Mayan Codices

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The Maya Codices are folded illuminated manuscripts on Amatl paper, in which information about the life of the Maya , but also about religion, mysticism, astronomy and mathematics was recorded. They were probably priestly manuals. The Maya had a highly developed system of writing of images, font and number of characters .

Preserved Maya Codices

Due to the time of the Conquistadors and the destruction of all “pagan” objects (especially by Diego de Landa in 1562), only four definitely authentic Mayan books still exist today. To distinguish them, they have all been named after their later storage location:

  • Page from the Madrid Codex

  • Page 9 of the Dresden Codex

  • Page from the Paris Codex

  • Page from the Mexico Maya Codex

Content and origin

The codices include ritual and interpretation calendars, astronomical calculations and mythological calendars. Due to their content, the four surviving Maya manuscripts were presumably the manuals of calendar priests.

The four codices were probably created in the last centuries before the Spanish conquest, the post-classical period . Due to linguistic and artistic correspondences with local inscriptions, it is assumed that the three books that have been known for a long time (Madrid, Dresden, Paris) come from the same region, the northern part of the Yucatán peninsula . How they got from the Yucatán to Europe is not known despite intensive research. The last book discovered (Mexico) comes from a robbery excavation , Chiapas is assumed to be the place of origin .

meaning

Much of what we know about the Maya today comes from these codices. Other records can only be found as inscriptions on Maya buildings and sculptures. Later, during the period of Spanish rule, the Popol Vuh was created , which was translated into Spanish by Francisco Ximénez . It is believed that the Maya had a sophisticated literature, but that it did not survive the period of colonial rule.

Web links

Commons : Maya Codices  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nikolai Grube : The Dresden Maya Calendar: The Complete Codex . Herder Verlag, Freiburg, 2012, ISBN 978-3-451-33332-3 , p. 32.
  2. ↑ Nikolai Grube: The Dresden Maya Calendar: The Complete Codex . Herder Verlag, Freiburg, 2012, ISBN 978-3-451-33332-3 , pp. 21-22.
  3. ↑ Jörg Römer: Original or Fake? The mysterious Mayan script from the cave . on Spiegel Online