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Page 9 of the Dresden Codex (from the 1880 Förstermann edition)
Page 9 of the Dresden Codex (from the 1880 Förstermann edition)

Maya codices (singular codex) are folding books stemming from the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican paper, made from the inner bark of certain trees, the main being the wild fig tree or Amate (Ficus glabrata). A codex ( Latin for block of wood, Book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books with separate pages normally A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican Civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the Pre-Columbian Americas The Maya script, also known as Maya hieroglyphs, was the writing system of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently Paper, generally known by the Nahuatl word amatl, was named by the Mayas huun. Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family Amatl (āmatl amate or papel amate) is a form of Paper that was manufactured in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The folding books are the products of professional scribes working under the patronage of the Howler Monkey Gods. The howler monkey god was a major deity of the arts including music and a patron of the artisans among the Classic Mayas, especially of the scribes and sculptors The Maya developed their huun-paper around the 5th century, in the same era that the Romans did, but their paper was more durable and a better writing surface than the papyrus(1). Papyrus (/pəˈpaɪrəs/ (Rhymes -aɪrəs)is a thick paper-like material produced from the Pith of the papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus The codices have been named for the cities in which they eventually settled. The Dresden codex is generally considered the most important of the few that survive.

Contents

Background

There were many such books in existence at the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán in the 16th century, but they were destroyed in bulk by the Conquistadors and priests soon after. The Spanish Conquest of Yucatán was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish Conquistadores ' against the Late Postclassic Maya states and This article is about the Spanish explorer soldiers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuriesfor other uses see Conquistador (disambiguation A Conquistador A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites in particular rites of sacrifice to and propitiation of a deity or deities In particular, all those in Yucatán were ordered destroyed by Bishop Diego de Landa in July of 1562. Yucatán is one of the 31 states of Mexico, located on the north of the Yucatán Peninsula. Diego de Landa Calderón ( 12 November, 1524 &ndash 1579 was Bishop of Yucatán. Such codices were primary written records of Maya civilization, together with the many inscriptions on stone monuments and stelae which survive to the present day. Epigraphy (ἐπιγραφολογία from Greek ἐπιγραφή — "inscription" is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs engraved A monument is a structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of past A stele (from Greek:, stēlē, ˈstiːli plural stelae,, stēlai, ˈstiːlaɪ also found Latinised singular stela However, their range of subject matter in all likelihood embraced more topics than those recorded in stone and buildings, and was more like what is found on painted ceramics (the so-called 'ceramic codex'). Alonso de Zorita wrote that in 1540 he saw numerous such books in the Guatemalan highlands which “recorded their history for more than eight hundred years back, and which were interpreted for me by very ancient Indians” (Zorita 1963, 271-2). Guatemala (República de Guatemala) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west the Pacific Ocean to the southwest Fr. Bartolomé de las Casas lamented that when found, such books were destroyed: "These books were seen by our clergy, and even I saw part of those which were burned by the monks, apparently because they thought [they] might harm the Indians in matters concerning religion, since at that time they were at the beginning of their conversion". Bartolomé de las Casas, OP ( August 24 1484 &ndash July 17 1566) was a 16th century Spanish Dominican The last codices destroyed were those of Tayasal, Guatemala in 1697, the last city conquered in America (source: Maya writing. Tayasal is a Pre-Columbian Maya Archaeological site that dates to the Postclassic period With their destruction, the opportunity for insight into some key areas of Maya life has been greatly diminished.

Only three codices and possibly a fragment of a fourth survived to modern times. These are:

Dresden Codex

The Dresden Codex (Codex Dresdensis) is held in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek (SLUB), the state library in Dresden, Germany. Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. It is the most elaborate of the codices, and also a highly important work of art. Many sections are ritualistic (including so-called 'almanacs'), others are of an astrological nature (eclipses, the Venus cycles). Astrology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" and grc -λογία -logia) is a group of Systems An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when one Celestial object moves into the shadow of another A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the Planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, obscuring a small portion of the The codex is written on a long sheet of paper which is 'screen-folded' to make a book of 39 leaves, written on both sides. It was probably written just before the Spanish conquest. Somehow it made its way to Europe and was bought by the royal library of the court of Saxony in Dresden in 1739. The only exact replica, including the huun, made by German artist is displayed at the Museo Nacional de Arqueología in Guatemala City, since October, 2007. Guatemala (República de Guatemala) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west the Pacific Ocean to the southwest

Venus Cycle

The Venus cycle was an important calendar for the Maya, and much information in regard to this is found in the Dresden codex. The VENUS ( V ictoria E xperimental N etwork U nder the S ea project is a cabled sea floor observatory operated by the University The Maya courts employed skilled astronomers, who could calculate the Venus cycle with extreme accuracy. Historically Astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky while Astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena There are six pages in the Dresden Codex devoted to the accurate calculation of the location of Venus. The Maya were able to achieve such accuracy by careful observation over many centuries. The Venus cycle was especially important because the Maya believed it was associated with war and used it to divine appropriate times (electional astrology) for coronations and war. Electional astrology is a branch found in most systems of astrology Maya rulers planned for wars to begin when Venus rose. The Maya may have also tracked the movements of other planets, including Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter.

