact thanks to a correlation which permits us to read the dates on
ancient monuments in terms of the Gregorian calendar and the Christian
era. Early attempts to achieve this result met with widely varying
results. Most of these attempts were made by developing a single line of
evidence and some were based on assumptions that can now be disproved.
But no single line of evidence should be deemed sufficient to decide
this all important question.
The general course of Mayan history is indicated unmistakably by four
principal lines of evidence capable of being correlated with each other.
These are:—
1. Stratigraphic sequences in pottery, stylistic sequences in sculpture,
structural sequences in architecture, etc.
2. Traditional history preserved in the Books of Chilam Balam and
representing a knowledge of past events at the time of the Spanish
Conquest.
3. Dates inscribed on a great number of monuments in terms of the
ancient Mayan time counts.
4. Astronomical checks on these inscribed dates.
The artistic position of a monument may be used to validate the
contemporaneous character of an inscribed date, otherwise interpretable
as referring to the past or future, or it may serve to fix a repeating
date in a single historical setting. The events in the traditional
history of the Books of Chilam Balam, meager enough when taken alone,
have the valuable quality of reaching back into the time of the First
Empire when the use of dates on temples and monuments was much in vogue.
They permit a richly documented past to be tied in, as it were, to a
poorly documented terminal period.
[Illustration: Fig. 36. The Front Head of the Two-Headed Dragon on
Stelæ at Piedras Negras showing the Increase in Flamboyant
Treatment. The interval between (_a_) and (_b_) is 125 years, that
between (_b_) and (_c_) is 45 years.]
Before the matter of the ancient inscribed dates can be understood,
however, the somewhat complicated mechanism of the Mayan calendar must
be explained, as well as the system of hieroglyphs and the notation of
numbers. Then there is the problem of correlation which necessitates
delicate adjudications of evidence. Finally we must take up the proofs
which demonstrate the astronomical achievements of the Mayas which, in
reverse, provide checks upon the correctness of the day for day
correlation itself. We must proceed slowly and carefully, without much
following of by-ways, however attractive they may appear. We will begin
with stratigraphy and stylistic sequence.
Sequences in Art.
The study of Mayan ceramics reveals developments as regard shapes,
fabrics, and designs. Specimens recovered from sealed cysts under stelæ
at Copan establish true associations with the higher forms of art and
can be used far and wide in comparison with pottery finds in Salvador,
Guatemala, etc. Vaillant has found stratigraphic sequences in a
collection of funerary vessels obtained at Holmul, where graves occurred
under the floors and within the filled-in chambers of a buried temple.
As regards sculpture we find at Copan a remarkably homogeneous series of
stelæ on which a royal or priestly personage stands erect and in front
view. A Ceremonial Bar is held symmetrically in the two arms and the
body is partly covered with rich and elaborate ornament. The amount of
relief, the proportions of the body, the forms of the Ceremonial Bar,
etc., all pass through a harmonious development. The earliest monuments
show a crude block-like carving of the face, with protruding eyes, while
the latest monuments have fully rounded contours. At Tikal the stelæ
show, for the most part, human figures in profile, but unmistakable
development can be seen in general quality of carving as well as in
specific details.
Plate XXI. Development in Style of Carving at Copan.
[Illustration: Stela 9 (9.10.10.0.0, 383 A. D.).]
[Illustration: Stela 5 (9.13.15.0.0, 447 A. D.).]
[Illustration: Stela N (9.16.10.0.0, 502 A. D.).]
[Illustration: Stela H (9.17.12.0.0, 523 A. D.).]
[Illustration: Details of architecture showing analogous
development.]
[Illustration: Fig. 37. Grotesque Face on the Back of Stela B,
Copan.]
In making comparisons in art it is always necessary to consider similar
things. At many other Mayan cities than the two named above it is
possible to obtain satisfactory evidence of sequence in art forms by
cutting out similar details from different masses. Thus at Naranjo, when
we examine all the Ceremonial Bars, we find a remarkable development of
flamboyant detail on the later monuments. At Quirigua the faces on the
tops of the altars may be compared with the same result. At Piedras
Negras the heads of the Two-headed Dragon that occur in exactly similar
positions on four monuments likewise show a steady modification towards
flamboyancy as may be seen from Fig. 36, where the front heads are put
side by side.
[Illustration: Fig. 38. Jaguar in Dresden Codex with a Water Lily
attached to Forehead.]
Still other lines of evidence on historical sequence are to be gained
from a study of architecture. Not only is it possible to determine the
general developments that hold true of the entire Mayan Area but also in
a given city it is sometimes possible to arrange the buildings in their
order of erection according to dependable criteria, both decorative and
structural.
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Late Sculpture from Chichen Itza. The
headdress resembles that worn by the rulers on the highlands of
Mexico.]
The earliest temples have narrow vaulted rooms, heavy walls, and a
single doorway. The rooms increase in width, the walls decrease in
thickness, the doorways multiply till the spaces between them become
piers and finally columns. The support for the heavy roof comb taxed the
structural ingenuity of the Mayan architects. The solving of this
problem is marked by successive advances and since mechanical science
goes forward rather than backward the relative order of structures is
fairly certain. Moreover, many buildings are closely associated with
dated monuments, tablets, lintels, or stelæ. Still another evidence of
architectural sequence is seen in structures that have been enlarged by
the addition of wings or by the enclosing of the old parts under new
masonry.
Books of Chilam Balam.
We now turn to a very different kind of history, the digests of ancient
chronicles in the Mayan language but in Spanish script which managed to
survive in the so-called Books of Chilam Balam along with other texts,
ceremonial and medical. There are five chronicles, the two longest
covering 68 katuns before the coming of the Spaniards in 1517. We now
know that these katuns were time units consisting of 7200 days, or
nearly 20 years, and that they were designated by their final day which
was always a day called Ahau associated with a number, 1 and 13, in a
peculiar sequence. A katun with the same designation returns in 13 ×
7200 days or about 256 years. Such a completion, counted especially from
a Katun 8 Ahau, was called the “doubling back of the katuns” or, as we
would say, the completion of a cycle. The count of the katuns used in
the chronicles was really part and parcel of a fuller count just as a
year ’22 implies a position in one of the centuries of our Christian
era.
The chronicles unfortunately give few names of chieftains and cities and
few outstanding events. Chichen Itza is the city most fully concerned
and an early occupation is recorded, then an abandonment for some two
and a half centuries. After its re-establishment the Toltecs enter
Yucatan and capture this capital. The first part of the chronicles has
the atmosphere of myth rather than history, but a calendarial adjustment
of some kind is mentioned in one place. This was an event which took
place in 503 A. D. as we shall see in another place.
The first rough correlation between the time count on the ancient
monuments and the time count in the chronicles was made on the theory
that a dated lintel at Chichen Itza had to be placed in the first
occupation of the city: when this was done the beginning of the
chronicles was found to proceed from an important round number in the
old day count while the abandonment of Chichen Itza coincided with the
abandonment of all the cities of the Mayan First Empire. We must now
turn attention to the famous calendar.
The Mayan Time Counts.
