Part 6

3) From these two statements the third follows. The distance from 1,352,400 to 1,366,560 is 14,160. This contains first the 14040, in which both the Tonalamatl and the old official year of 360 days meet, and second 120, which is again the interval between I Ahau and IV Ahau. But 14,160 is also equal to 38 × 365 + 290, and the interval between 10 Kan and 9 Ix is of course 38 years, and from 18 Zip to 8 Cumhu it is 290 days.

The numbers with which we have had to do here will again occupy our attention further on, especially the 2920 and the 37,960 on pages 46-50, the 11,960 and 115 on pages 51-58, and the 14,040 on page 73.

That these computations are not confined to the Dresden Manuscript is proved by the cross of Palenque, where we find in signs A B 16 precisely the date I Ahau 18 Zotz, a Tonalamatl before 18 Kayab, in D 1 C 2 exactly the difference 2200 and in D 3 C 4 the date IV Ahau 8 Cumhu. This is in favor of the theory that our Manuscript did not originate far from Palenque.

Now, the question finally arises as to what may, strictly speaking, be considered the significance of these numbers, dates and differences.

In the first place, I would recall the fact that the dates of the monuments of Copan and Quirigua, which doubtless refer to present time, are in the neighborhood of 1,400,000. The high numbers of our Manuscript, so far as they are in question here, form first a group, which extends from about 1,200,000 to 1,280,000, and then there is a blank, and next a large group extending from about 1,350,000 to 1,480,000, then another blank and lastly a group extending from about 1,520,000 to 1,580,000. If we assume that our Manuscript belonged to about the same date as these inscriptions, then the three numbers discussed here would extend over a past period lying about 160-170 years back, when a new period of importance had begun probably dating from the immigration of the Aztecs into Mexico, which they placed in the first half of the 14th century (see "Weltall," Vol. 5. pp. 374-377). Now, however, the number 1,366,560 contains the statement that 3744 years ago (each year having 365 days) an event must have occurred, which can hardly be anything other (according to the belief of the Mayas) than the creation of mankind. Hence all the _historical_ dates of the Mayas were computed from this starting-point. But how did this event come to have the date IV Ahau 8 Cumhu?

In my opinion this date is to be regarded only as the result of the far more important date I Ahau 18 Kayab, lying 2200 days earlier. Day 17, Ahau, belongs, without doubt, to the chief of the gods, and as the first week day it must have been especially sacred. The prophecies of the Tonalamatl preferably begin with the Ahau and with the I. The series on the page under discussion, constructed with the difference 2920 as a basis, begins with I Ahau, and the three series on pages 46-50 also have the same day as the zero point of departure. I Ahau is therefore the starting-point of the astronomical computations as IV Ahau is of the historical.

Now, however, all the periods of 260 days end each time with I Ahau. Why is precisely this day chosen here, which is the 18th day of the month Kayab, therefore in the year 3 Kan, and lying 2200 days earlier than the historical date?

Day 18 Kayab is our June 18th. In my treatise "Schildkröte und Schnecke in der Mayaliteratur" (1892), I have sought to prove that the tortoise served as symbol of the summer solstice, that the sign of Kayab was the head of a tortoise, and that probably the 18th of June was regarded as the longest day. The middle one of the three series on pages 46-50 begins with exactly this date, I Ahau 18 Kayab.

But whence come the 2200 days? I will offer a suggestion which may serve until a better theory is propounded. Let us assume that each of the five principal planets had in succession regulated its time of revolution by this astronomical starting-point, thus:--sun 365, moon 356, Mercury 115, Venus 584, and Mars 780 days, these numbers added together give exactly 2200. It will scarcely excite surprise that I should set down the lunar year at 356 days (and not at the usual 354 days) for there are 12 × 29-2/3 lunations in a year and we thought we had already found this period on this page, while discussing the number 1,364,360; also on pages 51-58, in addition to the half lunar year of 177 days, we shall find one of 178 days. Were the planets therefore created 2200 days before the appearance of mankind? Jupiter and Saturn, of course, with their 397 and 380 days are probably not considered here, because their periods of revolution so nearly correspond to that of the sun, and on pages 51-60 they are also treated as of secondary importance.

