1. B is seated rowing in a boat, as he is represented also on pages 29c,
36b, 40c and 43c. A creature is swimming beneath him, which may be a
crocodile. The fifth hieroglyph is the important 9 Kan already discussed,
the fourth is _a_ and the second the cross _b_ combined with Caban. The day
is the 210th of the year.
2. B is walking with the atlatl in his hand, and armed with javelins.
Hieroglyph 5, Manik, denotes the chase, but has a prefix, which often seems
to have the meaning of 20. 2 is the elongated head _q_ with the prefix of
the east belonging to the Kan years. 4 is a Moan sign (c) with the
leaf-shaped prefix. Does this perhaps denote the slaying of game in the
forest? It is remarkable that B's feet are hidden, as if he were walking in
sand or in a bog.
3. B is walking, carrying a large stick like that for tilling the field, as
on pages 38b and 39b, and he bears a carrying-frame; there are footprints
below him. Hieroglyph 2 is the compound of the signs for south and east, 4
(_r_) may denote rain, and 5 is two elongated heads with an unknown prefix.
4. B, is seated on astronomical signs as on page 37c. The copal pouch is
hanging from his neck and he is brandishing his hatchet. Sign 2 is _b_, 4
is _a_ and 5 is _r_, but all three signs have unusual prefixes; the first
of these prefixes appears again in the tenth group, 41 days later.
5. B is seated on a head, probably that of D, which, however, is peculiar
owing to the ornaments resembling bunches of grapes in place of both the
eye and the ear (compare pages 39c and 41a). I do not venture to decide
what he holds in his hand nor what are the other objects which he carries.
Sign 2 is _r_ with a prefix, 4 is Imix perhaps with a knife as a prefix, 5
is the skeleton which sometimes belongs to the lightning beast, but also to
the 14th month; its prefix is unknown.
6. B is seated on a support, which contains two cross-bones, down to which
he points with his right hand, while his left hand holds the hatchet on his
knee. Sign 2 is the crouching naked personage, with the cross _b_ prefixed,
4 is the elongated head with a prefixed Yax, and 5 is Kan with a vessel as
a prefix (instead of Imix) from which steam or froth is rising. The day is
the 234th of the year, _i.e._, the end of a week of 18 × 13 days.
7. B is sitting on a tree at the root of which his own head appears
(compare with this the representations on pages 31c, 33c, and especially
40a, and also 41b and 42b). The second sign is Yax with a prefix; 4 is Kin
within which there is a 1, as is several times the case, for example, on
pages 61 and 69. The fifth sign is still a mystery to me. The day here is V
Manik. Do the hieroglyphs suggest that the interval from the day IX Kan,
which gives the name to the year, to V Manik is exactly the same as that
from the normal date IV Ahau to the true starting-point of our passage, the
day XIII Akbal? Both intervals are 243.
8. B is seated in a house, on the roof, wall and floor of which are several
Caban signs, just as on page 30a; he seems to be pointing forward. Sign 2
is Caban with a prefix, the 4th and also the 5th is Kan with two unusual
prefixes.
9. Water is pictured at the bottom of this picture, and in it are a fish, a
mussel and a snail (possibly page 37b may be compared with this). There
seems to be a suggestion of footprints on the margin of the water, back of
which B is walking, his legs hidden as far as the knees. He holds the
hatchet uplifted in his left hand and his right holds what may be a
long-stemmed aquatic plant (compare page 42b). Sign 2 is composed of _b_,
Imix, the mouth and nose of C and the object which apparently is a beak,
previously met with in sign 1. 4 is Kan-Imix, and 5 is Kan with prefix and
suffix.
10. B is seated in an expectant attitude, his hands resting on his knees.
We see a very similar representation of him on page 38a, where he faces
himself, and in general the remaining pictures of that passage furnish a
striking parallel to the present one. Sign 2 is a head (E's?) with a call
seemingly issuing from its mouth. 4 is the elongated head _q_ with the
Ben-Ik superfix and an unusual prefix, which we found on page 66c prefixed
to the cross _b_; 5 is Kan with the same prefix, which I regarded as
denoting a call in sign 2, and which is probably answered here by an
affirmative cry.
11. The expectation has been fulfilled. B is seated on a mat holding a
woman in the same position as on page 38a. Sign 2 is the cross _b_ with the
prefixed beak as in 1, and also with another prefix, which seems sometimes
to denote the number 20. 4 is exactly the same Kin with 1 and the
leaf-shaped prefix, which occurred in the same place with the seventh
picture. 5 contains the sign for 73 days; a new period of this length
begins here on the 74th day.