The passage of time, seen in finer and finer degree in the course of
human life, the succession of summer and winter, the waxing and waning
moons, the alternation of day and night, the upward and downward sloping
of the sun, and the swinging dial of the stars, are phenomena that no
human group has failed to notice. Longer periods than those included
within the memory of the oldest men (presenting an imperfect reflection
of the memory of men still older) are found only in those favored
centers where a serviceable system of counting has been developed.
Mythology has a content of history but hardly of chronology. Tradition,
when organized by the priesthood, may be reasonably dependable for
perhaps two hundred years.
The year and the month are the basis of all primitive time systems, the
former depending on the recurring seasons, the latter on recurring
moons. Both of these are expressed in days. Unfortunately, the day is
not contained evenly in either the month or the year, nor do these
larger time measures show any simple relation to each other as regards
length. The history of the calendar is one of compromise and correction.
The Mayan calendars were made possible by: first, the knowledge of
astronomical time periods; second, the possession of a suitable notation
system; third, the discovery of a permutation system of names and
numbers.
Elements of the Day Count.
There is reason to believe that the Mayas had first a lunar-solar
calendar of twelve months of thirty days each, making a year of 360
days, and that they reduced the number of days in the formal month to 20
and raised the number of months in the year from 12 to 18. These changes
permitted a close adjustment of the units of time with their vigesimal
system of counting. With a truer knowledge of the length of the year an
extra five day month was added to make a year of 365 days. Beyond this
the “leap year” error was calculated but not interpolated. As proof that
the lunar month of thirty days preceded the formal month of twenty days,
it need only be pointed out that the name for this period, _uinal_,
seems to be connected with the name for moon, _u_, and that the
hieroglyph for moon has the value, twenty, in the inscriptions and
ancient books.
[Illustration: Fig. 40. The Twenty Day Signs. The first example in
each case is taken from the inscriptions and the second from the
codices.]
Before entering into a fuller discussion of the astronomical and
notational facts let us turn for a moment to the third fact, the
permutation system. The origin of the cycle[1] known by the Mayan name
_tzolkin_ and the Aztecan name _tonalamatl_, book of the days, has never
been satisfactorily explained. It is a permutation system with two
factors, 13 and 20. The former is a series of numbers (1-13) and the
latter a series of twenty names as follows:—
1. Imix
2. Ik
3. Akbal
4. Kan
5. Chicchan
6. Cimi
7. Manik
8. Lamat
9. Muluc
10. Oc
11. Chuen
12. Eb
13. Ben
14. Ix
15. Men
16. Cib
17. Caban
18. Eznab
19. Cauac
20. Ahau
These two series revolve upon each other like two wheels, one with
thirteen and the other with twenty cogs. The smaller wheel of numbers
makes twenty revolutions while the larger wheel of days is making
thirteen revolutions, and after this the number cog and name cog with
which the experiment began are again in combination. Thus, a day with
the same number and the same name recurs every 13 × 20 or 260 days.
This 260 day cycle corresponds to no natural time period and is an
invention pure and simple. It is the most fundamental feature of the
Mayan time count and of the time counts of other nations in Mexico and
Central America. We may perhaps assume that the twenty names were
originally those of the twenty days in the modified lunar months. But
the thirteen numbers have no recognized prototype. The formal book of
days generally was considered to begin with 1 Imix for the Mayas and
with a corresponding day for the other Mexican and Central American
nations. But it can be made to begin anywhere and proceed to an
equivalent station that is always 260 days removed.
PERMUTATION TABLE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1
1 Imix 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1
2 Ik 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2
3 Akbal 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3
4 Kan 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4
5 Chicchan 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5
6 Cimi 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6
7 Manik 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7
8 Lamat 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8
9 Muluc 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9
10 Oc 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10
11 Chuen 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11
12 Eb 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12
13 Ben 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13
14 Ix 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1
15 Men 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2
16 Cib 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3
17 Caban 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4
18 Eznab 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5
19 Cauac 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6
20 Ahau 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7
The Conventional Year.
It has been stated that the Mayas arrived at a conventional 365 day year
made up of eighteen months of twenty days each plus a short period of
five days that fell after the eighteen regular months had been counted.
The Mayan month names are as follows:—
1. Pop
2. Uo
3. Zip
4. Zotz
5. Tzec
6. Xul
7. Yaxkin
8. Mol
9. Chen
10. Yax
11. Zac
12. Ceh
13. Mac
14. Kankin
15. Muan
16. Pax
17. Kayab
18. Cumhu
19. Uayeb (five additional days)
[Illustration: Fig. 41. The Nineteen Month Signs of the Mayan Year.
The first example in each case is taken from the inscriptions and
the second from the codices. The last details are signs for zero.]
Since there are twenty days or positions in the month and likewise
twenty distinct day names in the _tzolkin_, falling in regular order, it
follows that each day would always occupy the same month position were
it not for the offset at the end of each year caused by the short Uayeb
period. As it is, any day name occupies the same month position during
the course of an entire year and a position five days in advance during
the course of the following year. Since five is contained four times in
twenty there can be only four shifts, the fifth year showing the same
arrangement as the first. The following table gives the month positions
of each day name during the changes of four consecutive years as these
are recorded in the ancient inscriptions.
Plate XXII.
[Illustration: Scheme of the Mayan Calendar as presented in the
Codex Tro-Cortesianus. In the center is Itzamna, the God of the Sky,
and his spouse, under what has been called the celestial tree. The
band of hieroglyphs that frames in this picture contains the twenty
day signs of the Mayan month. The figures on the outside are
arranged in four groups, according to the four directions of the
compass. At the top or east we again see Itzamna and his mate. In
the north, or right hand quarter, human sacrifice is shown and the
Death God sits opposite the God of War. In the east and in the south
are also shown pairs of divinities. A series of dots running from
one day sign to another covers the _tzolkin_ or 260 day cycle of
names and numbers.]
Ik Manik Eb Caban 0 5 10 15
Akbal Lamat Ben Eznab 1 6 11 16
Kan Muluc Ix Cauac 2 7 12 17
Chicchan Oc Men Ahau 3 8 13 18
Imix Cimi Chuen Cib 4 9 14 19
Thus Ik occupies 0 position the first year, 5, the second year, 10 the
third, 15 the fourth, and 0 the fifth. While Manik that belongs to the
same set has position 5 the first year, 10 the second, etc. It will be
noted that Imix, the first day of the formal permutation of the
_tzolkin_ is never the first day of a month.
The Calendar Round.
But this assignment of particular day names to particular places in the
month does not close the problem. Each day name is associated in the
_tzolkin_, or permutation, with a day number. While it is true that each
day can occupy only four month positions in as many years, it must be
remembered that the day numbers associated with these names can run the
whole gamut of 13 changes. Thus, although Ik must always occupy the
fifth position in the months during a certain year, nevertheless it will
have numbers which fall in the sequence 1, 8, 2, 9, 3, 10, 4, 11, 5, 12,
6, 13, 1, etc. The complete cycle of variations must run through the
least common multiple of 260 (the permutation) and 365 (the conventional
year) or 18,980 days. This cycle is commonly known as the Calendar
Round. A Mayan day fixed in a month, or let us say a calendar round
date, has four parts to its name, thus, 11 Ahau 18 Mac. We describe a
day as Tuesday, July 4, meaning “Tuesday the third day of the seven day
week occupies the fourth position in the month of July.” Similarly the
Mayan date 11 Ahau 18 Mac may be read “the day named Ahau as eleventh
day in a thirteen day week occupies the eighteenth position in the month
Mac.” Owing to leap year corrections the European date given above does
not recur at regular intervals, but a Mayan day recurs infallibly in 52
calendar years, never sooner, never later.