I confess I am quite unable to discover what may have happened 11,960 days before the creation of the stars--possibly the birth of one of the principal deities. Perhaps one of my fellow-students may succeed in finding an answer in one of the creation myths.

We come now to the 40 hieroglyphs on the left half of the page. These are intended simply to familiarize the reader with those signs which are of importance in the calendrical-astronomical portions of the Manuscript. Since no phonetic system of writing existed, we cannot, of course, expect that the scribe should have explained these signs.

Signs 1-4, which are mostly destroyed, can hardly denote anything other than the four quarters of the globe, at least we can still recognize in 4 the sign for the east, which has also the fourth place in pages 46-50. They stand thus together five times in the middle of the left side of pages 46-50, which pertain to this subject. 5 to 9 are the sign for Venus repeated 5 times, probably denoting the four parts of its revolution as on pages 46-50 and also the revolution as a whole. In connection with this first appearance of the Venus sign, I would mention that the same hieroglyph also occurs in the Tro-Cort., _e.g._, Cort. 25c, though this Manuscript contains little else that is astronomical, yet it also has the rectangular heavenly shields.

10. This is a well-known form of the Moan sign. In the Globus, Volume LXV, 1894, I sought to make it appear probable that the Moan also denoted the Pleiades, with whose disappearance and reappearance the beginning of the years seems to be connected. Likewise on page 50, where the 2920-period ends, the Venus and Moan signs appear at the top on the right-hand side.

11 and 12 are the same sign, being that of the 13th Uinal (Mac), with which 260 days of the year end, and hence this sign is also used as the sign of the Tonalamatl. The repetition seems to show, that not until the 73 Tonalamatls of the period of 18,980 days are doubled--thus obtaining the number 37,960 of such importance here--are the sun and Venus periods brought into unison (with the whole system).

13. The Kin sign (sun, day) with the superfix, which in all probability expresses conjunction, union, and which, in my opinion, we also see on page 51, combined with Kin and Imix, as the sign for 18,980 days, is used here after the two Tonalamatls to denote the doubling of this period.

14-18. If the preceding signs led us to the Venus-solar period and to the continuation of this subject on pages 46-50, these five hieroglyphs bring us to the Mercury-lunar period and later, on pages 51-58, which are devoted to the same period, we shall find a parallel especially on the last page. First comes 14, which, as has been acknowledged, is the sign for 20 × 360 = 7200 days. 15, a hand holding a rectangle divided by a cross into four parts, is, I believe, the sign for the period of 20 days augmented to 21 by the 1 in front of it. The much more distinct form of sign 16 on the middle of page 58 and also at the top of page 53, should be compared with the sign as given here. The top part is the familiar Ben-Ik sign denoting the 10th and 19th days, and the bottom is the sign of the 14th division of 20 days, which make up the year. Now, however, the 10th day, when it becomes the 19th of the next 20 days, is distant from the first 29 days. The prefix consists of two parts:--First two small circles joined by a zigzag line, which I think denotes the division of a day into halves; the sign would then equal 29½ days, _i.e._, very nearly the true lunar month. Second, of two vertical lines, which might denote a doubling. The whole would then be equal to 2 × 29½ = 59. I admit that this interpretation is very artificial and I should be very glad if a better explanation could be found. On the other hand the 17th hieroglyph becomes quite clear when it is compared with the parallel passage on page 58; it is 13 × 360 = 4680 days, a third of the remarkable period of 14,040 days.

Thus we have

Hieroglyph 14 = 7200 " 15 = 21 " 16 = 59 " 17 = 4680 ----- 11960,

which is exactly the lunar-Mercury period.

The sign Xul = conclusion, end, is fittingly added in 18 to the end of this period, as also on page 58. This sign is very common on pages 61 and 62 at the end of the long periods.