12. As in the parallel passage on page 38 B seems to be offering a Kan, so
here his gift consists of a kind of wreath, like the one in the fifth
picture; he is seated on astronomical signs, which contain the cross _b_
twice as does also hieroglyph 2. 4 is Kin-Akbal, and 5 is a Kan with the
prefix which generally belongs to the south as a superfix.
13. B is seated on the elongated head _q_ with a superfix and a prefix,
exactly as on pages 37c and 40a, and this sign is repeated in the
hieroglyphs (in 2) just as it is in the two former places. He holds the
eagle on his lap and we see him connected with the same bird in a different
way on page 43c. Is B represented here as the preventer of evil? Hieroglyph
4 is _a_, while 5 is Kan, apparently with the sign of the south as a
prefix. A Bacab period of 91 days ends here. We come now to the upper
series of pictures.
14. B is walking in the rain, with the copal pouch around his neck and the
hatchet uplifted in his left hand. An unknown object, possibly held in his
right hand, is hanging in front of his legs. Hieroglyphs 1 and 3 are
effaced, 2 is indistinct, 5 seems to be a Xul (end, close) and 6 is E's
head.
15. B is walking, brandishing the hatchet in his left hand, and holding in
his right an object resembling a cornucopia filled with fruit; below this
hangs what appears to be a flower. The god wears the copal pouch.
Hieroglyph 1 is a hand holding K's head; it is curious that this sign
should also occur in the next group as an indication of the approaching
Muluc year. 3 is a sign still undetermined; but the prefix is the crouching
naked personage with dots suggesting stars around its head. I have often
thought that similar figures represented Mercury; it is remarkable that
exactly the 115th day of this section is reached here, corresponding with
the apparent revolution of Mercury = 115 days. Similarly sign 2 invites
computation; it is a face resembling an Ahau sign, with a 3 as a superfix
and a 9 as a prefix; compare the other places containing the same face,
with 33c. After the fashion of the inscriptions this would denote 9 + 3 ×
20 = 69, which by the way is three fifths of the Mercury revolution. 5 is a
compound of Akbal and Imix and 6 a compound of a Moan sign (_c_) with a.
16. B is in a half sitting position and holds a strange object before
himself. On top of his own head is K's, which is repeated in sign 2. I do
not know how to explain 1, unless it is the bat-god; 3 is a Xul = end (but
of what?) combined with Imix, and 5 is the usual Kan-Imix. 6 is a Kin with
an 8 back of it (as 36b, 37b, 67a, 68a) and over it is a hand pointing to
the right, just like those in groups 20 and 25. This looks as if we ought
to count forward 8 days, but what can be the purpose of doing so?
17. B is walking armed with spear and shield. Sign 1 is _b_, 2 the face
resembling an Ahau, which occupied the second place in group 15, 3 is
probably Xul again, but with an effaced prefix; of 5 also only an Imix
remains; while 6 is the usual compound of Muluc-Caban.
18. We have now reached the day 16 Kayab, a day very close to the day 18
Kayab, which on page 24 we recognized as an especially important day, while
in my article "Zur Entzifferung III" I regarded it as the day of the summer
solstice. Computed from the normal date IV Ahau 8 Cumhu it may also have
denoted the end of a lunar year, as on pages 51-58 where it is the basis of
the series. The picture here agrees with this. B is sitting in the pouring
rain of the rainy season and gazing upward at the planets, as on page 36c
and particularly on 39c; the sun and moon are also represented, but below
the planets. The hieroglyphs likewise contain the sun and moon in 1 and 2,
in 3, Ahau and Xul with a prefix, as if this were the end of the increase
of the sun's power; 5 is Kin-Akbal, day and night, and 6 is Caban with the
cross b.
19. B is walking armed with hatchet and shield. He holds a serpent in his
hand as on page 40c, but here with the head downward. Hieroglyphs 1 and 2
are destroyed, 3 is the cross _b_ with a suffix and the horse-shoe prefix
_e_, known to us from pages 5 and 6. 5 is Imix combined with Chuen and
probably with Yax, and 6 is E's head.
20. This is the old red woman with the tiger claws, whom we saw on pages
39b and 43b and shall see again on page 74; she reinforces the water
falling from the planets by pouring a stream from her jug. The first three
hieroglyphs are effaced, 4 is the elongated head _q_, 5 is Kin-Akbal, 6, as
in group 16, is again the enigmatical 8 with a hand pointing to the right.