So far we have considered two kinds of Mayan dates, first the _tzolkin_
date, recurring every 260 days, secondly the calendar round date
recurring every 18,980 days. Before we can understand a third and much
more important kind of date, namely a date which states, in addition to
the calendar round designation, the total number of days since a
beginning day called 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, located far in the past, we must
direct our attention to the matter of numbers and notation.
Mayan Numbers.
The three most common numerical systems in use in the world are all
derived from man’s anatomy. The quinary system is based on counting the
fingers of one hand, the decimal system on counting those of both hands
and the vigesimal system, which prevailed in Central America, is based
on counting all the fingers and all the toes. The vigesimal system is
seen in imperfect form in our count of scores, where seventy years are
three score and ten.
The Mayan name for one was _hun_: they had simple names to 9 and
composite ones from 10 to 19, much as in English, and twenty was _hun
kal_, one score. The ascending values in the vigesimal scale were as
follows:—
Mayan Numbers Arabic Equivalents
hun 1
20 hun = 1 kal 20
20 kal = 1 bak 400
20 bak = 1 pic 8,000
20 pic = 1 cabal 160,000
20 cabal = 1 kinchil 3,200,000
20 kinchil = 1 alau 64,000,000
20 alau = 1 hablat 1,280,000,000
They invented signs for zero and discovered the principle of “local
value” in the writing down of numbers centuries before these ideas
(which are fundamental to higher mathematics) were known in the Old
World. The notation of numbers had its simpler and more complicated
phase. In the simpler phase 1 was represented by a dot, 2 by two dots, 5
by a bar, 6 by a bar and dot, 15 by three bars, etc. The commonest sign
for zero was a shell while a picture of the moon stood for twenty. In
the more elaborate notation a series of twenty faces of gods represented
the numerals from 0 to 19.
[Illustration: Fig. 42. Bar and Dot Numerals of the Mayas.]
The straight vigesimal system was doubtless used by the Mayas in
ordinary counting, but in counting time a very important change was
introduced in the third position. Also the names were modified: _hun_
was called _kin_ which means sun or day. In the second position _kal_
was called _uinal_ which means month and 18 of these were taken to form
a _tun_, stone, which was the third unit. The _tun_ then had a value of
18 × 20 = 360 days, making a conventional year about five and a quarter
days less than a true year. Twenty _tuns_ made a _kaltun_ or _katun_ and
above this period the numeral system proceeded as before and in the
ascending values the names already given were merely combined with
_tun_, if Gates is right in his clever suggestion. For years it has been
customary to speak of the fifth period as cycle for want of a native
term: this will now be called _baktun_. One _hablatun_, the highest
period with a name, has the astonishing value of 460,800,000,000 days.
However, the highest numbers fall considerably short of this potential
limit.
In our decimal system the number 347,981, for instance, is really:—
3 × 100000
4 × 10000
7 × 1000
9 × 100
8 × 10
1 × 1
When written out in a horizontal line each “position” has a value ten
times that of the “position” to the right of it. It is understood that a
digit which stands in a “position” is to be multiplied by 1, 10, 100,
1000, etc., as the case may be. The Mayas, using the principle of
position, ordinarily write their bar and dot numerals in columns. But we
can partially transcribe a Mayan number in imitation of our own system
by putting dots or dashes between the positions or periods. The number
in five positions given below is transcribed as 9.12.16.7.8.
[Illustration: Mayan numerals]
9 × 144000 1,296,000
12 × 7200 86,400
16 × 360 5,760
7 × 20 140
8 × 1 8
1,388,308
We read this date: 9 baktuns, 12 katuns, 16 tuns, 7 uinals, and 8 kins.
It is convenient to remember that a tun is a little less than a year, a
katun a little less than 20 years and a baktun a little less than 400
years. But the count is really of days, not years.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Face Numerals found in Mayan Inscriptions.
In most cases these are the faces of gods. Reading from left to
right: the values are 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10.]
[Illustration: Fig. 44. The Normal Forms of the Period Glyphs.
Reading from left to right: baktun, katun, tun, uinal, kin.]
Although the numerical values are expressed by position alone in some
cases, in other cases use is made of Period Glyphs to make assurance
doubly sure. These Period Glyphs represent the basic value of the
positions which are to be multiplied by the accompanying numerals. For
examples, see Figs. 44 and 45.
[Illustration: Fig. 45. Face Forms of Period Glyphs. From left to
right: introducing glyph, baktun, katun, tun, uinal, kin.]
Plate XXIII.
[Illustration: Typical Mayan Inscription.]
Introducing Glyph
Initial Series
1. 9 baktuns (cycles).
2. 14 katuns
3. 13 tuns (written 12 by error)
4. 4 uinals
5. 17 kins
6. 12 Caban (day)
Supplementary Series
7. glyph F
8. (a) glyph D, (b) glyph C
9. (a) glyph X, (b) glyph B
10. (a) glyph A (30 day lunar month)
10. (b) 5 Kayab (month)
Explanatory Series
11, 12, 13 and 14a, possibly explain the dates
Secondary Series
14b, 3 kins, 13 uinals
15a, 6 tuns (to be added)
Period Ending Date
16. 4 Ahau 13 Yax (9.15.0.0.0)
The Long Count.
Many early monuments of the Mayas have inscriptions with an enlarged
Introducing Glyph containing a variable element indicating the title or
principal subject matter of the inscription. Next follows the number of
elapsed days from the epoch of a Mundane Era. This starting point is
uniformly the day 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu and the complete Initial Series date
not only states the number of elapsed days, but also the name and number
of the day reached and its position in a Mayan month.
The Initial Series is normally followed by a Supplementary Series which
concerns the lunar calendar, and often there are numbers of days to be
added to or subtracted from the Initial Series date: these are called
Secondary Series. Also Period Ending dates are used, these being merely
abbreviated dates which correspond to indicated round numbers in the day
count.
The Initial Series analyzed in Plate XXIII actually records the number
1,401,217. This number does not, however, reach the day 12 Caban
declared immediately after it or the month position 5 Kayab recorded in
glyph 10b. When 13 tuns are corrected to 12 tuns on the theory that the
sculptor did not follow copy, we do reach 12 Caban 5 Kayab. Another
check comes when we add the Secondary Series of 2423 days and reach 4
Ahau 13 Yax ending an even katun.
Dates of Dedication.
Initial Series dates are especially common on stelæ at cities of the
First Empire, mostly located in the southern part of the Mayan Area.
