Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars (The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies)

381 Pages·2000·11.49 MB·English

by  Susan Milbrath

STAR GODS OF THE MAYA
THE LINDA SCHELE SERIES IN MAYA
AND PRE-COLUMBIAN STUDIES
This series was made possible through the generosity of the National Endowment for the Humanitiesand
thefollowingdonors:
ElliotM.AbramsandAnnCorinneFreter JudithM.Maxwell
AnthonyAlofsin JosephOrr
JosephW.BallandJenniferT.Taschek ThePattersonFoundation
WilliamA.Bartlett JohnM.D.Pohl
ElizabethP.Benson MaryAnnaPrentice
BoeingGiftMatchingProgram PhilipRay
WilliamW.Bottorff LouiseL.Saxon
VictoriaBricker DavidM.andLindaR.Schele
RobertS.Carlsen RichardShiff
FrankN.Carroll RalphE.Smith
RogerJ.Cooper BarbaraL.Stark
SusanGlenn PennyJ.Steinbach
JohnF.Harris CarolynTate
PeterD.Harrison BarbaraandDennisTedlock
JoanA.Holladay NancyTroike
MarianneJ.Huber DonaldW.Tuff
Ja¯nisIndrikis JavierUrcid
TheInstituteforMesoamericanStudies BarbaraVoorhies
AnnaLeeKahn E.MichaelWhittington
RexandDanielaKoontz SallyF.Wiseley,M.D.
ChristopherandSallyLutz JudsonWood,Jr.
STAR GODS
MAYA
OF THE
Astronomy in Art, Folklore,
and Calendars
Susan Milbrath
UniversityofTexasPress
Austin
Copyrightq1999bytheUniversityofTexasPress
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Firstedition,1999
Requestsforpermissiontoreproducematerialfromthisworkshouldbesentto
Permissions,UniversityofTexasPress,Box7819,Austin,TX78713-7819.
j‘ ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ANSIZ39.48-1984.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Milbrath,Susan.
StargodsoftheMaya:astronomyinart,folklore,andcalendars/SusanMilbrath.—1sted.
p. cm.—(TheLindaScheleseriesinMayaandpre-Columbianstudies)
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN0-292-75225-3(hardcover:alk.paper)
ISBN0-292-75226-1(pbk.:alk.paper)
1. Mayaastronomy. 2. Mayas—Religion. 3. Mayacalendar. I. Title. II. Series.
F1435.3C14 M55 1999
5208.972—ddc21
99-6136
TO MY PARENTS, MARIANO, AND MARK
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
2.NAKED-EYE ASTRONOMY 44
TheMesoamericanCalendar 2
TrackingtheSolarSeasons 44
DeciphermentofMayaGlyphs 8
LunarPositionsandPhases 47
ArchaeoastronomyandEthnoastronomy 8
Eclipses 48
OverviewofContents 9
ThePlanets 50
TheStarsandtheSeasons 55
1. CONTEMPORARY MAYA IMAGES
OF THE HEAVENS 12
3.PRECOLUMBIAN AND COLONIAL
TheSeasonalCycle 12 PERIOD MAYA SOLAR IMAGES 58
TheSolarCalendar 15
TheSeasonalCycleandtheSolarCalendar 59
ModernMayaCosmicDiagrams 17
SolarOrientationsinArchitecture 65
HowtheSunMovesandTransforms 21
TheSuninPrecolumbianMayaCosmic
TheSunGod 23 Diagrams 70
ImagesofEclipses 25 ConceptsoftheSun’sMotion 74
TheLunarRhythms 27 ThePrecolumbianKinGlyph 78
LunarAgriculture 30 TheSunGodintheColonialandPostclassic
TheCelestialPair 31 Periods 79
TheMoonGoddess 31 TheSunGodatChiche´nItza´ 82
VenusamongtheContemporaryMaya 34 TheSunKing 83
ThePlanetsamongtheContemporaryMaya 36 ClassicMayaImagesoftheSunGodandEarlier
