Chapter 1

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Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Vol. IV.--No. 1

REPRESENTATION OF DEITIES OF THE MAYA MANUSCRIPTS

by

DR. PAUL SCHELLHAS

Second Edition, Revised With 1 Plate of Figures and 65 Text Illustrations

Translated by Miss Selma Wesselhoeft and Miss A. M. Parker

Translation revised by the Author

Cambridge, Mass. Published by the Museum December, 1904.

NOTE.

In order to make more widely known and more easily accessible to American students the results of important researches on the Maya hieroglyphs, printed in the German language, the Peabody Museum Committee on Central American Research proposes to publish translations of certain papers which are not too lengthy or too extensively illustrated. The present paper by one of the most distinguished scholars in this field is the first of the series.

F. W. PUTNAM. Harvard University September, 1904.

PREFACE.

Since the first edition of this pamphlet appeared in the year 1897, investigation in this department of science has made such marked progress, notwithstanding the slight amount of material, that a revision has now become desirable. It can be readily understood, that a new science, an investigation on virgin soil, such as the Maya study is, makes more rapid progress and develops more quickly than one pertaining to some old, much explored territory.

In addition to numerous separate treatises, special mention should be made of Ernst Förstemann's commentaries on the three Maya manuscripts (Kommentar zur Mayahandschrift der Königlichen öffentlichen Bibliothek zu Dresden, Dresden 1901, Kommentar zur Madrider Mayahandschrift, Danzig 1902, and Kommentar zur Pariser Mayahandschrift, Danzig 1903) which constitute a summary of the entire results of investigation in this field up to the present time.

The proposal made in the first edition of this pamphlet, that the Maya deities be designated by letters of the alphabet, has been very generally adopted by Americanists, especially by those in the United States of America. This circumstance, in particular, has seemed to make it desirable to prepare for publication a new edition, improved to accord with the present state of the science.

Warmest thanks are above all due to Mr. Bowditch, of Boston, who in the most disinterested manner, for the good of science, has made possible the publication of this new edition.

January, 1904. P. SCHELLHAS.

THE MATERIAL OF THE MANUSCRIPTS.

The three manuscripts which we possess of the ancient Maya peoples of Central America, the Dresden (Dr.), the Madrid (Tro.-Cort.) and the Paris (Per.) manuscripts, all contain a series of pictorial representations of human figures, which, beyond question, should be regarded as figures of gods. Together with these are a number of animal figures, some with human bodies, dress and armor, which likewise have a mythologic significance.

The contents of the three manuscripts, which undoubtedly pertain to the calendar system and to the computation of time in their relation to the Maya pantheon and to certain religious and domestic functions, admit of the conclusion, that these figures of gods embody the essential part of the religious conceptions of the Maya peoples in a tolerably complete form. For here we have the entire ritual year, the whole chronology with its mythological relations and all accessories. In addition to this, essentially the same figures recur in all three manuscripts. Their number is not especially large. There are about fifteen figures of gods in human form and about half as many in animal form. At first we were inclined to believe that further researches would considerably increase the number of deities, but this assumption was incorrect. After years of study of the subject and repeated examination of the results of research, it may be regarded as positively proved, that the number of deities represented in the Maya manuscripts does not exceed substantially the limits mentioned above. The principal deities are determined beyond question.

The way in which this was accomplished is strikingly simple. It amounts essentially to that which in ordinary life we call "memory of persons" and follows almost naturally from a careful study of the manuscripts. For, by frequently looking attentively at the representations, one learns by degrees to recognize promptly similar and familiar figures of gods, by the characteristic impression they make as a whole, or by certain details, even when the pictures are partly obliterated or exhibit variations, and the same is true of the accompanying hieroglyphs. A purely inductive, natural science-method has thus been followed, and hence this pamphlet is devoted simply to descriptions and to the amassing of material. These figures have been taken separately out of the manuscripts alone, identified and described with the studious avoidance of all unreliable, misleading accounts and of all presumptive analogies with supposedly allied mythologies.