21. B is walking and bears pouch, spear and shield. Hieroglyph 1 is a hand
holding the sign of the rising Moan, just as in 15 a hand holds the head of
K; 2 is again K, whose sign is probably effaced several times in the last
groups of this series. 3 is E with the sign of the east; 5 is compounded of
Imix, Chuen and _b_, and 6 is Kin with the sign of the north. Here the day
of the normal date is reached, but this may be significant only for the
year 9 Ix.
22. We come now to the representation of the change of the year, which we
have already mentioned. Hieroglyph 1 is curious, consisting of the moon
with a stripe running around it like a strap; 3 and 5 are not clear to me
and are doubtless closely connected with one another; 3 also contains a
trace of K and is perhaps a determinative of the same. 6 is again E, and
suggests the tilling of the fields.
23. This picture as well as the first two hieroglyphs have already been
discussed above. The crouching personage, repeated again in 3 as a prefix
to the cross _b_, is curious. 5 is again E and 6 is Imix, referring to
grain and honey.
24. The picture and three of the hieroglyphs plainly correspond. The grain
deity E holds food and drink in his hand. Rain is pouring from the planets,
and the wind-beast plunges down, as on pages 44 and 45. Sign 3 is E's
hieroglyph, 6 is Kan-Imix and 2 is the wind-beast. B is superfluously added
in 4 and the same is true of the cross _b_ in 1, while Kin-Akbal in 5 seems
to fit almost everywhere. Pages 29a, 30a and 45c show the lightning-beast
in a different form.
25. As is usually the case, rain is pouring from the stars and below them
are the sun and moon as before. This time C is sitting in the rain, clad in
the gala mantle and holding Kan. Hieroglyphs 1, 2 and 4, the latter
apparently representing C, are effaced. The other three are enigmatical, 3
is again Xul with a prefixed 9, 5 a Caban, but with an unintelligible
prefix, and 6 is again the mysterious 8.
26. B is sitting on a tree or sacrificial stone, which is colored half blue
and half red, and may denote the ceasing of the rainy season; he is
brandishing his hatchet. Hieroglyphs 1, 2 and 3 are effaced; 4 is B's sign,
5 might be Xul and 6 is _a_ with _c_ added and thus referring to the Moan.
And here the half of the ritual year ends with the 182nd day, which is XIII
Chicchan 18 Pop (10 Muluc); and it is left to the reader to imagine or to
find hieroglyphs and pictures for the other two series of numeral signs.
I am troubled about the five naked crouching figures of this section, which
I am inclined to regard as the sign for Mercury with its apparent
revolution of 115 days, which, however, seems sometimes (as on pages 54, 56
and 58 in the upper sections) to be raised to the value of half a
Tonalamatl = 130 days. This may be explained by the fact that it is
difficult to determine exactly the length of the revolution of Mercury. In
group 15 this figure appears exactly on the 115th day of this section, but
in group 6 on the 234th day of the year, _i.e._, approximately at the
expiration of two Mercury periods after the beginning of the year. But now
for group 23. Here there are three of these crouching figures. The two
upper ones leaning back to back must serve the purpose of indicating the
change in the year. But they would hardly do so, if the third personage
were not added, which may indicate that the solar year consists
approximately of three Mercury periods. I look upon this view of the matter
merely as the first attempt at an explanation.
Pages 69--73.
The chief subject of the last great section of this Manuscript is two of
the usual series, from which large numbers are developed in the usual way
and the largest of all is finally recorded in a serpent. This section thus
forms a parallel to the contents of pages 61-64, but is somewhat more
composite.
Before I begin the discussion of these series, I wish to examine two
passages, which I think are not connected with these series, but are
independent, like the instance on pages 51-58, where the hieroglyphs were
found to be quite independent of the numerals. The Mayas took advantage of
space wherever it presented itself, which is admissible in ideographic
writing.
The first of these two passages is at the top of pages 71-73. Here there
are four horizontal rows of twelve hieroglyphs each. Since, however, the
top row is entirely effaced and none of the other three are perfectly
preserved, it is quite impossible at present to judge of the
interconnection of the whole. But I must point out a certain resemblance to
the passage on pages 44b-45b, where a period of 78 days is considered with
reference to the wind-deities. The first and sixth columns of pages 71-72
likewise contain the signs for wind and the pierced ears. The fact that the
Bacab sign occurs in the eighth column, and in no other, must attract
'attention; if we knew it to be effaced in the first column, then each
column might refer to 13 days, though 12 × 13, it is true, does not form a
natural whole. C's sign is the only hieroglyph of a god to be found in both
passages. E also occurs on pages 44b-45b and may be one of the effaced
signs on pages 71-72. There is no trace left of the others. The fact that
some hieroglyphs occur in both the passages referred to proves nothing with
regard to signs in frequent use and I can find no cases of correspondence
among those occurring more rarely. Hence this passage must be left for the
present as an almost complete mystery.