From signs 19 and 20 we see that the four parts of the Venus year are also about to be treated of here, that is, the periods of 236, 90, 250 and 8 days respectively, which are discussed on pages 46-50. For 19 is the sign for Venus, and 20 is a hand with a knife as a superfix, which divides the Venus revolution. This hand appears 20 times in like manner on the pages mentioned above.

Signs 21-25 represent five gods, who in all probability are N, F, H, the bat-god and A. These are the same signs which are repeated twice on the left-hand side of pages 46-50, both times at the beginning and end of the period of 236 days, that is, the period during which Venus is the morning star and which is under the dominion of the east. The fact that there is a 4 with N has reference to the four forms which this Uayeyab god assumes. Now we ought to expect a similar treatment of the periods of the planet, which are under the rule of the south, west and north, but there is no room for this. Instead, we find in 26, 27 and 28 three different signs plainly belonging together, the first of which is the day Caban, _i.e._, the earth; the second may be Muluc denoting rain and water; the third is Chuen (the ape) which fittingly denotes the north, for Chuen denotes the little bear, as I have proved in my treatise on the day-signs of the Mayas. The Chuen sign in 28 also has a prefix, which probably refers to the night-god D. I find exactly the same combination in signs 8 A and 8 B of the inscription on the Cross of Palenque, but I must leave to others the task of connecting 26 and 27 likewise with the north, which is very evident in 27 (Muluc).

Sign 29 is entirely effaced. Nevertheless, I am positive that it represented the day IV Ahau, the beginning of Maya chronology, for 30 may still be identified as 8 Cumhu belonging to IV Ahau, and sign 31 is the same sign as 18, _i.e._, the sign Xul = the end, and denoting here the end of the long period.

The comprehensive hieroglyphs, 29-31, stand here in the wrong place. A more suitable position for them would be before 19 or just after 35. For they are intended to specify the periods during which Venus is in the west and south, _i.e._, the time during which it is the evening star and the period of its inferior conjunction.

Sign 32 is the black deity, L according to Schellhas, here denoting the west, and 33 is the Venus sign with the prefix denoting division. In the same way we find these two signs together on page 46 at the right in the middle series, where presumably the four Venus periods are specified in close succession. The black deity is also found on page 50 in the middle of the page in the beginning, at the end of a period of 250 days. On page 24 it has as a prefix the sign Imix with three rows of dots proceeding from it. Imix, however, among the Mayas and Aztecs (as Cipactli), under some circumstances often, and under others always, denotes the first of the 20 days. Hence this sign may mean:--here begins the Venus period of 250 days.

34-35. The sign for the south still remains to be found. Sign 35 is again the Venus hieroglyph. In 34 we should expect to find one of the five gods of the south, which are found on pages 46-50, _e.g._, the Moan, who is represented on page 47 as the regent of this cardinal point. But there is no figure of a god here, and in place of it we find set down here, as on page 47, middle, right-hand, an actual date as the beginning of this short southern period of only eight days. It is the date 10 Zip (third month), the month sign of which does indeed suggest a hieroglyph of the Moan. Now, if we recall that in hieroglyph 21 the god N is designated in exactly the same way by an actual date, viz:--4 Zac (11th month), then we see that the interval between 4 Zac and 10 Zip of the second year following, is exactly 236 + 90 + 250 = 576 days, and this corresponds exactly to the interval of time from the beginning of the period when Venus is in the east to the beginning of the period when she is in the south. If we knew in what years the morning star made its first appearance on February 4th and disappeared as the evening star on the 3d of September, we should make some progress in the comprehension of this subject, but not much, since these events fall approximately on the same dates after each period of 8 years.

36-40. The last five of the 40 signs appear in the same order again on pages 46-50, _one_ sign on each page, in the middle group of the right-hand half of the page at the beginning of the third line, but with this difference, that on page 24 each sign has the same prefix, which is wanting on pages 46-50, where a similar hieroglyph always _follows_. From their position on pages 46-50 it follows that these are hieroglyphs of five gods, each of whom belongs to a whole Venus year of 584 days. I am not very sure in regard to these gods. I prefer to call 36 K, 37 F, 38 E and 40 A. Sign 39 with the person crouching, I am obliged to leave entirely unsettled. We shall find this hieroglyph again, _e.g._, on pages 47 and 49 right, middle. Let it suffice that in these five signs we have a repetition of the Venus-solar period of 2920 days, with which we will end the discussion of this page. Only F and A have already been met with among the five gods denoted by hieroglyphs 21-25.