Whatever cannot be derived from the manuscripts themselves has been wholly ignored. Hypotheses and deductions have been avoided as far as possible. Only where the interpretation, or the resemblance and the relations to kindred mythologic domains were obvious, and where the accounts agreed beyond question, has notice been taken of the fact so that the imposed limitations of this work should not result in one-sidedness.

Since, for the most part, the accounts of Spanish authors regarding the mythology of the Mayas correspond only slightly or not at all with these figures of gods, and all other conjectures respecting their significance are very dubious, the alphabetic designation of the deities, which was tentatively introduced in the first edition of this work, has been preserved. This designation has proved to be practical. For the plate at the end of this pamphlet, examples as characteristic as possible of the individual figures of gods have been selected from the manuscripts.

It is a well known fact that we possess no definite knowledge either of the time of the composition or of the local origin of the Maya manuscripts. The objection might, therefore, be raised that it is a hazardous proceeding to treat the material derived from these three manuscripts in common, as if it were homogeneous. But these researches themselves have proved beyond a doubt, that the mythologic import of the manuscripts belongs to one and the same sphere of thought. Essentially the same deities and the same mythologic ideas are, without question, to be found in all the manuscripts.

The material of the inscriptions has been set entirely at one side, because the style of representation contained in them, both of the mythologic forms and of the hieroglyphs, renders comparison exceedingly difficult. In this field especial credit is due to Förstemann and Seler, for the work they have done in furtherance of interpretation, and mention should not be omitted of the generosity with which the well known promoter of Americanist investigations, the Duke of Loubat, has presented to the Berlin Museum of Ethnology costly originals of reliefs and inscriptions for direct study. The representations on the reliefs from the Maya region, it is true, give evidence of dealing with kindred mythologic conceptions. Figures and hieroglyphs of gods, made familiar by the manuscripts, can also be found here and there. But on the whole so little appears in support of instituting a comparison with the manuscripts, that it seems expedient to leave the inscriptions for independent and special study.

I. REPRESENTATIONS OF GODS.

A. The Death-God.

God A is represented as a figure with an exposed, bony spine, truncated nose and grinning teeth.[10-1] It is plainly to be seen that the head of this god represents a skull and that the spine is that of a skeleton. The pictures of the death-god are so characteristic in the Maya manuscripts that the deity is always easily recognized. He is almost always distinguished by the skeleton face and the bony spine. Several times in the Dresden manuscript the death-god is pictured with large black spots on his body and in Dr. 19b a woman with closed eyes, whose body also displays the black spots, is sitting opposite the god. While the Aztecs had a male and a female death-deity, in the Maya manuscripts we find the death-deity only once represented as feminine, namely on p. 9c of the Dresden manuscript. Moreover the Dresden manuscript contains several different types of the death-god, having invariably the fleshless skull and (with the exception of Dr. 9c) the visible vertebrae of the spine. Several times (Dr. 12b and 13b) he is represented apparently with distended abdomen. A distinguishing article of his costume is the stiff feather collar, which is worn only by this god, his companion, the war-god F, and by his animal symbol, the owl, which will both be discussed farther on. His head ornament varies in the Dresden Codex; in the first portion of the manuscript, relating in part to pregnancy and child-birth (see the pictures of women on p. 16, et seq.), he wears on his head several times a figure occurring very frequently just in this part of the Dresden Codex and apparently representing a snail (compare Dr. 12b and 13b), which among the Aztecs is likewise a symbol of parturition. In view of these variations in the pictures of the Dresden Codex, it is very striking that in the Codex Tro.-Cortesianus, there is only one invariable type of the death-god.

[10-1] See Plate for representations of the gods, A-P

A distinguishing ornament of the death-god consists of globular bells or rattles, which he wears on his hands and feet, on his collar and as a head ornament. As can be distinctly seen in Dr. 11a, they are fastened with bands wound around the forearm and around the leg; in Dr. 15c these bells are black.

