Chapter II

, are those which tell the real story of the inscriptions.

[93] Only two exceptions to this rule have been noted throughout the Maya territory: (1) The Initial Series on the east side of Stela C at Quirigua, and (2) the tablet from the Temple of the Cross at Palenque. It has been explained that both of these Initial Series are counted from the date 4 Ahau 8 Zotz.

[94] In the inscriptions an Initial Series may always be identified by the so-called introducing glyph (see fig. 24) which invariably precedes it.

[95] Professor Förstemann has pointed out a few cases in the Dresden Codex in which, although the count is backward, the special character indicating the fact is wanting (fig. 64). (See _Bulletin_ 28, p. 401.)

[96] There are a few cases in which the "backward sign" includes also the numeral in the second position.

[97] In the text wherein this number is found the date 4 Ahau 8 Camhu stands below the lowest term.

[98] It should be noted here that in the _u kahlay katunob_ also, from the Books of Chilan Balam, the count is always forward.

[99] For transcribing the Maya numerical notation into the characters of our own Arabic notation Maya students have adopted the practice of writing the various terms from left to right in a _descending_ series, as the units of our decimal system are written. For example, 4 katuns, 8 tuns, 3 uinals, and 1 kin are written 4.8.3.1; and 9 cycles, 16 katuns, 1 tun, 0 uinal, and 0 kins are written 9.16.1.0.0. According to this method, the highest term in each number is written on the left, the next lower on its right, the next lower on the right of that, and so on down through the units of the first, or lowest, order. This notation is very convenient for transcribing the Maya numbers and will be followed hereafter.

[100] The reason for rejecting all parts of the quotient except the numerator of the fractional part is that this part alone shows the actual number of units which have to be counted either forward or backward, as the count may be, in order to reach the number which exactly uses up or finishes the dividend--the last unit of the number which has to be counted.

[101] The student can prove this point for himself by turning to the tonalamatl wheel in pl. 5; after selecting any particular day, as 1 Ik for example, proceed to count 260 days from this day as a starting point, in either direction around the wheel. No matter in which direction he has counted, whether beginning with 13 Imix or 2 Akbal, the 260th day will be 1 Ik again.

[102] The student may prove this for himself by reducing 9.0.0.0.0 to days (1,296,000), and counting forward this number from the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, as described in the rules on pages 138-143. The terminal date reached will be 8 Ahau 13 Ceh, as given above.

[103] Numbers may also be added to or subtracted from Period-ending dates, since the positions of such dates are also fixed in the Long Count, and consequently may be used as bases of reference for dates whose positions in the Long Count are not recorded.

[104] In adding two Maya numbers, for example 9.12.2.0.16 and 12.9.5, care should be taken first to arrange like units under like, as:

9.12. 2. 0.16 12. 9. 5 ------------- 9.12.14.10. 1

Next, beginning at the right, the kins or units of the 1st place are added together, and after all the 20s (here 1) have been deducted from this sum, place the remainder (here 1) in the kin place. Next add the uinals, or units of the 2d place, adding to them 1 for each 20 which was carried forward from the 1st place. After all the 18s possible have been deducted from this sum (here 0) place the remainder (here 10) in the uinal place. Next add the tuns, or units of the 3d place, adding to them 1 for each 18 which was carried forward from the 2d place, and after deducting all the 20s possible (here 0) place the remainder (here 14) in the tun place. Proceed in this manner until the highest units present have been added and written below.

Subtraction is just the reverse of the preceding. Using the same numbers:

9.12. 2.0.16 12.9. 5 ------------ 9.11. 9.9.11

5 kins from 16 = 11; 9 uinals from 18 uinals (1 tun has to be borrowed) = 9; 12 tuns from 21 tuns (1 katun has to be borrowed, which, added to the 1 tun left in the minuend, makes 21 tuns) = 9 tuns; 0 katuns from 11 katuns (1 katun having been borrowed) = 11 katuns; and 0 cycles from 9 cycles = 9 cycles.

