Deducting from this number all the Calendar Rounds possible, 67 (see Table
XVI), it will be reduced to 884, and applying rules 1, 2, and 3 (pp. 139,
140, and 141, respectively) to this remainder, the terminal date reached
will be 4 Kan 17 Yaxkin. This date is not recorded. There follows below,
however, a Secondary-series number consisting of 6 uinals and 1 kin (6.1).
The red circle around the lower term of this (the 1 kin) indicates that the
whole number, 6.1, is to be counted _backward_ from some date, probably, as
in the preceding case, from the terminal date of the Initial Series above
it. Assuming that this is the case, and counting 6.1 backward from
8.16.14.15.4 4 Kan 17 Yaxkin, the terminal date reached will be 13 Akbal 16
Pop, again very close to the date recorded immediately above, 13 Akbal 15
Pop. Indeed, the date as recorded, 13 Akbal 15 Pop, represents an
impossible condition from the Maya point of view, since the day name Akbal
could occupy only the first, sixth, eleventh, and sixteenth positions of a
month. See Table VII. Consequently, through lack of space or carelessness
the ancient scribe who painted this book failed to add one dot to the three
bars of the month sign's coefficient, thus making it 16 instead of the 15
actually recorded. We are obliged to make some correction in this
coefficient, since, as explained above, it is obviously incorrect as it
stands. Since the addition of a single dot brings the whole date into
harmony with the date determined by calculation, we are probably justified
{271} in making the correction here suggested. We have recorded here
therefore:
8.16.14.15.4 (4 Kan 17 Yaxkin)
6.1 Backward
8.16.14. 9.3 13 Akbal 16[253] Pop
In these calculations the terminal date of the Initial Series, 4 Kan 17
Yaxkin, is suppressed and the only date given is 13 Akbal 16 Pop, the
terminal date of the Secondary Series.
The above will suffice to show the use of Initial Series in the codices,
but before leaving this subject it seems best to discuss briefly the dates
recorded by these Initial Series in relation to the Initial Series on the
monuments. According to Professor Förstemann[254] there are 27 of these
altogether, distributed as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account