Mayan Writing

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Mayan Writing
Mayan Writing Andrea M. Ranada

• Andrea Ranada

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The Maya Scribe

• Typical appearance
• Hair wrapped with a head cloth
• A stick bundle attached to the head cloth
• The occasional stick-like tool included in the
  headdress
• A sarong tied at the waist (its length may vary).

• Scribes had a special status in society
• Some kings and queens were also scribes
• The Maya worshipped the gods of writing, one of
  them being Rabbit God.

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Mayan Writing Surfaces
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Limestone

• Limestone is abundant in the Yucatán peninsula
• Freshly excavated limestone is fairly soft and
  easily manipulated, but eventually hardens upon
  exposure to air
• The picture on the left is from the Tablet of the
  96 Hieroglyphs at Palenque on limestone.

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Volcanic Tuff

• Found at Copán (limestone was rare in this
  region)
• Extremely durable under the humid conditions of
  the area
• Produced remarkable three-dimensional sculptures
• The picture above depicts the Moon Goddess with
  the Rabbit God. It is from a bench in the
  scribal compound of Copán.

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Plaster and Paper

• Plaster (calcium carbonate) is commonly used on
  the walls of ancient Mayan architecture
• Plaster can be found on the surface of all four
  Maya codices, suggesting that the scribes did not
  directly write on the paper, but more on
  plaster-like surfaces
• Amate is the paper used by the Maya it is made
  from the inner bark of wild fig trees

• Papermaking process
• Boil inner bark fibers
• Soak it in lime
• Layer fibers in grid formation
• Compress to combine the layers into a sheet

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Other Surfaces

• Jade
• Pottery
• Wood
• Bone
• Shell

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Mayan Writing Tools

• Carving and Incising Tools
• No evidence that it was made of metal
• Most likely stone chisels were used on monumental
  stone
• On bone, wood, and shell, hafted obsidian blades
  were probably used
• Brush and Quill Pens
• Brush pens supposedly similar to traditional
  Chinese brush pens
• Quill pens were used for more thinner lines and
  more precise designs
• Inkpots and Inks
• The Maya used conch shells cut in half lengthwise
  as inkpots
• Black and red pigments were typically used on the
  codices

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The Maya Codices

• The inner bark of wild fig trees were used to
  form the sheets of paper.
• Horizontal sheets were made and folded
  accordion-style to form the Maya books
• These folded sheets had script and illustrations
  on both sides and possibly wood or leather served
  as covers.
• The Maya books served a general purpose of
  presenting calendrical and celestial systems,
  including but not limited to
• Venus cycle tables
• Eclipse tables
• Pictures of ceremonies deities
• Multiplication tables
• A 260-day sacred almanac

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The 260-day count
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The Paris Codex

• Katuns (20 years)
• Tuns (360 days)
• The grand cycle is 13 katuns, and after 13
  katuns, history is supposed to repeat itself.
• The codex only documents 11 katuns (at least 2
  pages are missing).
• The center of each codex page has an image of the
  deity that rules that katun (one katun is
  documented per page).
• Hieroglyphic text about prophecies and rituals
  frames these images.

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The Madrid Codex

• Also known as the Tro-Cortes, because at some
  point the codex split into two parts (1st part
  Tro, 2nd part Cortes) and was found at separate
  occasions in Spain
• This codex seems to be purely about divination
• It does not contain astronomy, prophecies, or
  multiplication tables, but it does contain a
  260-day almanac.

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The Grolier Codex

• A recent discovery
• Only half (10 pages) of it has been found
• It primarily deals with the 582-day Venus cycle
• Each page deals with one part of the cycle
• Each part has a sinister deity dominating that
  part of the cycle
• The deities are sinister because the Mesoamerican
  mentality considers all aspects of the planet as
  ill-omened.

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The Dresden Codex

• Consists of several 260-day almanacs as well as
  Venus, eclipse, and multiplication tables.
• The almanacs were divided vertically into tols
• Each division corresponds to a sacred Maya year
  (tzolkin)
• Each year is a period of 260 days, or a
  tonalpohualli
• Each tol has a calendrical glyph with
  hieroglyphic text within four glyph blocks above
  it
• Each calendrical glyph indicates a day in the
  sacred calendar, and right below it is an image
  of a god or some sort of protagonist, such as the
  Moon Goddess.

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Conclusion

• The purpose of Mayan writing, specifically in
  codices, is to document celestial events and
  calendrical systems.
• The Grolier and Dresden codices deal with more
  astronomical instances.
• The Paris Codex concerns katuns and tuns.
• The Madrid Codex remains purely divinatory.
• The content of the four codices all truly
  represent the remarkable achievements of the
  ancient Maya.

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The End