In the first place, the opening term 2,920, which serves as the unit of
increase for the entire series up to and including the 13th term, is the
so-called Venus-Solar period, containing 8 Solar years of 365 days each and
5 Venus years of 584 days each. This important period is the subject of
extended treatment elsewhere in the Dresden Codex (pp. 46-50), in which it
is repeated 39 times in all, divided into three equal divisions of 13
periods each. The 13th term of our series 37,960 is, as we have seen, 13 ×
2,920, the exact number of {278} days treated of in the upper divisions of
pages 46-50 of the Dresden Codex. The 14th term (75,920) is the exact
number of days treated of in the first two divisions, and finally, the
15th, or next to the last term (113,880), is the exact number of days
treated of in all three divisions of these pages.
This 13th term (37,960) is the first in which the tonalamatl of 260 days
comes into harmony with the Venus and Solar years, and as such must have
been of very great importance to the Maya. At the same time it represents
two Calendar Rounds, another important chronological count. With the next
to the last term (113,880) the Mars year of 780 days is brought into
harmony with all the other periods named. This number, as just mentioned,
represents the sum of all the 39 Venus-Solar periods on pages 46-50 of the
Dresden Codex. This next to the last number seems to possess more
remarkable properties than the last number (151,840), in which the Mars
year is not contained without a remainder, and the reason for its record
does not appear.
The next to the last term contains:
438 Tonalamatls of 260 days each
312 Solar years of 365 days each
195 Venus years of 584 days each
146 Mars years of 780 days each
39 Venus-Solar periods of 2,920 days each
6 Calendar Rounds of 18,980 days each
It will be noted in plate 31 that the concealed starting point of this
series is the day 1 Ahau, and that just to the left on the same plate are
two dates, 1 Ahau 18 Kayab and 1 Ahau 18 Uo, both of which show this same
day, and one of which, 1 Ahau 18 Kayab, is accompanied by its corresponding
Initial Series 9.9.9.16.0. It seems not unlikely, therefore, that the day 1
Ahau with which this series commences was 1 Ahau 18 Kayab, which in turn
was 9.9.9.16.0 1 Ahau 18 Kayab of the Long Count. This is rendered somewhat
probable by the fact that the second division of 13 Venus-Solar periods on
pages 46-50 of the Dresden Codex also has the same date, 1 Ahau 18 Kayab,
as its terminal date. Hence, it is not improbable (more it would be unwise
to say) that the series of numbers which we have been discussing was
counted from the date 9.9.9.16.0. 1 Ahau 18 Kayab.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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