Prototypes 87
StarsandConstellations 37
TheMonkey’sSun 92
TheMilkyWay 40
SolarBirdsandSolarFire 94
OtherCelestialPhenomena 41
TheSunandFelines 95
ContemporaryMayaAstronomyinCultural
Context 42 HunahpuandHunAhau 96
GIII:TheSunastheMiddleBrother 100
TheSuninthePrecolumbianMaya
Worldview 103
CONTENTS vii
4.PRECOLUMBIAN AND COLONIAL 5. VENUS AND MERCURY:
PERIOD LUNAR IMAGES AND THE BODY DOUBLES 157
DEITIES 105
VenusObservationsamongthePrecolumbian
LunarCalendars 106 Maya 157
ColonialandPostclassicEclipseImagery 111 VenusinthePopolVuh 159
TheDresdenCodexEclipseTable 113 ColonialandPostclassicImagesofVenus 160
ClassicPeriodEclipseImageryandEvents 115 TheDresdenCodexVenusPages 163
MayaMoonGlyphsandSymbols 117 TheLayoutofPages46–50 170
LunarSymbolismofFish,Frogs,Toads,and TheSeasonalAspectsofVenus 173
Shells 119 RegentsandVictimsintheVenusPages 174
TheMoonandRabbits 119 Quetzalcoatl-Kukulcan:TheVenusGodfrom
TheWater-lilyJaguar 120 CentralMexico 177
TheJaguarWarGod 124 CentralMexicanVenusSymbolsintheMaya
Area 186
TheJaguarPaddler:TheMoonPairedwith
theSun 126 MayaGlyphsandSymbolsRepresenting
Venus 187
TheLunarTwin:Xbalanque 130
VenusWarfare 193
TheClassicPeriodMoonGodinMonumental
Art 135 LineageFoundersandtheVenusCult 196
TheYoungMoonGoddessinColonialand TlalocandtheStormGod 197
PostclassicTimes 138 ChacandGodBinColonialandPostclassic
TheAgedMoonGoddessinColonialand Yucata´n 199
PostclassicTimes 141 ClassicPeriodImagesofChac 204
TheMooninthePostclassicMuralsat ChacandGIintheClassicPeriod 205
Tulum 147
TheSiderealPositionofVenus 209
LunarDeitiesatChiche´nItza´ 148
VenusandtheMoon 211
TheClassicMayaMoonGoddess 150
MercuryinMayaImageryandCalendrics 214
TheEver-changingMoon 155
TheInferiorPlanetsintheMayaWorldview 216
viii CONTENTS
6. THE CELESTIAL WANDERERS 218 APPENDIX 1. GuidetoAstronomical
Identities 295
ColonialPeriodImagesoftheSuperior
Planets 218
MarsamongthePrecolumbianMaya 219 APPENDIX 2. TableofClassicPeriodDates,
Monuments,andAssociatedAstronomical
MonkeyDeitiesandthePlanets 223
Events 296
GodKintheColonialandPostclassic
Periods 227
TheClassicPeriodGodKandGII 231 APPENDIX 3. TableforCalculatingthe
TzolkinIntervals 306
JupiterEventsandGodKonClassicMaya
Monuments 233
ClassicPeriodCalendarRecordsRelatingtothe GLOSSARY 309
SuperiorPlanets 240
AssemblyoftheGods 244
BIBLIOGRAPHY 313
TheCelestialWanderersasPlanetaryGods 247
INDEX 339
7. STARS, THE MILKY WAY, COMETS,
AND METEORS 249
PLATES followingpage348
Comets,Meteors,andSupernovas 250
ImagesofStars 251
TheMayaZodiac 254
ThePleiades 258
TheScorpionandSkeletalSnake
Constellations 264
OrionandGemini 266
ThePeccaryConstellation 268
BirdConstellations 269
CrossConstellationsandStellarTrees 270
TheNorthStarandthe‘‘Dippers’’ 273
CentralMexicanImagesoftheMilkyWay 274
TheCosmicMonsterandtheMilkyWay 275
SerpentFormsoftheMilkyWay 282
FourRoadsintheSkyandFourItzamnas 283
ClassicPeriodMonumentswithImagesofthe
MilkyWay 285
RotatingtheMilkyWay 288
TheMayaintheHistoryofWorld
Astronomy 291
STAR GODS OF THE MAYA