The Four Surviving Maya Codices

The Four Surviving Maya Codices The Maya - a ground-breaking pre-Colombian development who arrived at their social peak around 600-800 A.D. prior to falling into steep decrease - were educated and had books, written in a perplexing language including pictograms, glyphs, and phonetic portrayals. A Maya book is alluded to as a codex (plural: codices). The codices were painted onto a paper made of bark from the fig tree and collapsed out like an accordion. Lamentably, passionate Spanish ministers crushed a large portion of these codices during the success and provincial period and today just four models endure. The four enduring Maya codices generally contain data about Maya cosmology, crystal gazing, religion, customs, and Gods. Every one of the four of the Maya books were made after the ruin of the Maya development, demonstrating that a few remnants of culture stayed after the extraordinary city-conditions of the Maya Classic Period were deserted. The Dresden Codex The most complete of the enduring Maya codices, the Dresden Codex went to the Royal Library in Dresden in 1739 in the wake of being bought from a private authority in Vienna. It was drawn by no less than eight distinct copyists and it is accepted that it was made at some point somewhere in the range of 1000 and 1200 A.D. during the Postclassic Maya period. Thisâ codex manages cosmology: days, schedules, great days for customs, planting, predictions, and so on. There is additionally a section which manages disorder and medication. There are additionally some cosmic diagrams plotting the developments of the Sun and Venus. The Paris Codex The Paris Codex, found in 1859 out of a dusty corner of the Paris library, is certifiably not a total codex, however parts of eleven twofold sided pages. It is accepted to date from the late Classic or Postclassic time of Maya history. There is a lot of data in the codex: it is about Maya functions, space science (counting groups of stars), dates, chronicled data and depictions of Maya Gods and spirits. The Madrid Codex For reasons unknown, the Madrid Codex was isolated into two sections after it arrived at Europe, and for some time was viewed as two diverse codices: it was assembled in 1888. Moderately inadequately drawn, the codex is likely from the late Postclassic Period (around 1400 A.D.) yet might be from significantly later. Upwards of nine distinct copyists dealt with the record. It is for the most part about stargazing, crystal gazing, and divination. It is of extraordinary enthusiasm to antiquarians, as it contains data on Maya Gods and the customs related with the Maya New Year. There is some data about the various days of the year and the Gods related with each. There is additionally an area on essential Maya exercises, for example, chasing and making ceramics. The Grolier Codex Not found until 1965, the Grolier Codex comprises of eleven battered pages of what was likely once a bigger book. Like the others, it manages crystal gazing, explicitly Venus and its developments. Its credibility has been addressed, yet most specialists assume it’s veritable. Sources Archaeology.org: Redating the Madrid Codex, by Angela M.H. Schuster, 1999. McKillop, Heather. The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives. New York: Norton, 2004.