The third of these numbers (see fig. 60), if all of its terms belong to one
and the same number, equals 1,841,639,800. Commencing with A2, this has a
coefficient of 1. Since it immediately follows the great-great cycle, which
we found above consisted of 57,600,000, we may assume that it is the
great-great-great cycle, and that it consisted of 20 great-great cycles, or
1,152,000,000. Since its coefficient is only 1, this large number itself
will be the first term in our series. The rest may readily be reduced as
follows: A3, 11 great-great cycles = 633,600,000; A4, 19 great cycles =
54,720,000; A5, 9 cycles = 1,296,000; A6, 3 katuns = 21,600; A7, 6 tuns =
2,160; A8, 2 uinals = 40; A9, 0 kins = 0.[81] The sum of these
(1,152,000,000 + 633,600,000 + 54,720,000 + 1,296,000 + 21,600 + 2,160 + 40
+ 0) = 1,841,639,800, the highest number found anywhere in the Maya
writings, equivalent to about 5,000,000 years.
Whether these three numbers are actually recorded in the inscriptions under
discussion depends solely on the question whether or not the terms above
the cycle in each belong to one and the same series. If it could be
determined with certainty that these higher periods in each text were all
parts of the same number, there would be no further doubt as to the
accuracy of the figures given above; and more important still, the 17
cycles of the first number (see A5, fig. 58) would then prove conclusively
that more than 13 cycles were required to make a great cycle in the
inscriptions as well as in the codices. And furthermore, the 14 great
cycles in A6, figure 58, the 18 in B3, figure 59, and the 19 in A4, figure
60, would also prove that more than 13 great cycles were required to make
one of the period next higher--that is, the great-great cycle. It is
needless to say that this point has not been universally admitted. Mr.
Goodman (1897: p. 132) has suggested in the case of the Copan inscription
(fig. 58) that only the lowest four periods--the 19 katuns, the 10 tuns,
the 0 uinals, and the 0 kins--A2, A3, and A4,[82] here form the number; and
that if this number is counted backward from the Initial Series of the
inscription, it will reach a Katun 17 of the preceding cycle. Finally, Mr.
Goodman {117} believes this Katun 17 is declared in the glyph following the
19 katuns (A5), which the writer identifies as 17 cycles, and consequently
according to the Goodman interpretation the whole passage is a
Period-ending date. Mr. Bowditch (1910: p. 321) also offers the same
interpretation as a possible reading of this passage. Even granting the
truth of the above, this interpretation still leaves unexplained the lowest
glyph of the number, which has a coefficient of 14 (A6).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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