[105] The Supplementary Series present perhaps the most promising field for future study and investigation in the Maya texts. They clearly have to do with a numerical count of some kind, which of itself should greatly facilitate progress in their interpretation. Mr. Goodman (1897: p. 118) has suggested that in some way the Supplementary Series record the dates of the Initial Series they accompany according to some other and unknown method, though he offers no proof in support of this hypothesis. Mr. Bowditch (1910: p. 244) believes they probably relate to time, because the glyphs of which they are composed have numbers attached to them. He has suggested the name Supplementary Series by which they are known, implying in the designation that these Series in some way supplement or complete the meaning of the Initial Series with which they are so closely connected. The writer believes that they treat of some lunar count. It seems almost certain that the moon glyph occurs repeatedly in the Supplementary Series (see fig. 65).

[106] The word "closing" as used here means only that in reading from left to right and from top to bottom--that is, in the normal order--the sign shown in fig. 65 is always the last one in the Supplementary Series, usually standing immediately before the month glyph of the Initial-series terminal date. It does not signify, however, that the Supplementary Series were to be read in this direction, and, indeed, there are strong indications that they followed the reverse order, from right to left and bottom to top.

[107] In a few cases the sign shown in fig. 65 occurs elsewhere in the Supplementary Series than as its "closing" glyph. In such cases its coefficient is not restricted to the number 9 or 10.

[108] In the codices frequently the month parts of dates are omitted and starting points and terminal dates alike are expressed as days only; thus, 2 Ahau, 5 Imix, 7 Kan, etc. This is nearly always the case in tonalamatls and in certain series of numbers in the Dresden Codex.

[109] Only a very few month signs seem to be recorded in the Codex Tro-Cortesiano and the Codex Peresianus. The Tro-Cortesiano has only one (p. 73b), in which the date 13 Ahau 13 Cumhu is recorded thus (). Compare the month form in this date with fig. 20, _z-b'_. Mr. Gates (1910: p. 21) finds three month signs in the Codex Peresianus, on pp. 4, 7, and 18 at 4c7, 7c2, and 18b4, respectively. The first of these is 16 Zac (). Compare this form with fig. 20, _o_. The second is 1 Yaxkin (+). Compare this form with fig. 20, _i-j_. The third is 12 Cumhu (++); see fig. 20, _z-b'_.

[110] As used throughout this work, the word "inscriptions" is applied only to texts from the monuments.

[111] The term glyph-block has been used instead of glyph in this connection because in many inscriptions several different glyphs are included in one glyph-block. In such cases, however, the glyphs within the glyph-block follow precisely the same order as the glyph-blocks themselves follow in the pairs of columns, that is, from left to right and top to bottom.

[112] Initial Series which have all their period glyphs expressed by normal forms are comparatively rare; consequently the four examples presented in pl. 6, although they are the best of their kind, leave something to be desired in other ways. In pl. 6, _A_, for example, the month sign was

## partially effaced though it is restored in the accompanying reproduction;

in _B_ of the same plate the closing glyph of the Supplementary Series (the month-sign indicator) is wanting, although the month sign itself is very clear. Again, in _D_ the details of the day glyph and month glyph are

## partially effaced (restored in the reproduction), and in _C_, although the

entire text is very clear, the month sign of the terminal date irregularly follows immediately the day sign. However, in spite of these slight irregularities, it has seemed best to present these particular texts as the first examples of Initial Series, because their period glyphs are expressed by normal forms exclusively, which, as pointed out above, are more easily recognized on account of their greater differentiation than the corresponding head variants.

[113] In most of the examples presented in this chapter the full inscription is not shown, only that part of the text illustrating the

## particular point in question being given. For this reason reference will be

made in each case to the publication in which the entire inscription has been reproduced. The full text on Zoömorph P at Quirigua will be found in Maudslay, 1889-1902: II, pls. 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 63, 64.

[114] All glyphs expressed in this way are to be understood as inclusive. Thus A1-B2 signifies 4 glyphs, namely, A1, B1, A2, B2,

[115] The introducing glyph, so far as the writer knows, always stands at the beginning of an inscription, or in the second glyph-block, that is, at the top. Hence an Initial Series can never precede it.

[116] The Initial Series on Stela 10 at Tikal is the only exception known. See pp. 123-127.

[117] As will appear in the following examples, nearly all Initial Series have 9 as their cycle coefficient.

[118] In the present case therefore so far as these calculations are concerned, 3,900 is the equivalent of 1,427,400.

