In 1924, R. W. Willson suggested that pages 43-45 of the Dresden
Codex contain a table tracking the motions of Mars.(1)
Across the middle of the these pages runs an almanac that counts
through
780 days, which is very close to the synodic period of the planet.
Astronomical
content is also suggested by the illustrations accompanying the
almanac:
Four images of a peculiar beast hang from a sky band, the symbol of the
ecliptic in the Codex. This creature has come to be known as
the
"Mars beast".
Willson's hypothesis was based on the same logic that led to
discovery
of the eclipse and Venus tables in the Codex: In all
three
cases, the subject matter was initially guessed because the numbers in
the table approximate astronomical cycles. However, the putative Mars
table
was not as readily accepted as the eclipse and Venus tables.
The Mars Beast: Seler
identified the Mars Beast as a wild pig (peccary). It also
appears
in an illustration in the MadridCodex with the razor
back
of a hog.(2)
Thompson preferred to identify the beast as a fantastic deer. He
thought it resembles the patron of the month Sip, during
which
deer hunting rituals were held (3)In
any event, the species of the beast does not help to guess his role in
the Codex or suggest any connection with Mars.
The almanac is divided into ten 78 day intervals. As J. Eric Thompson
noted,
these divisions have no clear astronomical meaning. The total of 780
days
is three 260 day tzolk'incycles.
Thompson
believed that the "Mars table" was merely a long tzolk'in almanac
with no astronomical significance.(4)
The Mars table hypothesis was revived in 1976 by David Kelley(5).
In 1986, Victoria and Harvey Bricker pointed out that Mars undergoes retrograde
motion (when it reverses its path along the ecliptic) for about 75
days in each synodic revolution.(6)
They suggested that the scribes who composed the table took 78 days,
one-tenth
of the synodic period, as an idealized value of the time Mars is
retrograde.
In addition, the Brickers, working with Anthony Aveni, have recently
shown
that the Codex likely contains a second Mars table (pages
69-74),
which is concerned with the
sidereal motion of the
planet.(7)
The Mars table hypothesis is now widely accepted, though some
students
of the codices remain unconvinced. Bruce Love attempted to re-open the
debate in 1995, suggesting that the table is an agricultural and
weather
almanac.(8) His argument was
countered
in a reply by the Brickers in the same journal in 1997. (9)
The Maya
Mars: Thompson
thought it significant that Willson advanced his Mars table hypothesis
"at a time when every Maya record was believed to have had an
astronomical
meaning." The implication was fair enough. The search for
astronomical
material in the codices that followed Forstemann's discovery of the
Venus
table led to some absurd theorizing. Spinden was convinced that
pages
43b-45b were concerned with Jupiter; Makemson thought they treated
equinoxes
and solstices. Another table containing multiples of 78 was
related
to Saturn by Spinden, and to Mars by Willson and Makemson.
Thompson also doubted
that Mars
attracted the scribes' attention because there was little evidence when
he wrote that the Maya were interested in any planet other than
Venus.
While Venus figures importantly in Mesoamerican mythology, Mars is not
known from post-conquest mythological sources. However, we now
know
that Mars is referred to, though obliquely, in inscriptions of the
Classical
period.
Perhaps the most
remarkable example
of the ritual use of planetary events is the record of the dedication
ceremonies
of the Group of the Cross at Palenque. The rituals fell within a four
day
period commencing 9.12.18.5.16 2 Kib 14 Mol , July
23 690 AD. At this time, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon were
separated by intervals of less than 5 degrees. According to
Dutting
and Aveni, "[On 23 July 690 AD all four planets were close
together
(a quadruple conjunction) in the same constellation, Scorpio, and they
must have made quite a spectacle with bright red Antares shining but a
few degrees south of the group as they straddled the high ridge that
forms
the southern horizon at Palenque. The night before, the moon
would
have been just at the western end of the planetary lineup."(10)
The
inscriptions of the Cross Group begin with an account of creation, the
birth of first mother and first father, and of their sons, the gods of
the Palenque triad. Schele and Freidel suggested that the
alignment
was interpreted as the re-uniting of First Mother (the moon) and her
three
sons.(11)
No Mesoamerican deity
can be called
"the Mars God", but it is likely that the planet was
regarded
as a manifestation or way ("spirit companion") of various
deities.
The inscriptions of the Cross Group refer to the planets in
conjunction
as spirit companions of the triad deities. The primary
identification
of these gods is with Venus and the sun, but this would not have
prevented
them from manifesting as Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Left:
"His way in conjunction, GIII" (Temple of the Sun O5-O6).