While it is impossible to read much of the texts which accompany these
dates nevertheless it is a remarkable fact that when we arrange the
monuments in their artistic order we find that the inscribed dates in
the great majority of cases fall in the same order. This leads us to
conclude that the dates are practically contemporaneous with the carving
and setting up of the monuments. Now the above is especially true when
the inscription gives a simple Initial Series date. When more than one
date is given the historic one appears in most instances to be the
latest, but in a few instances it appears to be a specially emphasized
intermediate date. In addition, then, to contemporaneous dates there are
some that refer to the past and others that refer to the future.
Some writers have assumed that the stelæ and other inscribed monuments
were primarily time markers set up at the end of hotun (or five year)
periods. This seems an unnecessarily narrow view. We can demonstrate
that some inscriptions deal with astronomical facts covering long
stretches of time. It is also apparent that many of the sculptures
represent conquests and it is extremely likely that portraits of actual
rulers are to be seen in certain carvings. It would be too much to
expect events to happen regularly at the end of time periods and as a
matter of fact we find at different cities repeated dates that do not
occupy such positions. These repeated dates would seem to recall events
of special importance to the city in question.
The running co-ordination between the apparent order of the artistic
styles and inscribed dates permits us to measure very accurately the
rate of change in art which was rapid, indeed, at certain times. The
style of carving, on the other hand, enables us to put into definite 52
year periods many of the calendar round dates—if these are to be
regarded as contemporaneous. The result is that for the First Empire, as
it has been called, there is an exceedingly accurate chronology. After
the fall and abandonment of the great southern cities dates are rare and
we have to fall back upon remnants of history preserved after the coming
of the Spaniards.
Hieroglyphs.
Mayan hieroglyphs resemble the Egyptian and Chinese hieroglyphs only in
being “sacred writing” that is not based upon an alphabet. The styles
and symbols are entirely different. No Rosetta Stone has yet been
discovered to give us inscriptions in more than one system of writing in
Central America. The great use of hieroglyphic inscriptions on monuments
was characteristic of the earlier period of Mayan history and at a later
time the writing was reduced to books. Bishop Landa obtained what he
supposed was a Mayan alphabet, but what he really obtained was a list of
signs representing among other sounds the particular sounds he had asked
for.
The phonetic use of syllables rather than of simple sounds or letters is
probably an important feature of Mayan writing. Many hieroglyphs are
pictographic and consist of abbreviated pictures of the thing intended
or of some object connected with it. Often a head stands for the entire
body. The following list practically exhausts our knowledge of Mayan
hieroglyphs:—
1. The signs for the twenty named days of the calendar.
2. The signs for the nineteen months of the Mayan year.
3. The face signs for numbers from zero to nineteen inclusive.
4. Period glyphs in two styles for place values in the numerical
notation.
5. The symbols for the four directions and for the colors associated
with them.
6. The hieroglyphs of several gods and ceremonies.
7. The symbols of Heaven and Earth, the Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter, and a few astronomical phenomena such as conjunctions.
8. Hieroglyphs for special times of the year such as solstices and
equinoxes.
9. Signs meaning era, or base from which a numerical count is made,
completion, etc.
Some of these have recently been solved, thanks to mathematical and
astronomical calculations, others rest on the calendarial forms given by
Landa. There are some phonetic elements in Mayan writing and some
ideographic elements. It seems likely that the gist of the Mayan
inscriptions which deal with history will be solved in somewhat the same
fashion as those that deal with astronomy. The matter is, however, most
perplexing. So far not a single place name or personal name has been
definitely recognized and translated. In spite of the hundreds of glyphs
recovered at the sites called Copan and Palenque, for instance, we do
not know the real names of these cities or even their symbols. We may
expect to find signs referring to tribute and common objects of trade
and others referring to birth, death, establishment, conquest,
destruction, and other fundamentals of individual and social existence.
These signs, taken with directives, connectives, and dates, would make
possible the recovery of the main facts of history. There seems no
possibility of purely literary inscriptions. While progress necessarily
will be slow there is no reason for despair and without doubt the
greater portion of Mayan inscriptions will finally be deciphered.
[Illustration: Fig. 46. Hieroglyphs of the Four Directions: East,
North, West, South.]
[Illustration: Fig. 47. Hieroglyphs containing the Phonetic Element
_kin_: _a-b_, _kin_; _c_, _li-kin_; _d_, _chi-kin_; _e-f_,
_yax-kin_; _g_, _kan-kin_.]
As an example of the phonetic use of signs in the building up of
hieroglyphs let us take the common sign _kin_, meaning “sun.” This sign
appears regularly in the glyphs for the world directions east and west,
the Mayan names being _likin_ and _chikin_, and also in the month sign
_Yaxkin_, and sometimes in that for _Kankin_. It also appears as the
sign for the lowest period in the time count having the value of a
single day and called _kin_ (Fig. 47). Now this kin sign also appears in
many undeciphered hieroglyphs and in some of these it seems likely that
it has a phonetic value. Other signs with definite values in several
glyphs are _yax_, _tun_, _zac_, etc. This general method of writing is
seen in more decipherable form among the Aztecs. The glosses of the
early priests that have proved so great a help in the case of the
Aztecan writing are absent from the few Mayan documents.
Codices.
Only three ancient Mayan books or codices are known to exist and these
are more or less incomplete. They have all been reproduced in facsimile
and are known by the following names: Dresden Codex, Peresianus Codex,
Tro-Cortesianus Codex.
These illuminated manuscripts are written on both sides of long strips
of amatl paper, folded like Japanese screens. The paper was given a
smooth surface by a coating of fine lime and the drawings were made in
black and in various colors. From the early accounts we know that books
were also written on prepared deerskin and upon bark. Concerning their
subject matter we are told that the Mayas had many books upon civil and
religious history, and upon rites, magic, and medicine. The three books
named above have been carefully studied. They treat principally of the
calendar and of associated religious ceremonies.
A page of the Dresden Codex containing some interesting calculations is
reproduced herewith. The numbers with the digits one above the other are
transcribed in two diagrams. In the upper diagram the bar and dot
numerals are simply put over into Arabic numerals and the Mayan system
of periods or positions is retained. In the lower diagram these numbers
are reduced entirely to the Arabic system. The columns are lettered at
the top, the hieroglyphs are counted off in sixteen rows at the left and
the separate groupings of numbers are shown in five sections at the
right.
Among the hieroglyphs the Venus sign is especially prominent. At the
base of column B is given a number in five periods that, counted from
the normal beginning day 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu leads again to this day which is
recorded at the bottom of column A. The long number in column C,
similarly counted from 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, leads to 1 Ahau 18 Kayab,
recorded at the bottom of B. The day 1 Ahau 18 Uo is reached by another
calculation which will be explained later. At the base of A is a number
in three periods which amounts to 2200. Not only is this the difference
between the long numbers in B and C (1,366,560 - 1,364,360 = 2200) but
it is also the number of days by which 1 Ahau 18 Kayab precedes 4 Ahau 8
Cumhu. In other words we deal in this passage with the end of the
seventy-second calendar round after the original 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu and with
a new point of departure 2200 days earlier, which is some way involved
with the calendar of Venus.