[119] It should be remembered in this connection, as explained on pp. 47, 55, that the positions in the divisions of the year which the Maya called 3, 8, 13, and 18 correspond in our method of naming the positions of the days in the months to the 4th, 9th, 14th, and 19th positions, respectively.

[120] As stated in footnote 1, p. 152, the meaning of the Supplementary Series has not yet been worked out.

[121] The reasons which have led the writer to this conclusion are given at some length on pp. 33-36.

[122] For the full text of this inscription see Maler, 1908 b: pl. 36.

[123] Since nothing but Initial-series texts will be presented in the plates and figures immediately following, a fact which the student will readily detect by the presence of the introducing glyph at the head of each text, it is unnecessary to repeat for each new text step 2 (p. 135) and step 3 (p. 136), which explain how to determine the starting point of the count and the direction of the count, respectively; and the student may assume that the starting point of the several Initial Series hereinafter figured will always be the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu and that the direction of the count will always be forward.

[124] As will appear later, in connection with the discussion of the Secondary Series, the Initial-series date of a monument does not always correspond with the ending date of the period whose close the monument marks. In other words, the Initial-series date is not always the date contemporaneous with the formal dedication of the monument as a time-marker. This point will appear much more clearly when the function of Secondary Series has been explained.

[125] For the full text of this inscription see Hewett, 1911: pl. XXXV _C_.

[126] So far as the writer knows, the existence of a period containing 5 tuns has not been suggested heretofore. The very general practice of closing inscriptions with the end of some particular 5-tun period in the Long Count, as 9.18.5.0.0, or 9.18.10.0.0, or 9.18.15.0.0, or 9.19.0.0.0, for example, seems to indicate that this period was the unit used for measuring time in Maya chronological records, at least in the southern cities. Consequently, it seems likely that there was a special glyph to express this unit.

[127] For the full text of this inscription see Maler, 1908 b: pl. 39.

[128] The student should note that from this point steps 2 (p. 139) and 3 (p. 140) have been omitted in discussing each text (see p. 162, footnote 3).

[129] In each of the above cases--and, indeed, in all the examples following--the student should perform the various calculations by which the results are reached, in order to familiarize himself with the workings of the Maya chronological system.

[130] The student may apply a check at this point to his identification of the day sign in A4 as being that for the day Eb. Since the month coefficient in A7 is surely 10 (2 bars), it is clear from Table VII that the only days which can occupy this position in any division of the year are Ik, Manik, Eb, and Caban. Now, by comparing the sign in A4 with the signs for Ik, Manik, and Caban, _c, j_, and _a', b'_, respectively, of fig. 16, it is very evident that A4 bears no resemblance to any of them; hence, since Eb is the only one left which can occupy a position 10, the day sign in A4 must be Eb, a fact supported by the comparison of A4 with fig. 16, _s-u_, above.

[131] The full text of this inscription will be found in Maudslay, 1889-1901: I, pls. 35-37.

[132] The full text of this inscription is given in Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pls. 27-30.

[133] Note the decoration on the numerical bar.

[134] So far as known to the writer, this very unusual variant for the closing glyph of the Supplementary Series occurs in but two other inscriptions in the Maya territory, namely, on Stela N at Copan. See pl. 26, Glyph A14, and Inscription 6 of the Hieroglyphic Stairway at Naranjo, Glyph A1 (?). (Maler, 1908 b: pl. 27.)

[135] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pls. 105-107.

[136] In this glyph-block, A4, the order of reading is irregular; instead of passing over to B4a after reading A4a (the 10 tuns), the next glyph to be read is the sign below A4a, A4b, which records 0 uinals, and only after this has been read does B4a follow.

[137] Texts illustrating the head-variant numerals in full will be presented later.

[138] The preceding hotun ended with the day 9.12.5.0.0 3 Ahau 3 Xul and therefore the opening day of the next hotun, 1 day later, will be 9.12.5.0.1 4 Imix 4 Xul.

[139] For the full text of this inscription, see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pls. 109, 110.

[140] The oldest Initial Series at Copan is recorded on Stela 15, which is 40 years older than Stela 9. For a discussion of this text see pp. 187, 188.