Madrid Codex

Although of inferior workmanship, the Madrid Codex (Codex Tro-Cortesianus) is even more varied than the Dresden Codex and is the product of eight different scribes. It is in the Museo de América in Madrid, Spain, where it may have been sent back to the Royal Court by Hernán Cortés. The Museum of the Americas ( Spanish: Museo de América) in Madrid ( Spain) is a National museum that holds artistic archaeological and ethnographic Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca ( 1485&ndash December 2, There are 112 pages, which got split up into two separate sections, known as the Troano Codex and the Cortesianus Codex. These were re-united in 1888. This Codex provenance, is from Tayasal, the last Maya city to be conquered in 1697. Tayasal is a Pre-Columbian Maya Archaeological site that dates to the Postclassic period

Paris Codex

The Paris Codex (Codex Peresianus) contains prophecies for tuns and katuns (see Maya Calendar), as well as a Maya zodiac, and is thus, in both respects, akin to the Books of Chilam Balam. The Maya calendar is a system of distinct Calendars and Almanacs used by the Maya civilization of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and by The Mayan Chilam Balam books are named after Yucatec towns such as Chumayel Mani and Tizimin and are usually collections of disparate texts in which Mayan and Spanish traditions It was found in a trashcan in a Paris library. As a result, it is in very poor condition. It is currently held in the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library), Paris, France. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.

Grolier Codex

While the other three codices were known to scholars since the 19th century, the Grolier Codex only surfaced in the 1970s. This fourth Maya codex was said to have been found in a cave, but the question of its authenticity has still not been resolved to everybody's satisfaction. The codex is really a fragment of 11 pages. It is currently in a museum in Mexico, but is not on display to the public. Scanned photos of it are available on the web. The pages are much less detailed than any of the other codices. Each page shows a hero or god, facing to the left. At the top of each page is a number. Down the left of each page are what appears to be a list of dates.

Other Maya codices

Given the rarity and importance of these books, rumors of finding new ones often develop interest. Archaeological excavations of Maya sites have turned up a number of rectangular lumps of plaster and paint flakes, most commonly in elite tombs. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos These lumps are the remains of codices where all the organic material has rotted away. A few of the more coherent of these lumps have been preserved, with the slim hope that some technique to be developed by future generations of archaeologists may be able to recover some information from these remains of ancient pages. The oldest Maya codices known, have been found by archaeologists as mortuary offerings with burials in excavations in Uaxactun, Guaytán in San Agustín Acasaguastlán, and Nebaj in Quiché, Guatemala, at Altun Ha in Belize and at Copán in Honduras. Uaxactun (waʃakˈtun is an ancient ruin of the Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region of the Maya lowlands in the present-day department This page is about the Native American people for other uses the dish see Quiché (disambiguation. Guatemala (República de Guatemala) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west the Pacific Ocean to the southwest Altun Ha is the name given ruins of an ancient Maya city in Belize, located in the Belize District about 30 miles (50 km north of Belize City Belize (bəˈliːz formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. The Pre-Columbian city today known as Copán is a locale in extreme western Honduras, in the Copán Department, near to the Guatemalan border Honduras in Spanish, República de Honduras) is a democratic republic in Central America. The six examples of Maya books discovered in excavations date to the Early Classic (Uaxactún and Altun Ha), Late Classic (Nebaj, Copán), and Early Postclassic (Guaytán) periods and, unfortunately, all have been changed by the pressure and humidity during their many years in the ground, eliminating the organic backing and reducing all into unopenable masses or collections of very small flakes and bits of the original lime sizing and multicolor painting. The result being, unfortunately, more old books which will probably never be read. (Whiting 207-208)

Forgeries

Since the start of the 20th century, various forgeries of varying quality have been produced; these seldom have fooled serious scholars but art collectors have often generated profits for the forgers (Two elaborate early 20th century forged codices were in the collection of William Randolph Hearst). Forgery is the process of making adapting or imitating objects statistics or documents (see False document) with the intent to deceive. For other people named William Randolph Hearst see William Randolph Hearst (disambiguation William Randolph Hearst I (April 29 1863 &ndash When the Grolier first surfaced a number of prominent Mayanists thought it was likely an unusually clever forgery; and although more detailed examination convinced many of its authenticity, serious doubts still remain. Mayanist is a term which has been in widespread use from the late 19th century onwards to refer to scholars who have specialised in research and study of the Central American


Technology

See also

External links

Amatl (āmatl amate or papel amate) is a form of Paper that was manufactured in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Aztec codices (singular Codex) are Books written by Pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs The Maya calendar is a system of distinct Calendars and Almanacs used by the Maya civilization of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and by
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