Let us now make a new beginning in the lower left hand corner of this
page. In G5 we find the number 2920 which as we have already seen is
exactly the number of days consumed in eight years of 365 days or five
synodic revolutions of Venus of 584 days. We will now see how the Mayan
scholars arrived at 13 × 2920 or 37,960, the calendar round of Venus. If
we proceed towards the left in section 5 we find the second number, F5,
is 5840 which equals 2 × 2920, the third is 8760 or 3 × 2920, and the
fourth is 11,680 or 4 × 2920. The addition is continued in sections 4
and 3 till we reach 35,040 or 12 × 2920. To be sure the scribe made a
slight error in one place, writing a 5 for an 8 but this is caught up by
the day signs 9 Ahau, 4 Ahau, 7 Ahau, 12 Ahau, etc., that fall at
regular intervals of 2920 days.
Plate XXIV.
[Illustration: Page 24 Dresden Codex.]
[Illustration: Diagram showing partial reduction of Mayan numbers
into Arabic numbers in the calculation shown on page 24 of the
Dresden Codex (Plate XXIV).]
A B C D E F G
1 Hieroglyphs 1 1
1 15 10 5
2 1 16 10 5
3 14 6 16 8
0 0 0 0
4 1 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau
5 1 2
6 5 9 4 1
7 14 11 12 5
4 7 8 5
8 0 0 0 0
9 1 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau
10 4 4 4 3 3
17 9 1 13
11 6 4 2 0
12 0 0 0 0
13 6 Ahau 11 Ahau 3 Ahau 8 Ahau
14 3 2 2 2 4
9 9 4 16 8 0
15 9 9 16 14 12 10
16 9 0 0 0 0
16 13 Ahau 5 Ahau 10 Ahau 2 Ahau
6 0 16 1 1 5
2 0 0 12 4 16 8
0 5 [8] 6 4 2
4 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau 0 0 0 0
8 Cumhu 18 Kayab 18 Uo 7 Ahau 12 Ahau 4 Ahau 9 Ahau
[Illustration: Diagram showing complete reduction into Arabic
numbers of the calculation shown on page 24 of the Dresden Codex
(Plate XXIV).]
A B C D E F G
Hieroglyphs 151,840 113,880 75,920 37,960 1
1 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau
185,120 68,900 33,280 9,100 2
1 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau
35,040 32,120 29,200 26,280 3
6 Ahau 11 Ahau 3 Ahau 8 Ahau
23,360 20,440 17,520 14,600 4
2,200 1,366,560 1,364,360 13 Ahau 5 Ahau 10 Ahau 2 Ahau
4 Ahau 1 Ahau 1 Ahau 11,680 8,760 5,840 2,920 5
8 Cumhu 18 Kayab 18 Uo 7 Ahau 12 Ahau 4 Ahau 9 Ahau
From section 3, the calculation jumps to section 1 where the numbers in
the original are partly destroyed. They have, however, been restored
with perfect assurance since the days in all instances are 1 Ahau and
therefore must be separated by multiples of 260 days. The number in G1
has been restored as 5-5-8-0 or 37,960 or 13 × 2920. It contains 260 an
even number of times and therefore every successive period of 37,960
days begins with the same day, 1 Ahau. It also equals 13 × 8 × 365 days
or 104 years and 13 × 5 × 584 days or sixty-five revolutions of Venus.
[Illustration: Fig. 48. Mayan Ceremony as represented in the Dresden
Codex. The figure at the left beats a drum while the one on the
right plays a flageolet. The sound is indicated by scrolls. The head
on the pyramid is that of the Maize God and it rests upon the sign
_caban_, meaning earth.]
The three numbers to the left in F1, E1, and D1 are respectively 2, 3,
and 4 times 37,960. The last number, 151,840 days is therefore equal to
416 years or exactly 8 calendar rounds of 18,980 days.
The numbers in section 2 are more difficult to explain but they possibly
have to do with corrections and correlations of astronomical periods. If
we add to 1 Ahau 18 Kayab the number of days in E2, (68900), we arrive
at a day 1 Ahau 13 Mac. This day is prominent in more detailed
calculations elsewhere in the Dresden Codex. If we add to the same 1
Ahau 18 Kayab the number in D2 we arrive at 1 Ahau 18 Uo recorded at the
bottom of C. Space permits no further explanation but the reader will
see from the foregoing the method of experiment and cross checking that
must be applied to the decipherment of the Mayan manuscripts.
Fortunately, the relationships of numbers are absolute and the
coincidences between the recorded numbers and astronomical periods are
too close and frequent to be dismissed as accidental.
In addition to rational calculations dealing with astronomy one sees in
the Mayan manuscripts many arrangements of the _tzolkin_ supposed to
bring to light good and bad days and to forecast events. A section of
the Dresden Codex showing a condensed _tzolkin_ is presented along with
a diagram of its parts. At the top and right are seventeen hieroglyphs
containing the symbols of the four directions, and of at least three of
the principal gods. At the right is a column of five day signs with the
number 3 at the head of the column. The permutation is divided into five
parts of fifty-two days each and each part is subdivided into four
groups of thirteen days each. It begins with 3 Akbal, the day sign at
the top of the column, and after the four subdivisions of thirteen days
each have been counted we arrive at the day 3 Men, the second day sign
in the column. The count is repeated till the 260 days have been
exhausted and we come back again to 3 Akbal. In the diagram the red
numbers of the codex are represented by Roman numerals and the black
numbers by Arabic numerals. Since the count in this example begins with
3 and the addition is always 13, or exactly one round of numbers, the
resultant days always have the number 3.
Plate XXV.
[Illustration: (_a_) Detail of the Dresden Codex showing _Tzolkin_
used in Divination.]
[Illustration: (_b_) Analysis of the above _Tzolkin_, according to
Förstemann.]
III 1 2 5 6 9 10 13
East * North * West * South
3 4 7 8 11 12 14
God B † Woman Good God G ‡ *
Days
13 III 13 III 13 III 15
1 God E
Akbal 16
2 (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) Week of
13 days
Men 17
Ahau
3
Manik
4
Cauac 13
Image 1: God B—rain and sky god of good powers. Holds Kan (maize) sign
in his hand.
Image 2: Goddess with serpent headdress possibly connected with
floods. Holds Kan sign in hand.
Image 3: God K—benevolent sun god.
If space had been larger God E (the maize god) would probably have
been drawn next.
The three pictures of gods give us an inkling into the significance of
this particular table of chances. All of the gods carry the _kan_ or
maize sign in their hands. The first god is the benevolent rain god and
the third is the benevolent sun god. Between them is seated the
malevolent goddess of floods with a serpent on her head. The maize god
is not shown but his hieroglyph is given. This _tzolkin_ probably deals
with agriculture and may be an attempt to determine lucky days for
planting.
Correlation with Christian Chronology.
The day for day correlation rests broadly on the placing of the date on
the Lintel of the Initial Series at Chichen Itza in the first occupation
of that city according to the chronicles. More specifically it rests
upon statements in Mayan and Spanish documents relating to the
completion of tuns and katuns in the never-languishing day count. Also
consideration must be given the so-called Year-Bearers, these being the
first days of current years which furnish the designations for such
years. Bishop Landa has a specimen Mayan year with its equivalent days
in the Spanish calendar; this is the year 12 Kan corresponding to
1553-1554 A. D. and the day 12 Kan is found in the Long Count position
12.9.17.9.4, 12 Kan 2 Pop, July 26, 1553, Gregorian Calendar.