Among the symbols of the death-god a cross of two bones should be mentioned, which is also found in the Mexican manuscripts. This cross of bones seems to occur once among the written characters as a hieroglyph and then in combination with a number: Tro. 10.* The figure [Death-god symbol] is also a frequent symbol of the death-god. Its significance is still uncertain, but it also occurs among the hieroglyphs as a death-sign and as a sign for the day Cimi (death).

The hieroglyphs of the death-god have been positively determined (see Figs. 1 to 4). Figs. 1 and 2 are the forms of the Dresden manuscript and Figs. 3 and 4 are those of the Madrid manuscript. God A is almost always distinguished by two hieroglyphs, namely Figs. 1 and 2 or 3 and 4. Moreover the hieroglyphs are always the same, have scarcely any variants. Even in Dr. 9c, where the deity is represented as feminine, there are no variations which might denote the change of sex. The hieroglyphs consist chiefly of the head of a corpse with closed eyes, and of a skull. The design in front of the skull in Figs. 2 and 4 and under it in Fig. 3 is a sacrificial knife of flint, which was used in slaying the sacrifices, and is also frequently pictured in the Aztec manuscripts. The dots under Fig. 1 are probably intended to represent blood.

The death-god is represented with extraordinary frequency in all the Maya manuscripts. Not only does the figure of the god itself occur, but his attributes are found in many places where his picture is missing. Death evidently had an important significance in the mythologic conceptions of the Mayas. It is connected with sacrifice, especially with human sacrifices performed in connection with the captive enemy. Just as we find a personification of death in the manuscripts of the Mayas, we also find it in the picture-writings of the ancient Mexicans, often surprisingly like the pictures of the Maya codices. The Aztec death-god and his myth are known through the accounts of Spanish writers; regarding the death-god of the Mayas we have less accurate information. Some mention occurs in Landa's Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan, §XXIII, but unfortunately nothing is said of the manner of representing the death-god. He seems to be related to the Aztec Mictlantecutli, of whom Sahagun, Appendix to Book III, "De los que iban al infierno y de sus obsequias," treats as the god of the dead and of the underworld, Mictlan. When the representations of the latter, for example in the Codex Borgia, and in the Codex Vaticanus No. 3773, are compared with those of the Maya manuscripts, there can be hardly a doubt of the correspondence of the two god figures. In the Codex Borgia, p. 37, he is represented once with the same characteristic head ornament, which the death-god usually wears in the Maya manuscripts, and in the Codex Fejervary, p. 8, the death-god wears a kind of breeches on which cross-bones are depicted, exactly as in Dr. 9 (bottom).

Bishop Landa informs us that the Mayas "had great and immoderate dread of death." This explains the frequency of the representations of the death-god, from whom, as Landa states, "all evil and especially death" emanated. Among the Aztecs we find a male and a female death-deity, Mictlantecutli and Mictlancihuatl. They were the rulers of the realm of the dead, Mictlan, which, according to the Aztec conception, lay in the north; hence the death-god was at the same time the god of the north.

It agrees with the calendric and astronomic character of the Maya deities in the manuscripts, that a number of the figures of the gods are used in connection with specified cardinal points. Since, according to the Aztec conception, the death-god was the god of the north, we might expect that in the Maya manuscripts also, the death-god would be always considered as the deity of the north. Nevertheless this happens only _once_, namely in the picture at the end of Codex Cort., pp. 41 and 42. Elsewhere, on the other hand, this god is connected with other cardinal points, thus Dr. 14a with the west or east (the hieroglyph is illegible, but it can be only west or east), and in Dr. 27c with the west. It is interesting to note that once, however, in a series of cardinal points, the hieroglyph of the death-god connected with the numeral 10 stands just in the place of the sign of the north; this is on Tro. 24* (bottom).