[141] An exception to this statement should be noted in an Initial Series on the Hieroglyphic Stairway, which records the date 9.5.19.3.0 8 Ahau 3 Zotz. The above remark applies only to the large monuments, which, the writer believes, were period-markers. Stela 9 is therefore the next to the oldest "period stone" yet discovered at Copan. It is more than likely, however, that there are several older ones as yet undeciphered.

[142] For the full text of this inscription, see Maudslay, 1889-1902: II, pls. 17-19.

[143] Although this date is considerably older than that on Stela 9 at Copan, its several glyphs present none of the marks of antiquity noted in connection with the preceding example (pl. 8, _B_). For example, the ends of the bars denoting 5 are not square but round, and the head-variant period glyphs do not show the same elaborate and ornate treatment as in the Copan text. This apparent contradiction permits of an easy explanation. Although the Initial Series on the west side of Stela C at Quirigua undoubtedly refers to an earlier date than the Initial Series on the Copan monument, it does not follow that the Quirigua monument is the older of the two. This is true because on the other side of this same stela at Quirigua is recorded another date, 9.17.5.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Kayab, more than three hundred years later than the Initial Series 9.1.0.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Yaxkin on the west side, and this later date is doubtless the one which referred to present time when this monument was erected. Therefore the Initial Series 9.1.0.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Yaxkin does not represent the period which Stela C was erected to mark, but some far earlier date in Maya history.

[144] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pl. 74.

[145] For the full text of this inscription see Maler, 1903: II, No. 2, pls. 74, 75.

[146] For the full text of this inscription see Maler, 1903: II, No. 2, pl. 79, 2.

[147] For the full text of this inscription see Maler, 1911: V, No. 1, pl. 15.

[148] As used throughout this book, the expression "the contemporaneous date" designates the time when the monument on which such a date is found was put into formal use, that is, the time of its erection. As will appear later in the discussion of the Secondary Series, many monuments present several dates between the extremes of which elapse long periods. Obviously, only one of the dates thus recorded can represent the time at which the monument was erected. In such inscriptions the final date is almost invariably the one designating contemporaneous time, and the earlier dates refer probably to historical, traditional, or even mythological events in the Maya past. Thus the Initial Series 9.0.19.2.4 2 Kan 2 Yax on Lintel 21 at Yaxchilan, 9.1.0.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Yazkin on the west side of Stela C at Quirigua, and 9.4.0.0.0 13 Ahau 18 Yax from the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque, all refer probably to earlier historical or traditional events in the past of these three cities, but they do not indicate the dates at which they were severally recorded. As Initial Series which refer to purely mythological events may be classed the Initial Series from the Temples of the Sun, Cross, and Foliated Cross at Palenque, and from the east side of Stela C at Quirigua, all of which are concerned with dates centering around or at the beginning of Maya chronology. Stela 3 at Tikal (the text here under discussion), on the other hand, has but one date, which probably refers to the time of its erection, and is therefore contemporaneous.

[149] There are one or two earlier Initial Series which probably record contemporaneous dates; these are not inscribed on large stone monuments but on smaller antiquities, namely, the Tuxtla Statuette and the Leyden Plate. For the discussion of these early contemporaneous Initial Series, see pp. 194-198.

[150] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: II, pls. 4-7.

[151] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: IV, pls. 80-82.

[152] As explained on p. 179, footnote 1, this Initial Series refers probably to some mythological event rather than to any historical occurrence. The date here recorded precedes the historic period of the Maya civilization by upward of 3,000 years.

[153] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902; IV, pls. 87-89.

[154] For the full text of this inscription, see Maudslay, 1889-1902: IV, pl. 23.

[155] It is clear that if all the period coefficients above the kin have been correctly identified, even though the kin coefficient is unknown, by designating it 0 the date reached will be within 19 days of the date originally recorded. Even though its maximum value (19) had originally been recorded here, it could have carried the count only 19 days further. By using 0 as the kin coefficient, therefore, we can not be more than 19 days from the original date.

[156] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pls. 88, 89.

[157] While at Copan the writer made a personal examination of this monument and found that Mr. Maudslay's drawing is incorrect as regards the coefficient of the day sign. The original has two numerical dots between two crescents, whereas the Maudslay drawing shows one numerical dot between two distinct pairs of crescents, each pair, however, of different shape.

[158] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: II, pls. 41-44.