I have discussed the second passage in detail in my article "Zur
Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften V," of the year 1895, and from it I will
borrow the following. This second passage fills the middle and lower thirds
of pages 71-73, occupying the same space as the first passage in the upper
third, and offering far more reliable material than the latter.
That these hieroglyphs are not connected with the numerals above and below,
can be deduced from the fact that the numbers follow one another from right
to left and the hieroglyphs in the reversed order. This is proved by the
hand pointing to the right, which occurs here at least eight times like the
one occurring twenty times on pages 46-50.
But the scribe, misled by the direction of the numeral series, began on
page 71 to write the _first_ of these hieroglyphs from the right instead of
from the left, but after the first four groups he corrected his mistake.
Hence I read the groups of three hieroglyphs each, in the following
order:--
Page 71. Page 72. Page 73.
2 1 | 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | 19 20 21 22 23
4 3 | 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | 24 25 26 27 28
The number 28 shows that we have to do here with 28 weeks of 13 days each,
_i.e._, with a ritual year of 364 days, as was the case on pages 31-32,
63-64 and 65-69. This year, however, is divided into four parts of 7 x 13 =
91 days, _i.e._, into four so-called Bacab periods. This is very plainly
indicated here, for groups 4, 11, 18 and 25, _i.e._, those separated by
seven groups each, are exactly alike, but in group 4b (I will designate the
three hieroglyphs of each group from top to bottom by _a_, _b_ and _c_)
there is a prefixed 4 which refers to the four Bacabs as does the same 4
prefixed to the Bacab sign at the top of page 72.
Now the question arises as to when this ritual year began. Undoubtedly its
beginning day was very different from that of the civil year (360 days) and
from that of the astronomical year (365 days).
In this matter I follow Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, who has rendered such estimable
service to Aztec science. At the Congress of Americanists at Stockholm in
1894, she submitted an article entitled "Note on the Ancient Mexican
Calendar System," in which with keen discernment she pointed out a year
beginning with the spring equinox and including in its centre the sacred
Tonalamatl, _i.e._, 260 days, which were preceded and followed by 52 days.
I recognize this ritual year also in the present passage of the
"Dresdensis," as the one current in the Maya country. It probably began
about the 10th of March, at that period about the time of the vernal
equinox, according to the Julian Calendar.
Beginning with this date, I will now attempt to tabulate the chronology of
this passage. In the first column I will place the number of the group of
hieroglyphs in question, in the second I will set down to what day of the
Maya year each group refers; in the third, the corresponding day of our
year, and finally in the fourth, the 20-day periods which agree in general
with the dates.
1. 1-13 March 10-22 Ceh.
2. 14-26 March 23-April 5 Mac.
3. 27-39 April 6-18 } Kankin.
4. 40-52 April 19-May 1 }
5. 53-65 May 2-14 Moan.
6. 66-78 May 15-27, Pax.
7. 79-91 May 28-June 9 } Kayab.
8. 92-104 June 10-22 }
9. 105-117 June 23-July 5 } Cumhu.
10. 118-130 July 6-18 }
11. 131-143 July 19-31 Pop.
12. 144-156 August 1-13 } Uo.
13. 157-169 August 14-26 }
14. 170-182 August 27-September 8 Zip.
15. 183-195 September 9-21 } Zotz.
16. 196-208 September 22-October 4 }
17. 209-221 October 5-17 Zec.
18. 222-234 October 18-30 } Xul.
19. 235-247 October 31-November 12 }
20. 248-260 November 13-25 Yaxkin.
21. 261-273 November 26-December 8 } Mol.
22. 274-286 December 9-21 }
23. 287-299 December 22-January 3 } Chen.
24. 300-312 January 4-16 }
25. 313-325 January 17-29 Yax.
26. 326-338 January 30-February 11 } Zac.
27. 339-351 February 12-24 }
28. 352-364 February 25-March 8 Ceh.
In the following I will call attention to a few points by which this
arrangement is justified.
Hieroglyph 1a admits of explanation. It consists of four parts:--the left
top is Kin, meaning sun or day, the right top is the sign of the year, the
right bottom is the knife as symbol of separation or division, and the left
bottom, which is especially decisive, is the month Ceh. Hence I read 1a
thus:--the day of the change of year in the month Ceh. The sign 1b is the
familiar Kin-Akbal signifying either the beginning day or the day Akbal. If
the year should be named from this sign, then this would mean a Kan year,
as in the preceding section the beginning lay in the year 9 Kan. If the
year in the latter section had been as equally divided as the one in
question here, it would have furnished us with some very remarkable
parallels.