In regard to the name of the death-god in the Maya language, Landa tells us that the wicked after death were banished to an underworld, the name of which was "Mitnal", a word which is defined as "Hell" in the Maya lexicon of Pio Perez and which has a striking resemblance to Mictlan, the Aztec name for the lower regions. The death-god Hunhau reigned in this underworld. According to other accounts (Hernandez), however, the death-god is called Ahpuch. These names can in no wise serve as aids to the explanation of the hieroglyphs of the death-god, since they have no etymologic connection with death or the heads of corpses and skulls, which form the main parts of the hieroglyph. Furthermore, the hieroglyphs of the gods certainly have a purely ideographic significance as already mentioned above, so that any relation between the names of the deities and their hieroglyphs cannot exist from the very nature of the case.

The day of the death-god is the day Cimi, death. The day-sign Cimi corresponds almost perfectly with the heads of corpses contained in the hieroglyphs of the death-god.

A hieroglyphic sign, which relates to death and the death-deity and occurs very frequently, is the sign Fig. 5, which is probably to be regarded as the ideogram of the owl. It represents the head of an owl, while the figure in front of it signifies the owl's ear and the one below, its teeth, as distinguishing marks of a bird of prey furnished with ears and a powerful beak. The head of the owl appears on a human body several times in the Dresden manuscript as a substitute for the death-deity, thus Dr. 18c, 19c, 20a and 20c and in other places, and the hieroglyphic group (Fig. 5) is almost a regular attendant hieroglyph of the death-god.

A series of other figures of the Maya mythology is connected with the death-god. This is evident from the fact that his hieroglyphs or his symbols occur with certain other figures, which are thus brought into connection with death and the death-deity.

These figures are as follows:

1. His companion, god F, the god of war, of human sacrifice and of violent death in battle, apparently a counterpart of the Aztec Xipe, who will be discussed farther on.

2. The moan bird. See beyond under Mythological Animals, No. 1.

3. The dog. See the same, No. 3.

4. A human figure, possibly representing the priest of the death-god (see Dr. 28, centre, Dr. 5b and 9a). The last figure is a little doubtful. It is blindfolded and thus recalls the Aztec deity of frost and sin, Itztlacoliuhqui. A similar form with eyes bound occurs only once again in the Maya manuscripts, namely Dr. 50 (centre). That this figure is related to the death-god is proved by the fact that on Dr. 9a it wears the Cimi-sign on the middle piece of the chain around its neck. Furthermore it should be emphasized that the Aztec sin-god, Itztlacoliuhqui, likewise appears with symbols of death.

5. An isolated figure, Dr. 50a (the sitting figure at the right). This wears the skull as head ornament, which is represented in exactly the same way as in the Aztec manuscripts (see Fig. 6).

6. Another isolated figure is twice represented combined with the death-god in Dr. 22c. This picture is so effaced that it is impossible to tell what it means. The hieroglyph represents a variant of the death's-head, Cimi. It seems to signify an ape, which also in the pictures of the Mexican codices was sometimes used in relation to the death-god.

The symbols of the death-god are also found with the figure without a head on Dr. 2 (45)a, clearly the picture of a beheaded prisoner. Death symbols occur, too, with the curious picture of a hanged woman on Dr. 53b, a picture which is interesting from the fact that it recalls vividly a communication of Bishop Landa. Landa tells us, the Mayas believed that whoever hanged himself did not go to the underworld, but to "paradise," and as a result of this belief, suicide by hanging was very common and was chosen on the slightest pretext. Such suicides were received in paradise by the goddess of the hanged, Ixtab. Ix is the feminine prefix; tab, taab, tabil mean, according to Perez' Lexicon of the Maya Language, "cuerda destinada para algun uso exclusivo". The name of this strange goddess is, therefore, the "Goddess of the Halter" or, as Landa says, "The Goddess of the Gallows". Now compare Dr. 53. On the upper half of the page is the death-god represented with hand raised threateningly, on the lower half is seen the form of a woman suspended by a rope placed around her neck. The closed eye, the open mouth and the convulsively outspread fingers, show that she is dead, in fact, strangled. It is, in all probability, the goddess of the gallows and halter, Ixtab, the patroness of the hanged, who is pictured here in company with the death-god; or else it is a victim of this goddess, and page 53 of the manuscript very probably refers, therefore (even though the two halves do not belong directly together), to the mythologic conceptions of death and the lower regions to which Landa alludes.