[159] For the text of this monument see Spinden, 1913: VI, pl. 23, 2.

[160] For the discussion of full-figure glyphs, see pp. 65-73.

[161] The characteristics of the heads for 7, 14, 16, and 19 will be found in the heads for 17, 4, 6, and 9, respectively.

[162] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pls. 47, 48.

[163] The student will note also in connection with this glyph that the pair of comblike appendages usually found are here replaced by a pair of fishes. As explained on pp. 65-66, the fish represents probably the original form from which the comblike element was derived in the process of glyph conventionalization. The full original form of this element is therefore in keeping with the other full-figure forms in this text.

[164] For the full text of this inscription, see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pls. 66-71.

[165] The student should remember that in this diagonal the direction of reading is from bottom to top. See pl. 15, _B_, glyphs 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, etc. Consequently the upper half of 13 follows the lower half in this

## particular glyph.

[166] For the full text of this inscription see Hewett, 1911: pl. XXII _B_.

[167] A few monuments at Quirigua, namely, Stelæ F, D, E, and A, have two Initial Series each. In A both of the Initial Series have 0 for the coefficients of their uinal and kin glyphs, and in F, D, E, the Initial Series which shows the position of the monument in the Long Count, that is, the Initial Series showing the katun ending which it marks, has 0 for its uinal and kin coefficients.

[168] In 1913 Mr. M. D. Landry, superintendent of the Quirigua district, Guatemala division of the United Fruit Co., found a still earlier monument about half a mile west of the main group. This has been named Stela S. It records the katun ending prior to the one on Stela H, i. e., 9.15.15.0.0 9 Ahau 18 Xul.

[169] For the full text of this inscription see Holmes, 1907: pp. 691 et seq., and pls. 34-41.

[170] For a full discussion of the Tuxtla Statuette, including the opinions of several writers as to its inscription, see Holmes, 1907: pp. 691 et seq. The present writer gives therein at some length the reasons which have led him to accept this inscription as genuine and contemporaneous.

[171] For the full text of these inscriptions, see Seler, 1902-1908: II, 253, and 1901 c: I, 23, fig. 7. During his last visit to the Maya territory the writer discovered that Stela 11 at Tikal has a Cycle-10 Initial Series, namely, 10.2.0.0.0. 3 Ahau 3 Ceh.

[172] Missing.

[173] At Seibal a Period-ending date 10.1.0.0.0 5 Ahau 3 Kayab is clearly recorded, but this is some 30 years earlier than either of the Initial Series here under discussion, a significant period just at this particular epoch of Maya history, which we have every reason to believe was filled with stirring events and quickly shifting scenes. Tikal, with the Initial Series 10.2.0.0.0 3 Ahau 3 Ceh, and Seibal with the same date (not as an Initial Series, however) are the nearest, though even these fall 10 years short of the Quen Santo and Chichen Itza Initial Series.

[174] Up to the present time no successful interpretation of the inscription on Stela C at Copan has been advanced. The inscription on each side of this monument is headed by an introducing glyph, but in neither case is this followed by an Initial Series. A number consisting of 11.14.5.1.0 is recorded in connection with the date 6 Ahau 18 Kayab, but as this date does not appear to be fixed in the Long Count, there is no way of ascertaining whether it is earlier or later than the starting point of Maya chronology. Mr. Bowditch (1910: pp. 195-196) offers an interesting explanation of this monument, to which the student is referred for the possible explanation of this text. A personal inspection of this inscription failed to confirm, however, the assumption on which Mr. Bowditch's conclusions rest. For the full text of this inscription, see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pls. 39-41.

[175] For the full text of this inscription, see ibid.: II, pls. 16, 17, 19.

[176] Table XVI contains only 80 Calendar Rounds (1,518,400), but by adding 18 Calendar Rounds (341,640) the number to be subtracted, 98 Calendar Rounds (1,860,040), will be reached.

[177] Counting 13.0.0.0.0 backward from the starting point of Maya chronology, 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, gives the date 4 Ahau 8 Zotz, which is no nearer the terminal date recorded in B5-A6 than the date 4 Ahau 3 Kankin reached by counting forward.

[178] For the full text of this inscription, see Maudslay, 1889-1902: IV, pls. 73-77.

[179] As noted in