Familiarity
with the Maya calendar is a prerequisite to a proper understanding of
the
Mars table. For an introduction to the calendar, see a brief Note
on the Maya Calendar, where you will also find links to more
detailed
discussions of the calendar.
Structure of the Mars Table
The Mars
almanac
runs across the middle registers of pages 43 to 45 (usually designated
43b-45b). The table proper begins on the right edge of page
44b,
where the Mars beast is illustrated for the first time. Below the
beast,
the number 19 is painted in black. In tzolk'in almanacs in the codices,
black numbers usually indicate the count of days between tzolk'in dates,
the stations of the almanac marking auguries or rituals. There
are
three similar columns on page 45b. The black numbers beneath the
images of the beast on 45b are 19, 19, and 21. Thus a single pass
through
the stations of the almanac counts through 19 + 19 +19 + 21 = 78 days.
For reasons which will be explained below, it appears that the almanac
is entered on 3 Lamat. A count of 19 days forward reaches 9 Manik'.
The
black distance number 19 below the first Mars beast is followed by red
9, which indicates the day number of the tzolk'in date reached
by
the first count. The count continues through 2 Kimi, 8
Chikchan,
and
3 Kimi. This marks the end of the first pass.
If the table is then re-entered at the beginning, a count of 19 days
reaches 9 Chikchan. Note that the day numbers are the same in
the
second and subsequent passes as in the first. The day names are
different,
which explains why the almanac records only day numbers.
Multiple passes through the almanac were clearly intended. Two rows
of tzolk'in
dates run across page 44b. The date in the lower
right corner of the rows is 3 Kimi. Above it is the number (in
Maya
notation) 3.18 = 78 days, indicating that 3 Kimi is
reached
at the end of the first pass. The next date in the row (reading toward
the left) is 3
K'an.
Above it is the number 7.16 = 2 x 78. This
is the date reached at the end of the second pass. The row of dates
continues
through higher multiples of 78, reaching 3 Etz'nab on the fifth
pass. The pattern then continues on upper the row, from right to left,
reaching 3 Ok
on the ninth pass. The tenth multiple seems
to be misplaced: It is 2.3.0 3
Lamat, listed at the left end of
the lower row. Thus a complete cycle of 10 passes through the table
begins
and ends on 3 Lamat.
The Mars Beast table on-line:The
Mars table occupies the middle registers of pages 43-45 of the Dresden
Codex (according to the conventional page numbering).
A
scan of the pages can be viewed at Andreas
Fuls Dresden Codex web site
The long count entry date
The
first
column on page 43b is headed with 3 Lamat and the Mars beast
glyph.
Below it is the number 9.19.8.15.0 and 3 Lamat again. Although
this
has the form of an ordinary long count, it is not. The tzolk'in
date
of 9.19.8.15.0 is not 3 Lamat. The numberis
an example of what Thompson called a "long reckoning", counted from a
base
date prior to creation. The base date for the calculation is given by
the
"ring number" below the long reckoning. This is 17.12. The k'in coefficient
is circled with a red ring, and it is followed by 4 Ahaw, the tzolk'in
date
of the zero position of the long count. If the "long reckoning" is
counted
forward from 17.12 = 352 days prior to creation, it reaches the long
count
position 9.19.7.15.8 3 Lamat. This is 26 March 818 AD in
the
Gregorian calendar (using the '85 correlation).
It is likely intended to be an entry date into the Mars table. The rest
of page 43b lists multiples of 780, and was presumably used to
calculate
entry dates later than 818 AD.
The base date of the Mars table, like the base dates of the Venus
and
eclipse tables, is in the Classical period, long before the Dresden
Codex
was compiled. Thus is is not certain that 9.19.7.15.8 3
Lamat,
26
March 818 AD, was ever used as a practical entry point into the table.
This entry date may have been calculated by subtracting multiples of
the
780 day Mars period from a later base date.
According to the Brickers, the almanac tracks Mars through 78 days
of
retrograde motion, starting at the "stationary point" when retrograde
motion
begins, on 3 Lamat. Since the period of retrograde
motion
was likely regarded as a critical time in the planet's career, it is
not
surprising that several stations of ritual significance appear to have
been recognized during its course. By extension of this logic, the
remainder
of the Mars period may have been divided into 78 day subdivisions by
the
scribes. However, the text and illustrations of the almanac may apply
only
to the critical period of retrograde motion.(10)
Retrograde
motion
and stationary points: The
earth orbits the sun more rapidly than the outer planets. As earth
passes
an outer planet, the planet appears to reverse its motion along the
ecliptic,
a phenomenon known as retrograde motion.
