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Maya codices (singular codex) are books written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, using the Maya hieroglyphic script. The codices have been named for the cities in which they eventually settled. The Dresden codex is generally considered the most important of the few that survive.
Background
There were many such books in existence at the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán in the 16th century, but they were destroyed in bulk by the Conquistadors and priests soon after. In particular, all those in Yucatán were ordered destroyed by Bishop Diego de Landa in July of 1562. Such codices were primary written records of Maya civilization, together with the many inscriptions on stone monuments and stelae which survive to the present day. However, their range of subject matter in all likelihood differed significantly from the topics which were recorded in stone and buildings, and with their destruction the opportunity for insight into some key areas of Maya life has been lost.
Only three codices and a fragment of a fourth survived to modern times. These are:
- The Madrid Codex, also known as the Tro-Cortesianus Codex;
- The Dresden Codex;
- The Paris Codex, also known as the Peresianus Codex;
- The Grolier Codex, also known as the Grolier Fragment.
Dresden Codex
The Dresden Codex is held in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek (SLUB), the state library in Dresden, Germany. It is the most elaborate of the codices. It is a calendar showing which gods are responsible for which days of the year. It explains to us the details of the Mayan calendar and number system. The codex is written on a long sheet of paper which is 'fanfolded' to make a book of 39 leaves, written on both sides. It was probably written by Mayan scribes just before the Spanish conquest. Somehow it made its way to Europe and was bought by the royal library of the court of Saxony in Dresden in 1739.
Madrid Codex
The Madrid Codex deals with horoscopes and astrological tables and is the product of eight different scribes. It is in the Museo de América in Madrid, Spain, where it may have been sent back to the Royal Court by Hernán Cortés. There are 112 pages, which got split into two separate sections, known as the Troano Codex and the Cortesianus Codex. These were re-united in 1888.
Paris Codex
The Paris Codex was found in a trashcan in a Paris library. As a result, it is in very poor condition. It is currently held in the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library), Paris, France.
Grolier Codex
While the other three codicies were known to scholars since the 19th century, the Grolier Codex only surfaced in the 1970s. This fourth authenticated Maya codex was said to have been found in a cave. It is a fragment of 11 pages. It is currently in a museum in Mexico, but is not on display to the public. Scanned photos of it are available on the web. The pages are much less detailed than any of the other codices. Each page shows a hero or god, facing to the left. At the top of each page is a number. Down the left of each page are what appears to be a list of dates.
Other Maya codices
Given the rarity and importance of these books, rumors of finding new ones often develop interest.
Archaeological excavations of Maya sites have turned up a number of rectangular lumps of plaster and paint flakes, most commonly in elite tombs. These lumps are the remains of codices where all the organic material has rotted away. A few of the more coherent of these lumps have been preserved, with the slim hope that some technique to be developed by future generations of archaeologists may be able to recover some information from these remains of ancient pages.
Forgeries
Since the start of the 20th century, various forgeries of varying quality have been produced; these seldom have fooled serious scholars but art collectors have often generated profits for the forgers (Two elaborate early 20th century forged codices were in the collection of William Randolph Hearst). When the Grolier first surfaced a number of prominent Mayanists thought it was likely an unusually clever forgery, until more detailed examination proved it to be genuine.Commentary
In reference to the few extant Maya writings, Michael Coe, a prominent archaeologist at Yale University stated:
- "*ur knowledge of ancient Maya thought must represent only a tiny fraction of the whole picture, for of the thousands of books in which the full extent of their learning and ritual was recorded, only four have survived to modern times (as though all that posterity knew of ourselves were to be based upon three prayer books and Pilgrim's Progress)." (Michael D. Coe, The Maya, London: Thames and Hudson, 4th ed., 1987, p. 161.)
Technology
Amate paper
External links
Maya civilization | Mesoamerican codices | Manuscripts | Lost works
"Maya codices"