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TRANSLATIONS
Suppose we begin with day 368 (a Venus day) as our fixed point:
This table shows that G is planned for the lunar months. We cannot read in the table anything which tells us about Venus. Except, of course, that both Gb1-21 and Gb5-14 seem to represent Venus. But if we fill in the planets twice around the end of the year (Hanga Te Pau, Gb5-12) we (of course) will have 8 days from one Venus day up to and including the next. Possibly this fact was connected in their minds, anciently, with the 8 days between evening and morning star. The idea is in harmony with my suggestion of sun and Venus going hand in hand both during spring and autumn, and towards the close of the year both sun and evening star should go down, and there should be 8 days to the return of the morning star:
The twins who are one in Gb5-7 suddenly becomes very understandable: they represent Venus as both moring and evening star. The hetuu signs are illuminating. In Gb5-8 another twin pair possibly is saying that the last day of the week is also the beginning of next week, together they form a fortnight. The right person in Gb5-8 seems to be identical with sun in Gb5-9. Gb5-14 could then represent the first appearance of Venus as morning star. If we subtract 8 for the period of invisibility, we will come to Jupiter, the last day of those regular 24 * 18 = 360 days:
As our next step we can then try to count the evening star period, and 108 = 9 * 12 seems to be a possible result:
Mercury at Gb5-5 is in harmony with the 'flowing' rima aueue arm at right, which one week later has developed into the pau sign. 108 cannot easily represent the evening star period, it is much too short. Possibly it instead represents the black period between morning and evening star (50 days). However, Mayan 236 + 90 = 326, and if we then add 64 we reach 390. There is not room for 584 days in a text covering 472 days. 584 - 472 = 112 = 220 - 108 (Gb1-22--Gb5-5). If I should have created a calendar, I would have said that the morning and evening star periods are alike and equal to 260 (instead of the correct 263) days each. That would then open up for a black period between morning and evening star with 53 (insted of the correct 50) days. 53 is 'one more' than 52.
581 is also equal to 83 weeks. If we begin with Gb5-14 and move forward, still thinking the first appearance of Venus as morning star comes here, then we could move ahead and search for the time when the morning star disappears. 236 (the Mayan measure) for the morning star will possibly mean we have a black period measuring 15 days:
15 + 108 = 123, not a bad number (which could be read in several different ways, e.g. as 12 * 3 = 36). 15 + 8 = 23 (= 123 - 100). 472 - 15 - 8 = 449, 'one more' than 16 * 28.
But we do not have to be restricted to 472 days. If we count time from Gb5-14, then there are 15 weeks to the end of side b:
A Mayan would immediately identify 236 as the season of the morning star. Then he would say that 105 days are incorrect, they should be only 8. Then he would search for confirmation at the end of side b:
He would maybe say that Gb8-22--29 are dark nights. And he would then redraw our map into:
From the perspective of Venus 96 is not a good number, because Venus needs weeks.
Gb8-16 is a Friday, and it has gone 13 weeks from Gb5-14, and the ordinal number from Gb8-30 is 459. A fortnight remains to the end of side b. 8 black nights do not appear to be the right perspective. |
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