7. Lastly the owl is to be mentioned as belonging to the death-god, which, strange to say, is represented nowhere in the pictures realistically and so that it can be recognized, although other mythologic animals, as the dog or the moan bird, occur plainly as animals in the pictures. On the other hand, the owl's head appears on a human body in the Dresden manuscript as a substitute for the death-deity itself, for example on Dr. 18c, 19c, 20a and 20c and elsewhere, and forms a regular attendant hieroglyph of the death-god in the group of three signs already mentioned (Fig. 5).

Among the antiquities from the Maya region of Central America, there are many objects and representations, which have reference to the cultus of the death-god, and show resemblances to the pictures of the manuscripts. The death-god also plays a role, even today, in the popular superstitions of the natives of Yucatan, as a kind of spectre that prowls around the houses of the sick. His name is Yum Cimil, the lord of death.

B. The God With the Large Nose and Lolling Tongue.

The deity, represented most frequently in all the manuscripts, is a figure with a long, proboscis-like, pendent nose and a tongue (or teeth, fangs) hanging out in front and at the sides of the mouth, also with a characteristic head ornament resembling a knotted bow and with a peculiar rim to the eye. Fig. 7 is the hieroglyph of this deity. In Codex Tro.-Cortesianus it usually has the form of Fig. 8.

God B is evidently one of the most important of the Maya pantheon. He must be a universal deity, to whom the most varied elements, natural phenomena and activities are subject. He is represented with different attributes and symbols of power, with torches in his hands as symbols of fire, sitting in the water and on the water, standing in the rain, riding in a canoe, enthroned on the clouds of heaven and on the cross-shaped tree of the four points of the compass, which, on account of its likeness to the Christian emblem, has many times been the subject of fantastic hypotheses. We see the god again on the Cab-sign, the symbol of the earth, with weapons, axe and spears, in his hands, planting kernels of maize, on a journey (Dr. 65b) staff in hand and a bundle on his back, and fettered (Dr. 37a) with arms bound behind his back. His entire myth seems to be recorded in the manuscripts. The great abundance of symbolism renders difficult the characterization of the deity, and it is well-nigh impossible to discover that a single mythologic idea underlies the whole. God B is quite often connected with the serpent, without exhibiting affinity with the Chicchan-god H (see p. 28). In Dr. 33b, 34b and 35b, the serpent is in the act of devouring him, or he is rising up out of the serpent's jaws, as is plainly indicated also by the hieroglyphs, for they contain the group given in Fig. 10, which is composed of the rattle of the rattlesnake and the opened hand as a symbol of seizing and absorption. God B himself is pictured with the body of a serpent in Dr. 35b and 36a (compare No. 2 of the Mythological Animals). He likewise occurs sitting on the serpent and in Dr. 66a he is twice (1st and 3d figures) pictured with a snake in his hand.

God B sits on the moan head in Dr. 38c, on a head with the Cauac-sign in Dr. 39c, 66c, and on the dog in Dr. 29a. All these pictures are meant to typify his abode in the air, above rain, storm and death-bringing clouds, from which the lightning falls. The object with the cross-bones of the death-god, on which he sits in Dr. 66c, can perhaps be explained in the same manner. As the fish belongs to god B in a symbolic sense, so the god is represented fishing in Dr. 44 (1). His face with the large nose and the tongue (or fangs) hanging out on the side in Dr. 44 (1)a (1st figure) is supposed to be a mask which the priest, representing the god, assumes during the religious ceremony.