Pages 25--28.

As these four pages, which are the beginning of the back of the first part of the Manuscript, not only belong together, but also display a parallel arrangement of their separate parts, the corresponding parts will be considered together as a whole.

There are seven of these parts on each page, viz:--the column of day-signs on the left hand; the top, middle and bottom pictures, and lastly the top, middle and bottom groups of hieroglyphs; but I will consider the pictures and hieroglyphs of the same section as belonging together.

1. The Columns of Day-Signs.

On the left-hand side of each page two days are repeated 13 times. They are as follows:--On page 25 Eb and Ben, on page 26 Caban and Ezanab, on page 27 Ik and Akbal, and on page 28 Manik and Lamat. Cyrus Thomas first made the important discovery that these pages represent the transition from one year into the next, but held the erroneous opinion that the last two days of each of the four kinds of years were treated of on each page. While Seler, on the other hand, found that we have here to do with the last day of one year and the first of the following year, and that, therefore, Ben, Ezanab, Akbal and Lamat are the beginnings of the years and thus of the 20-day periods. The years, however, were always named after their second day (_i.e._, Kan, Muluc, Ix and Cauac years), since the New Year's Day was considered unlucky and it was the practice of the Mayas to conceal the real starting-point.

These four pages, therefore, extend over 13 × 52 years, that is, over a period of 18,980 days, after which period all the calendar dates are repeated. A list of all these dates is given in "The Maya and Tzental Calendars" by William E. Gates (Cleveland, 1900).

The transition from the Muluc to the Ix years is represented on page 25; from the Ix to the Cauac years on page 26; from the Cauac to the Kan years on page 27, and from the Kan to the Muluc years on page 28. The Ix years are represented first, because the beginning of the historical chronology lies in an Ix year (IV Ahau; 8 Cumhu). This section treats of ceremonies, especially of the setting up of the idols at the changing of the year, which I can pass over here since they have already been described by Diego de Landa and in our own day by Cyrus Thomas in his "Study of the Manuscript Troano," and elsewhere.

2. The Top Pictures.

The principal representation on all the four pages is a priest, but disguised as an animal with the head of a beast of prey as a mask (always the same one) and also with a tail. He is pictured with the same three articles in each of the four representations, viz:--First, in his right hand, the staff of office with the hand at the top, which, according to Seler, "Mittel-Amerik. Musikinstrum.," p. 112, is the rattle-stick, second the incense-pouch, _i.e._, for copal, and third in his left hand a rattle, or, according to Schellhas, "Vergleichende Studien" (1880), a fan. There is one point, however, in which the first two pages differ from the other two; on the first two the priest is walking on dry land and on the second two through a stream of water. Was the city, to which this calendar especially refers, bordered in two directions by water, so that the road led across it?

On all the four pages, however, the priest carries on his back a different deity, and I cannot find out by what rule these gods are connected with one another, or with the one which is represented below them, or with the years. On page 25 the god is B, on 26 he has the form of a jaguar (Ix), on 27 he is undoubtedly E, and on page 28 he is the god A, Cimi.

Now to the left of the priest on each page there is one of the familiar Chuen bundles, such as are also frequently found in the the Tro-Cortesianus. Here, on pages 25-28, there are always three of these Chuen signs in a bunch. If Chuen really denotes the eighth day (which, of course, is only possible when Kan = 1), and at the same time the period of 8 days, then in this passage these three Chuen signs would properly designate the 24 days which elapse _before_ the last day of the year, which is the last day of the 18th month. In the same way we shall find the Chuen bundle appropriately given this meaning on pages 42c-45c. Likewise the simple Chuen sign at the top of page 52 seems to denote 8 days. But what do the Chuen bundles in the Tro-Cortesianus mean, some of which are much larger?