The Mayan Eras.
The zero of the Mayan day count, reached by subtracting 12.9.17.9.4 or
1,799,104 days from the position declared above, is shown to be October
14, 3373 B. C. in the backward projection of the Gregorian calendar. The
Gregorian readings are preferable to the Julian because they preserve
the actual times in the tropical year, but it is sometimes useful to use
the days of the Julian Period which can always be found by adding 489384
to the Mayan number.
Now Mayan history does not reach back to the zero date which must be
regarded as a theoretical beginning or Mundane Era. The earliest object
with a contemporary date is the Tuxtla Statuette with May 16, 98 B. C.
It appears, however, that the really historic beginning of the day count
was 7.0.0.0.0, 10 Ahau 18 Zac, August 6, 613 B. C. The calendar of
months was probably inaugurated in 580 B. C. when 0 Pop, New Year’s day,
coincided with the winter solstice. A third era, 9.0.0.0.0, 8 Ahau 13
Ceh, February 10, 176 A. D., is the one used in the Mayan chronicles.
Astronomical Checks on the Correlation.
The first astronomical checks which develop from the correlation
explained above are dates which reach the equinoxes, solstices, etc.,
further marked by special hieroglyphs which are to be explained as
ideographs of these stations in the natural year. For instance the most
emphatic date in the three famous temples of the Sun, the Cross, and the
Foliated Cross at Palenque is one written 9.12.18.5.16, 2 Cib 14 Mol,
September 23, 430 A. D., which coincides with the autumnal equinox. In
connection with this repeated date we find two glyphs both of which are
admirable ideographs of the equinox. One is Ahau, a face explained as
that of the Lord of Day, but here half covered with starry eyes, and the
other is the Kin or sun symbol, half darkened with cross-hatching. At
Comitan a round number date exactly coinciding with the equinox has a
variant of this second ideograph.
Other strong proofs concern Venus and the Moon. Hieroglyphs of these
heavenly bodies are found in combination with dates and these later
actually reach significant phases of the planets in question. For Venus
the phase chosen is commonly the first appearance as Morningstar four
days after inferior conjunction, or what is known as the heliacal
rising. Records of the Moon are prominent when a new or full phase
coincides with a round number in the day count.
Astronomical Observatories.
One of the most interesting pieces of evidence in support of the
correlation explained above has to do with a giant sun dial at Copan.
Two stelæ stand on opposite sides of the valley establishing a line
which runs about 9 degrees north of west. When observation is made from
the eastern marker the sun sets behind the western stone two times
during the course of a year, once shortly after the vernal equinox and
once shortly before the autumnal equinox. Now the Mayan chronicles state
that the calendarial New Year was “counted in order” during a certain
Katun 13 Ahau which extended from 491 A. D. to 511 A. D. Altar U at
Copan was observed to record two New Year’s dates equaling April 9 in
conjunction with another date, equaling September 2, 503 A. D., and
falling in the required interval covered by Katun 13 Ahau. These dates
were such as might be reached by just such a base line as exists at
Copan and it was first believed that they were exactly reached by it.
Careful reconsideration of the evidence in the inscriptions and a
re-survey of the line of sight led to the interesting conclusion that
the sun dial of Copan was originally set up in 392 A. D. to give sunset
coincidences on April 5 and September 6. About 490 A. D. the stones were
re-adjusted to give the April 9 and September 2 which are recorded on
Altar U and still later a third and present arrangement was effected
giving April 12 and August 30. Each pair of dates is “reciprocal” in the
sense that one member marks the same interval after the Spring equinox
that the other does before the Fall equinox. The shifting seems to have
been decided upon by astronomical congresses, and the purpose was to fix
propitious times of planting the crops.
[Illustration: Fig. 49. Diagram of the Astronomical Base Line at
Copan giving readings at April 9 and September 2. Slight shifts were
made in this line: at an early time it was arranged to read April 5
and September 6 and at a later time April 12 and August 30.]
Other Mayan observatories at Uaxactun and Chichen Itza have lines of
sight which mark exactly the positions of the sun (the summer solstice,
etc.), and all in all the evidence deduced from these observatories is
in complete agreement with the correlation of the Mayan and Christian
time counts originally effected on the evidence in sixteenth century
documents.
The True Year.
The base line at Copan yielded accurate data on the exact length of the
tropical year, a period varying by a difficult fraction from 365 full
days. The tropical year is the time measured by the revolution of the
earth around the sun and by the recurring seasons. No agricultural
people could neglect this natural time period with its obvious relation
to planting and harvest.
Reference has already been made to the notational 360 day year (tun) of
the Mayas and to their formal calendar year (haab) of exactly 365 days.
The calendar year kept running ahead of the true year by the
accumulating amount of the days which we intercalate on leap years but
the Mayas wisely made no such intercalations since to have done so would
have thrown their day count out of gear with the moon and other planets
and the somewhat defective calendar based upon these minor heavenly
bodies. Therefore the months of the Mayan year like those of the ancient
Egyptian year slowly moved through the seasons. But the Mayas calculated
an almost exact correction for the excess of the true year over the
vague 365 day year. This excess amounts to about .24 of a day and their
correction seems to have been one day in four years for short periods
while for long periods they made 29 calendar rounds (1508 calendar years
or 550,420 days) equal 1507 tropical years. This is a remarkably
accurate adjustment, much closer, in fact, than that of our present
Gregorian calendar. This great cycle is comparable to the 1460 year
Sothic cycle of the Egyptians in so far as that relates to the flooding
of the Nile, but the Egyptian arrangement has an error of about twelve
days for the cycle while the Mayan arrangement is accurate to a very
small fraction of a day.
In the calendars of various Guatemalan and Mexican tribes the slow
shifting of the months is attested by actual statements of early Spanish
writers. But the conventional 365 day year was, after all, sufficiently
accurate for most purposes since associations between the months and the
seasons would hold reasonably true for the average lifetime.
The Lunar Calendar.
The apparent revolution of the moon around the earth was taken by the
Mayas as the basis of a lunar calendar distinct from the civil calendar,
but used in combination with it for various ceremonial purposes. Now the
average duration of a lunar revolution is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes,
2.87 seconds. Twelve lunations amount to a little more than 354 days and
are therefore far short of a true year. Primitive peoples whose
principal interest is to keep the moon in adjustment with the seasons
have an occasional thirteenth month in their luni-solar calendars.
The Metonic cycle of the Greeks, an equation of 19 tropical years, 235
lunations and 6940 days, has been regarded as a remarkable achievement
in observation. The Mayas discovered the same equation and with their
system of designating days were able to use it with much greater ease
than the Greeks since one katun minus one tzolkin gives exactly the
required number of days:—
1. 0. 0. 0 = 7200 days
13. 0 = 260 days
19. 5. 0 = 6940 days
This interval is used prominently in several calculations at Copan and
Quirigua.