At the time when motion begins to reverse, the planet's position on the
ecliptic appears to freeze for a time. This is called the first stationary
point. At the end of the period
of retrograde motion, the planet appears to stop again. This is
the
second stationary point.
The Brickers noted that
the average
period of retrograde motion of Mars is about 75 days. They
suggested
that the scribes may have regarded 78 days, one-tenth of the Mars
period,
as an idealized value of the period of retrograde motion. A
similar
modification of observation occurs in the Venus table, where the
lengths
of apparitions of the planet are contrived to to keep the rising and
setting
at tzolk'in dates with ritual significance.
Because
of difficulty in determining the instant at which a stationary point is
reached, the 3 day "error" hypothesized by the Brickers is not
observationally
significant.
The synodic
period of a planet is its apparent
period
of revolution with respect to the sun as seen from earth, or the time
between
identical configurations of the earth, sun, and planet. The
synodic
period of Mars can be counted as the time between successive episodes
of
retrograde motion. The sidereal
period
of a planet is the true period of revolution about the sun.
9.19.7.15.8 3 Lamat, 26 March 818 AD, is in fact
closer
to the first stationary point than to any other significant event in
Mars'
synodic period. It is not close enough, however, to have produced
predictions of retrograde motion within the limits of observational
error.
But this is not a fatal objection. The long count entry into the Venus
table is no more accurate. In both cases, the recorded entry
date
is likely a theoretical throw-back, calculated by subtracting planetary
periods from a later date without correction for rounding error.
Presumably,
the throw-back entry dates were recorded for augural or ritual
purposes.
Dennis Tedlock has made
a convincing,
though circumstantial, case that 9.19.7.15.8 3 Lamat does have
astronomical
significance, at least in the mythic world. The ring number 17.12
is, like its counterpart on the Venus pages, likely another throw-back
entry point, a multiple of Mars periods subtracted from 9.19.7.15.8 3
Lamat
to reach a theoretical stationary point prior to creation of the
present
world. Tedlock believes it can be related to mythical dates
recorded
in the inscriptions of the Cross Group at Palenque:
"The birth of Hun
Hunaphu, [first
father] [on -8.5.0 according to the inscriptions] . . . precedes the
first
recorded rising of Venus as morning star [on -6.2.0 according to the
Venus
table] by 780 days, an interval equivalent to the average Martian
synodic
period. In the idealized world of mythic time, then, whatever Martian
event
occurred on -8.5.0, must have happened again on -6.2.0. To
determine
the position of Mars on those two dates we can move forward to -17.12,
at which point Mars (by the mythic reckoning of the Dresden Codex)
should
go into retrograde motion. The distance separating 8.5.0 and
-17.12
is . . . three complete Martian periods plus 288 days.
Today's
astronomers reckon Martian retrograde motion as beginning 292 days (on
average) after helical rising, which leaves 4 days to account for . . .
[but] the Dresden Mars table treats 78 days as the ideal interval for
retrograde
motion rather than 75 [thus] we can reduce the already small number of
extra days to 2 or 3. If the mythic event of -8.5.0 is
indeed
a helical rise of Mars, than -17.12 is a quite reasonable time for
onset
of retrograde motion . . . ."(11)
Ritual and augury
It
is likely
that the Mars table was used to time rituals and make auguries, but
because
little is known about the role of Mars in Maya myth, ritual, and
augury,
the details are far from certain. The texts in the almanac seem
to
be augural, and to have some features in common with the texts marking
the helical rise of Venus. Each block of text above an image of the
Mars
beast begins with an identical phrase, consisting of a verb and the
Mars
beast glyph. The main sign of the verb is an ax pictograph, read from
context
in the inscriptions as "axed", "decapitated", or "damaged.". A
plausible
transliteration is ch'ak. In the inscriptions, the ax
verb
is followed by the name of the person (usually a sacrificial victim)
who
is "axed". This suggests that the phrase should be translated as "was
axed
(damaged, sacrificed etc.), the Mars Beast". Perhaps this refers to
retrograde
motion of the planet. The rest of each text block appears to contain
auguries.
References
Aveni, Anthony F. Skywatchers .