In close proximity to these Chuen bundles we find numbers as follows:--on page 25 numbers 8 and 9, on 26 number 13, on 27 number 2 and on 28 number 13. I can offer no opinion, which would be even approximately acceptable in regard to the meaning of these numerals, but we shall discuss them later.

3. The Top Hieroglyphs.

I shall discuss these glyphs in this place, although each group seems to relate not merely to the top picture, but to the whole page. There are 16 on each page, and arranged as follows:--

1 2 9 10 3 4 11 12 5 6 13 14 7 8 15 16.

Unfortunately, the writing at the top is obliterated, which makes it impossible to understand not merely this passage, but also those on all the rest of these pages. Of the 16 signs in the top line only one is legible, and that is the first on page 28. This is the usual cross _b_; as a comprehensive heading it perhaps occupied places 1 and 9 on each page, alternating with another sign in 2 and 10.

In spite of this obliteration there are a few points which can be profitably discussed here.

I would call attention first to signs 7 and 8 on page 25. The first seems to contain twice repeated the figure, which is thought to represent eagle feathers, and which we found on pages 10b and 13a, for example. As this double character is also used to change the 360-sign into a 7200-sign, so it may also combine the 52 years of this passage. The 8th sign on page 25 is the head with the tuft of hair and no underjaw, which I think refers to fast-days, such as might properly occur at the transition point of one long period to another.

The sign for the year stands five times on the other three pages, which is in keeping with their contents. On page 26 it appears three times. This page treats of the transition of the Ix to the Cauac years. In the 6th place the Ix sign seems actually to be used as a prefix, in 7 the prefix is plainly the Kin-Cauac sign, just as on page 37a, and in 5 the prefix is probably Ezanab, the beginning-day of the Cauac years. At this last place the suffix is the same as that which we often see with the year sign on pages 13c-14c. On page 27, in the 7th place, the year sign has a prefix and a suffix, which seem to indicate that here it was intended to represent 365 as separated into 5 × 73 or 360 + 5. Lastly, on page 28 the 8th sign can be explained as meaning that the ritual year of 364 days is separated into 4 Bacab periods of 91 days each.

Resembling the year sign in form, and placed near it on these pages, is the following sign:--

This sign frequently appears on pages 8b-9b, 16b-17b, 17c-20c. We find it with slight variations once on each of the four pages 25-28. It is the 6th on page 25; the 8th on 26; the 6th on 27; the 6th on 28. Its lower part, especially the (phallic?) sign added at the left, suggests the hieroglyphs of the Bacabs, as we find them on pages 52, 55, 56, etc.; they might refer to the separation of the ritual year of 364 days into 4 × 91 days. On the other hand it has been considered simply as the reproduction of the carrying-frame pictured below it (compare above under page 17c.)

While the hieroglyphs, hitherto discussed, demonstrate the connection between the parts on the left of the four pages, two other signs prove the connection of the portions on the right.

One of these looks like the Ik sign surrounded by a dotted circle; it occurs on page 25 as the 13th sign, on page 26 as the 15th, on page 27 as the 14th and on page 28 as the 15th. To this sign are prefixed successively the numbers 9, 7, 11 and 6.

The second is unquestionably the hieroglyph for the numeral 20 or for the moon. It is effaced on page 25 and on pages 27 and 28 has a prefix, which on page 26 is used as a superfix. This sign is the 14th on page 25, the 16th on page 26, the 15th on page 27 and the 16th on page 28. The prefixed numbers are 7, 16, 5 and 6.

The meaning of these two signs and that of the apparently irregular numbers is still a mystery. The latter will be discussed presently.

The 4th sign on all the four pages seems to refer to a period like the one hitherto discussed. On page 26 the sign resembles that for the 13th Uinal (Mac) and hence appears to refer to the Tonalamatl, as in the first column on page 24. Above it is the sign for the south. The corresponding hieroglyphs of the other pages are obliterated, but strange to say the vestiges suggest that they too had _below_ them the sign for the south. Now the south and the Bacab of the south preside over the fourth quarter of the year from which ensues the transition to the new year in question here.