On pages 51 to 58 of the Dresden Codex is found a remarkable lunar
calendar covering 405 lunations or nearly 33 years. The lunar
revolutions are arranged in groups of five or six, the former calculated
at 148 days and the latter at 177 or 178 days. These are the necessary
intervals between eclipses. The total amounts to 11,960 days which
exactly contains the tzolkin and therefore forms a cycle. It is a
remarkable fact that 405 lunar revolutions amount, according to modern
calculations, to 11,959.888 or only O.112 of a day less than the Mayan
lunar calendar. Therefore this re-entering series can be used nine
times, or nearly 300 years, before an error amounting to one whole day
has accumulated. There is also evidence that the Mayas used the great
cycle of 29 × 52 calendar years, or 1507 tropical years, in connection
with the moon and here the error for 18,639 lunations is about .64 of a
day.
The Supplementary Series in Long Count dates is probably to be
interpreted as the statement of the day reached by the Initial Series in
a lunar calendar with an accumulated error; that is, the Mayas had an
uncorrected lunar count as well as an uncorrected calendar year. Glyph C
records a number of complete lunations which is never in excess of six;
Glyph D gives the number of days in the current lunation when these are
19 or less and Glyph E, which has the basic value of 20, finishes the
count of a current lunation. There is some evidence that the Mayan lunar
calendar in the fifth century A. D. had receded about four days from the
true positions of the moon, the count being made from the new or
conjunctional phase. When, however, a new or full phase actually
coincided with an important round number in the day count special record
of the fact was made.
[Illustration: Fig. 50. Representations of the Moon: _a_, sun and
moon hieroglyphs; _b_, moon from a “celestial band”; _c_, moon
hieroglyph used for 20 in codices.]
[Illustration: Fig. 51. The Last Glyph of the Supplementary Series:
_a_, moon glyph; combined with the numeral 9 or 10 to indicate a 29
or a 30 day lunar month.]
The lunar table in the Dresden Codex does not apply precisely to records
of the First Empire but possibly may be adjusted to the times of the
Second Empire. The indications are, however, too complicated to be
examined in detail.
Venus Calendar.
Mayan astronomers reached a remarkable knowledge of the movements of the
planet Venus and evolved a Venus calendar based essentially on the
correspondence between 8 calendar years of 365 days each and 5 apparent
or synodical revolutions of Venus of 584 days each. Venus whirling on an
inside orbit actually makes thirteen revolutions around the sun in very
nearly the same time that the earth makes eight revolutions and
therefore passes between the earth and the sun five times (the
difference between 13 and 8) during the course of this astronomical
period of 2920 days. Just before inferior conjunction the planet
disappears as evening star and a few days later emerges as morning star.
The mean length of the synodical revolution of Venus is 583.92 days and
the actual length may vary about four days from this mean. While the
Mayas standardized the Earth year at 365 days and the Venus year at 584
days, they were fully aware of the amount of error in each case, and
made proper correction for it without resorting to the devices of
intercalation or excision.
We have seen that the Mayas manipulated the year and the lunation in
combination with the tzolkin or permutation of 20 days and 13 numbers.
They also found a round of these elements in combination with the phases
of Venus. Since the period of 2920 days is divisible by 20 but not by 13
it had to be taken 13 times before the round of the Venus calendar was
reached.
In the Dresden Codex five pages are devoted to this round of the Venus
calendar. Each Venus year of 584 days is divided into four parts of 236
days for the phase of morning star, 90 days (superior conjunction), 250
days (evening star) and 8 days (inferior conjunction). These divisions
agree closely enough with actual appearance. But we must remember that
the observations were made without instruments and that the planet
cannot be seen by the naked eye when close to the sun. Moreover we must
expect beliefs as to the nature of this planet, personified as a god, to
supplement the knowledge gained from actual observations. The
obscuration of Venus at inferior conjunction seems to have been greatly
dreaded especially when a round number in the day count fell within the
eight days of its duration. A grotesque two-headed monster apparently
ruled this fatal period: on the front head is seen the symbol of Venus
and on the rear head the symbol of the sun, both associated with
elements of death.
The Venus calendar seems to have taken form in the sixth century B. C.
on the basis of heliacal risings of the planet as morning star in sets
of five making an eight year cycle. The dates in the Mayan calendar
especially emphasized in connection with Venus are 19 Xul, 18 Kayab, 12
Yax, 6 Zip, and 5 Kankin standing exactly 584 days apart, while the
corresponding dates in the Gregorian calendar are April 12, November 17,
June 24, January 29, and September 5. When these sets of dates, one in a
fixed and the other in a vague calendar are carried back to a common
focus they are found to correspond very closely with the proper
astronomical phase of Venus. The maximum difference of the true
positions of Venus from the positions in the Venus calendar is then only
two days, plus or minus.
The coincidences of the 8 day period of obscuration of Venus at inferior
conjunction with the following round numbers in the day count was
memorialized by important monuments:—
9.14.0.0.0, 6 Ahau 13 Muan, Feb. 4, 452 A. D. Venus rises as
morning star
9.17.0.0.0, 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu, Mar. 27, 511 A. D. Venus invisible
during conjunction
10.0.0.0.0, 7 Ahau 18 Zip, May 17, 570 A. D. Venus invisible
during conjunction
10.3.0.0.0, 1 Ahau 3 Yaxkin, July 6, 629 A. D. Venus about to set
as evening star
The Venus table in the Dresden Codex, the introductory page of which has
been explained in an earlier section (see Plate XXIV) emphasizes the
same Mayan and Gregorian positions of Venus as the ancient monuments but
this table was evidently intended to be used between the Tenth and
Thirteenth centuries A. D. The point of departure for the table is
9.9.9.16.0, 1 Ahau 18 Kayab, April 12, 363 A. D., which does not
coincide with an heliacal rising of the planet, although April 12 and 18
Kayab occur in other connections at the time of the inauguration of the
Venus calendar in the Sixth century B. C. But in the Lunar table we find
10.19.6.1.0, 4 Ahau 18 Kayab, November 20, 950, which does reach an
heliacal rising of Venus as morning star.
Summary of Mayan History.
A brief summary of Mayan history is given below:—
Protohistoric Period
613 B. C. to 176 A. D. 7.0.0.0.0 to 9.0.0.0.0
The counting of days apparently began on August 6, 613 B. C. and the
civil calendar in perfected form was inaugurated about 580 B. C. when 0
Pop coincided with the winter solstice, while the Venus calendar emerged
half a century later. The calendarial inventions, the numerical notation
and the hieroglyphic system may, perhaps, be credited to the genius of
one man afterwards deified as Itzamna. The earliest contemporary Mayan
date occurs on a jade statuette from San Andres Tuxtla, and is May 16,
98 B. C. The next earliest one is on the jade tablet known as the Leyden
Plate and is November 17, 60 A. D., having reference to the Venus
calendar. This is followed almost immediately by several contemporary
dates on monuments at Uaxactun which also are of astronomical import.
The design on the Leyden Plate shows that the characteristic details of
Mayan drawing had already been developed and we may surmise that during
the protohistoric period the early carvings were on wood instead of
stone and that the peculiar religion of the Mayas was even then
beginning to crystallize around the serpent, the jaguar, etc.