Again the four groups:--4, 11, 18 and 25, which are alike, are important.
The cross in sign _a_, combined with the three dotted lines passing from
top to bottom, may refer to the wind and this meaning is further confirmed
by the Ik sign (wind) in c. Further the sign _b_ between them is that for
the Bacab, the wind deity itself.
The most important events of the year are obviously the sowing and
harvesting of the maize together with the beginning and end of the rainy
season. Now we find the first two in connection with the god E, the
maize-god, who is represented in 6c and 13c, 91 days apart, corresponding
to the end of May and the beginning of August. Generally speaking, sixty
days only were reckoned as the time between sowing and reaping, but here a
quarter of a year may have been taken as a round number and it may also
have reference to a more elevated region.
I am inclined to think that the beginning and end of the rainy season are
referred to in signs 8c and 16c, where, as it seems to me, three lines of
drops are falling from a rectangle denoting the sky (as is usual) like the
representation of rain dropping from a cloud at the bottom of page 36
(second picture). The serpent 8b as symbol of water may also refer to the
same thing, especially as it is combined with an Akbal (often denoting
beginning). The sign, which I think denotes the rainy season, is very
similar, but not the same as another one, which is common to the Dresdensis
and Tro-Cortesianus, the significance of which is certainly very close to
the idea of the week of 13 days.
I have some other ideas on this subject, which, however, are mere
conjectures, advanced with some hesitation. If the Chuen sign in 7a is
actually a serpent's jaw, then it might refer to the beginning of the
astronomical year in May, since the serpent so often designates that time.
In 9b we find a crouching figure with the sign which is usually considered
that of the death-bird. In another place (Zur Entzifferung IV, 12) I have
regarded the naked human figure placed upside down on page 58 as the sign
for Mercury, and on page 60 at the bottom, left, I also regarded the
crouching figure as representing Mercury vanquished by Venus. But in 9b,
which belongs to the 105th-117th days of the year, a 115 day revolution of
Mercury is computed. A crouching figure, like that in 9b, likewise appears
on page 65a in the second series of 91 days after 11 + 13 = 24 days of this
series have elapsed, _i.e._, directly after the 115 days of the apparent
revolution of Mercury.
In 10b, and it is the only place in this passage, we find the hieroglyph of
B, the leading god of this Manuscript. This corresponds with the time of
the greatest power of the sun and of the change in the civil year (July
16th). In Group 12, do _a_ and _c_ mean the year and is _b_ the head with
the Akbal eye, thus denoting the beginning of the civil year? It ought
really to have formed group 11, but there was no room for it, since it was
necessary that the signs for the period of 91 days should be set down
there.
Signs 14a and the combined signs 15bc are almost alike and suggest 1a. Is
it intended to designate here the ritual year, the time of the autumnal
equinox (September 10th?). In 15a two hooks, turned in opposite directions
proceed from one side of the sun-glyph. Do they signify two halves of the
year and does the 3 in front of them signify the third quarter of the year?
20b is the sign of the death-god A, probably not placed accidentally here
at the end of the month Xul, which denotes the end; but the end of what?
The hieroglyph in 23a is a black bird, with two hooks, one pointing up and
the other down, projecting from its head. Usually these hooks belong to K,
and by means of them this bird becomes the storm-bird; the year symbol is
below. Does this hieroglyph signify the time of the shortest day, when
darkness predominates?
A peculiarity of this passage is the striking frequency of the sign looked
upon as that of the death-bird as well as of the cognate sign, which is
commonly considered as that of the rising Moan. The first bird is in the
14th group, in the 9th it is combined with the apparent Mercury sign, and
in the 17th with the year sign. The second bird with the prefixed Yax is in
the 2nd group. But it is especially striking that several times both signs,
and this is the case nowhere else, are combined into a single sign in
groups 9, 13 and 26 and also probably in 19 where, however, the Moan sign
seems to be effaced.
This is all I have to say at the present time in reference to this
calendar. Some of my statements are positive and some are only conjectures.
Compare my treatise "Zwei Hieroglyphenreihen in der Dresdener
Mayahandschrift" (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1905, 2 and 3).
Having disposed in this way of the two supplementary subjects of this
section, I will now proceed to consider the principal theme, viz:--the two
series and whatever is connected with them.