Animal Figures in the Maya CodicesTozzer, Alfred M. (Alfred Marston)
History
Animal Figures in the Maya Codices
Tozzer, Alfred M. (Alfred Marston)
Mayan languages -- Writing; Mayas -- Antiquities
The king vulture seems to have a part to play as a mythological being,
as it is pictured as a god with human body and bird head in the act of
cohabiting with a woman in Dresden 19a, and with a dog in Dresden 13c
(Pl. 17, fig. 3). Moreover, the same vulture god is represented on a
blue background and under a band of constellation signs in Dresden 38b,
and is also to be noted in Dresden 8a. Förstemann (1906, p. 66) shows
that the thirteenth day of the Maya month is reached in the _tonalamatl_
reckoning at this place. This day is _Cib_, which corresponds to the
Nahua day _Cozcaquauhtli_, which has the meaning vulture, and here, as
previously noted, the vulture god is represented. In Tro-Cortesianus 22c
(Pl. 17, fig. 2) and 10a,[330-*] the king vulture appears alone, in the
first instance with a blue background, and in the second with a
background representing rain. Rain is also shown in connection with the
vulture god in Dresden 38b, and the black vulture in Tro-Cortesianus 18b
(Pl. 19, fig. 13).
The king vulture is found employed as a head-dress twice out of the
three times it appears in any connection with female figures,
Tro-Cortesianus 26c (Pl. 17, fig. 12) with male figure, and 94c (Pl. 17,
fig. 11) and 95c with female figures. The last two clearly have to do
with the baptism and naming of infants, as previously explained.
The study of the glyph used to indicate the vulture is interesting, for
we find it recurring again and again throughout the Maya codices and
often when there is no other drawing of the animal, as in Dresden 39c
(Pl. 17, fig. 5; Pl. 18, fig. 19). The first example (glyph 6) is
clearly the head of the king vulture, whereas the second (glyph 3) is
probably the head of the black vulture. The glyph in Dresden 38b (Pl.
17, fig. 7) appears in connection with the vulture god directly below
it. In Dresden 11b (Pl. 18, fig. 1), it occurs alone and no figure
appears in the usual place below. The _Tun_ period glyph (Pl. 17, fig.
10) frequently shows vulture characteristics especially in the nostril
of the face. The teeth, however, often appearing in the _Tun_ glyph
would be against this theory. The blending of bird and mammal
characteristics is not uncommon in the Maya drawings, however.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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