Early Period
176 A. D. to 373 A. D. 9.0.0.0.0 to 9.10.0.0.0
During these ten katuns the great cities of the south make rapid strides
towards grandeur. Pyramidal mounds are erected and temples built upon
them. Public squares are laid out and in these are set up stelæ and
altars. The leading early cities are Palenque, Tikal, and Copan, where
the dated monuments and temples mark rapid progress in the arts of
sculpture and architecture while the subject matter of inscriptions
reveals growing ability in astronomy and mathematics. Low angular relief
characterizes stone sculptures and the profile presentation of the human
figure is now handled more skilfully than front view.
Middle Period
373 A. D. to 471 A. D. 9.10.0.0.0 to 9.15.0.0.0
Some of the most beautiful monuments of the Mayas belong to this middle
period. While archaism does not entirely disappear there is freshness,
purity of style, and straightforwardness of presentation about the
sculpture of this age. Flamboyancy is not apparent. At Copan the Great
Mound was practically carried to completion during this period, an
enormous undertaking which absorbed so much energy that few stelæ were
set up. The best series of monuments from the middle period are seen at
Naranjo and Piedras Negras.
Great Period
471 A. D. to 629 A. D. 9.15.0.0.0 to 10.3.0.0.0
Many cities flourished in the culminating years of Mayan civilization.
In addition to those already mentioned Quirigua, Ixkun, Seibal, Nakum,
Cancuen, Yaxchilan, Toniná, and Kobá were important centers while a
complete list of the sites with dated monuments would show many more
names. The territorial extension reaches from northern Yucatan to the
Guatemalan highlands and from southern Vera Cruz to central Honduras.
Art passes through interesting changes with tendencies towards
flamboyancy. Architecture makes great advances: rooms become wider,
walls thinner and forms more refined and pleasing. The calculations deal
more and more with complicated astronomical subjects and dates belong
less and less in the category of contemporary history. The first age of
Mayan civilization, called the First Empire, comes to an end with Katun
3 of Cycle 10, a date registered at Uaxactun which, strangely enough,
also boasts the earliest stela with a contemporary date. It is indicated
that Uaxactun was occupied for 561 years while the range of dates at
Tikal is 394 years. Abandonment of all the sites of the First Empire
took place within something like fifty years. What caused this collapse?
Civil war? Social decadence? Failure of food supply? Or perhaps some
overwhelming epidemic? There is good reason for believing that the
sudden appearance of yellow fever may have had a part in the
catastrophe. References in the Chronicles to the First Empire are very
brief and do not help us find the answer to this mystery.
Transition Period
629 A. D. to 964 A. D. 10.3.0.0.0 to 11.0.0.0.0
Most of the Mayas surviving the collapse of the First Empire seem to
have found a second home in western Yucatan, especially in the region
called Chakunputun in the Chronicles. Here the rainfall is much less and
the forest environment not nearly so luxuriant. Certain cities, which
probably date from this transitional period, such as Hochob,
Dzibilnocac, Rio Bec, etc., have very beautiful architecture showing
advances over that of the First Empire in some features. Dated documents
are so rare as practically to be non-existent. It seems probable that
Mayan learning had been reduced to books for there is ample evidence
from the succeeding period that astronomical and calendarial knowledge
had been conserved from ancient times. At the end of these lean
centuries, the Mayas made their way still farther north. Chichen Itza
which had been a provincial city of the First Empire was reoccupied and
the Mayan renaissance known as the Second Empire began.
Period of the League of Mayapan
964 A. D. to 1191 A. D. 11.0.0.0.0 to 11.11.10.0.0
The first phase of the Mayan renaissance was pretty clearly centered in
Chichen Itza although the earliest date which may be contemporary is
probably that of the Temple of the Initial Series at Holactun. The
inscription shows a survival of the ancient method of counting time and
is now believed to treat of the interval between March 9, 1012 A. D. and
November 14, 1016 A. D. Other cities rising to splendor during the
Second Empire are Kabah, Labna, Sayil, and Izamal. The time of
foundation for Uxmal is rather difficult to determine. According to
tradition it was the capital of Toltec immigrants into Yucatan, but when
or how they arrived cannot be answered definitely. The League of Mayapan
was organized as an alliance between Chichen Itza and Uxmal in the
second half of the twelfth century, and Mayapan was built as a
neutralized capital of church and state under the inspiration of a
Toltec noble named Quetzalcoatl. Finally, Izamal and Chichen Itza
rebelled and Inetzalcoatl conquered the latter city in 1191 and made it
the capital of a Maya-Toltec state.
Period of Mexican Influence
1191 A. D. to 1437 A. D. 11.11.10.0.0 to 12.4.0.0.0
The helpers of Hunac Ceel bore Mexican names and belonged to the Toltec
nation. Hunac Ceel is identified in one place with Kukulcan, the name
meaning “plumed serpent” in the Mayan language, and in another place
with Quetzalcoatl which has the same significance in the Mexican
language. In Chichen Itza sculptural art and architecture have many
clear analogies to works in the Valley of Mexico. The building called
the Castillo seems to have been built by Quetzalcoatl, being the first
structure in which serpent columns and other structural ideas of this
ruler were given expression. The Temple of the High Priest’s Grave is a
developed example of the new style bearing the date December 31, 1339 A.
D. The elaborate Group of the Columns with the famous Temple of the
Warriors, may be still later.
In the first half of the fifteenth century civil war and epidemic
disease brought about a second depopulation of the stone-built cities
including Chichen Itza, Mayapan, Uxmal, and probably also numerous other
sites in the region of Uxmal. The last monument at Mayapan may declare
the date September 28, 1437.
Modern Period
1437 A. D. to the present day.
After the second general abandonment of urban life the Mayas seem to
have been divided into many warring factions. Temples were still
regarded as sacred and some constructions in stone and mortar were still
made, as we know from the first Spanish descriptions of towns on the
east coast of Yucatan. Tulum probably represented this last phase and
this site on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean is probably the city
compared to Seville by the coasting expedition of Grijalva in 1518. A
monument at Tulum is believed to record the last setting up of a katun
stone by the Mayas on 12.8.0.0.0, 2 Ahau 3 Pop, August 5, 1516, almost
exactly 2129 years after the Mayas began to count every day in order.
At the present time certain ancient ideas still persist among the
Lacandone Indians of the lowlands and among the Quiché, Cakchiquels, and
several other tribes of the highlands. But the old glory of the Mayan
civilizations has passed away never to return. A prophetic vision of
this end is found in one of the Mayan Books of Chilam Balam which
relates to events immediately after the founding of Merida.
“It was then that the teaching of Christianity began, that shall be
universal over our land. Then began the construction of the church here
in the center of the town of Tihoo: great labor was the destiny of the
katun. Then began the execution by hanging, and the fire at the ends of
our hands. Then also came ropes and cords into the world. Then the
children of the younger brothers (the Indians) passed under the hardship
of legal summons and tribute. Tribute was introduced on a large scale
and Christianity was introduced on a large scale. Then the seven
sacraments of the word of God were established. Let us receive our
guests heartily: our elder brothers (the white men) come!”
Plate XXVI.
[Illustration: General View of Monte Alban from the North. The
mounds are arranged around courts in an orderly manner.]