(University
of Texas Press, 2001)
Aveni, Anthony . Harvey Bricker and
Victoria
Bricker. "Ancient Maya documents concerning the movement of Mars". PNAS,
Feb
13, 2001, Vol. 98 no. 4. on-line
Bricker,Victoria and Harvey Bricker. "The
Mars
Table in the Dresden Codex". Middle American Research Institute
Publications
57, 1986.
..........................................................., "More
on the Mars table in the Dresden Codex". Lat. Am. Antiq.,
8:4, 1997.
Love, Bruce. "A Dresden Codex Mars
table?".
Lat. Am. Antiq., 6:4, 1995.
Dutting, Deiter and Anthony F. Aveni. "The 2
Cib
14 Mol Event in the Palenque Inscriptions". Zeitschrift fur
Ethnologie
107,
1982.
Kelley, David. Deciphering the Maya Script.
Univ. of Texas, 1976.
Seler, Eduard. Mexican Antiquities
(translation
of nine articles). Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 28, 1904.
Schele, Linda and David Freidel. A Forest of
Kings.
William Morrow, 1990.
Tedlock, Dennis. "Myth, Math, and the Problem
of
Correlation in Mayan Books", in Anthony F. Aveni, ed. The Sky in
Mayan
Literature. Oxford, 1992.
Thompson, Sir John Eric. A Commentary on the
Dresden
Codex.
American Philosophical Society, Memoir no. 93, 1972.
Willson, R.W. Astronomical Notes on the Maya
Codices.
Papers Peabody Museum, Vol. 6, no. 3, 1924.
The Real Maya Prophecies: Astronomy in the
Inscriptions and Codices
The
inscriptions of the Cross Group begin with an account of creation, the
birth of first mother and first father, and of their sons, the gods of
the Palenque triad. Schele and Freidel suggested that the
alignment
was interpreted as the re-uniting of First Mother (the moon) and her
three
sons.
The Mars
almanac
runs across the middle registers of pages 43 to 45 (usually designated
43b-45b). The table proper begins on the right edge of page
44b,
where the Mars beast is illustrated for the first time. Below the
beast,
the number 19 is painted in black. In tzolk'in almanacs in the codices,
black numbers usually indicate the count of days between tzolk'in dates,
the stations of the almanac marking auguries or rituals. There
are
three similar columns on page 45b. The black numbers beneath the
images of the beast on 45b are 19, 19, and 21. Thus a single pass
through
the stations of the almanac counts through 19 + 19 +19 + 21 = 78 days.
For reasons which will be explained below, it appears that the almanac
is entered on 3 Lamat. A count of 19 days forward reaches 9 Manik'.
The
black distance number 19 below the first Mars beast is followed by red
9, which indicates the day number of the tzolk'in date reached
by
the first count. The count continues through 2 Kimi, 8
Chikchan,
and
3 Kimi. This marks the end of the first pass.
The
first
column on page 43b is headed with 3 Lamat and the Mars beast
glyph.
Below it is the number 9.19.8.15.0 and 3 Lamat again. Although
this
has the form of an ordinary long count, it is not. The tzolk'in
date
of 9.19.8.15.0 is not 3 Lamat. The number is
an example of what Thompson called a "long reckoning", counted from a
base
date prior to creation. The base date for the calculation is given by
the
"ring number" below the long reckoning. This is 17.12. The k'in coefficient
is circled with a red ring, and it is followed by 4 Ahaw, the tzolk'in
date
of the zero position of the long count. If the "long reckoning" is
counted
forward from 17.12 = 352 days prior to creation, it reaches the long
count
position 9.19.7.15.8 3 Lamat. This is 26 March 818 AD in
the
Gregorian calendar (using the '85 
It
is likely
that the Mars table was used to time rituals and make auguries, but
because
little is known about the role of Mars in Maya myth, ritual, and
augury,
the details are far from certain. The texts in the almanac seem
to
be augural, and to have some features in common with the texts marking
the helical rise of Venus. Each block of text above an image of the
Mars
beast begins with an identical phrase, consisting of a verb and the
Mars
beast glyph. The main sign of the verb is an ax pictograph, read from
context
in the inscriptions as "axed", "decapitated", or "damaged.". A
plausible
transliteration is ch'ak. In the inscriptions, the ax
verb
is followed by the name of the person (usually a sacrificial victim)
who
is "axed". This suggests that the phrase should be translated as "was
axed
(damaged, sacrificed etc.), the Mars Beast". Perhaps this refers to
retrograde
motion of the planet. The rest of each text block appears to contain
auguries.
