Ernst Förstemann

“ The sun and moon stand on the platform in the upper picture; their combat is equivalent to the eclipses to which they at times succumb. The moon is the assailant and the sun makes only a proud defensive gesture. The person behind the moon must be Mars. The animal under the two persons is the embodiment of the eclipses, which the Aztecs interpreted as the act of being devoured by the jaguar. The hieroglyph in front looks very much like the meeting of two circles. Does it refer to the day Lamat (Aztec tochtli = rabbit) ?
At the left, bottom, the powerful Venus triumphs over the weak Mercury. ”

“ Still further down on the page sits a black god, who may be the same as the god on pages 7a and 16b, with a bird of prey on his head. There are two arrows in his right hand and his left hand holds what may be an atlatl, but it is very much longer than is usually the case; at the same time it can be regarded as a spear.
This page can denote nothing but the end of the world, for which the serpent numbers have prepared the way. Perhaps what looks like a zero above the sign Eb in the stream of water may likewise point to this calamity. ”

“ Similarly sign 2 invites computation; it is a face resembling an Ahau sign, with a 3 as a superfix and a 9 as a prefix; compare the other places containing the same face, with 33c. After the fashion of the inscriptions this would denote 9 + 3 × 20 = 69, which by the way is three fifths of the Mercury revolution. 5 is a compound of Akbal and Imix and 6 a compound of a Moan sign (c) with a.
16. B is in a half sitting position and holds a strange object before himself. On top of his own head is K's, which is repeated in sign 2. I do not know how to explain 1, unless it is the bat-god ”

“ The crouching personage, repeated again in 3 as a prefix to the cross b, is curious. 5 is again E and 6 is Imix, referring to grain and honey.
24. The picture and three of the hieroglyphs plainly correspond. The grain deity E holds food and drink in his hand. Rain is pouring from the planets, and the wind-beast plunges down, as on pages 44 and 45. Sign 3 is E's hieroglyph, 6 is Kan-Imix and 2 is the wind-beast. B is superfluously added in 4 and the same is true of the cross b in 1, while Kin-Akbal in 5 seems to fit almost everywhere. ”

“ B is sitting on a tree at the root of which his own head appears (compare with this the representations on pages 31c, 33c, and especially 40a, and also 41b and 42b) . The second sign is Yax with a prefix; 4 is Kin within which there is a 1, as is several times the case, for example, on pages 61 and 69. The fifth sign is still a mystery to me. The day here is V Manik. Do the hieroglyphs suggest that the interval from the day IX Kan, which gives the name to the year, to V Manik is exactly the same as that from the normal date IV Ahau to the true starting-point of our passage, the day XIII Akbal? ”

“ There are four large serpents, which fill most of the space on the left half of page 62 and the right of page 61. The two outer ones are bluish and the two inner ones white. They rise in several coils, their tails below and their heads above. A deity is represented above the gaping jaws of each of the four serpents, having apparently been vomited up. Above the first and third serpents B is represented in a fashion very similar to that which we have already seen on pages 33-35. Above the first serpent B has the pouch hanging from his neck and his hatchet is held downward ”

“ If the Chuen sign in 7a is actually a serpent's jaw, then it might refer to the beginning of the astronomical year in May, since the serpent so often designates that time.
In 9b we find a crouching figure with the sign which is usually considered that of the death-bird. In another place (Zur Entzifferung IV, 12) I have regarded the naked human figure placed upside down on page 58 as the sign for Mercury, and on page 60 at the bottom, left, I also regarded the crouching figure as representing Mercury vanquished by Venus. ”

“ Enclosed in this rectangle is the picture of the animal resembling a dog lying down, which we have often met with, the last time on page 47. In front of the dog is a hieroglyph, which, I regret to say, is still unknown and which occurred six times as a heading on page 23b. On the platform two personages are fighting; one is in war-dress holding in his left hand the throwing-stick or atlatl, and in his right probably arrows; the other figure, whose back is somewhat indistinct owing to obliteration, is apparently unarmed and is making a defensive gesture with one hand. ”

“ The two planets are real chronometers by reason of the regular alternation of their appearance as morning and evening stars, and also by their disappearance twice in each revolution and finally even in the variation in the length of the two periods of invisibility. ”

“ I will not deny that yet another interpretation of this page is possible. The top picture may be Venus and the moon opposing one another, and the bottom picture may represent the sun as victor over Mercury. There are some things in favor of this point of view.
The correct order of the twenty-four hieroglyphs is the following, in my opinion, which is borne out by the different colors of the four groups:—
These signs can have no relation to mythology. ”

“ The first bird is in the 14th group, in the 9th it is combined with the apparent Mercury sign, and in the 17th with the year sign. The second bird with the prefixed Yax is in the 2nd group. But it is especially striking that several times both signs, and this is the case nowhere else, are combined into a single sign in groups 9, 13 and 26 and also probably in 19 where, however, the Moan sign seems to be effaced. ”

“ They bear an extraordinary resemblance to those discussed under page 61 even in regard to the fact that each column contains 18 signs. Besides, the upper 10 lines, i.e., the upper 20 signs, are exactly alike on the two pages, aside from slight variations, and differ only in so far as the passage on page 69 is written on blue ground and the one on page 61 on white.
But also the lower part, with eight signs in each column, shows many points in common with page 61. Here as there the whole is divided into several groups. ”

“ The two sections also correspond, inasmuch as the numbers in both are computed not from the normal date, but from the date IX Kan 12 Kayab (4 Ix) .
The serpent pictured here is different from the previous ones, inasmuch as it is partly black. The god B is sitting on its opened jaws, and this time he, too, is painted black (as on page 31c) ; there is an animal's head upon the god's head, in which we again recognize that of the animal with the fourth serpent in the preceding section. The god is armed with spear and shield and recalls his picture at the bottom of page 74. ”

“ As with the other series, we begin here at the right, i.e., with page 73. There in the last column we find the superscription as it were. It is true that nothing positive can be gathered from the top part consisting of five hieroglyphs, which are mostly destroyed. The third hieroglyph seems to be the sign in group 2a discussed above. The fourth is an Akbal with a prefixed arm as on pages 8a, 36a, and the fifth is an Ik with a prefix. ”

“ Beside the platform, and therefore on a lower level, is a second person walking behind the armed person as if to help him. He too is in war-dress and likewise holds an atlatl. A black 3 is set down between the two combatants, and there may also have been a red 2, which is indistinct owing to the red background of the picture.
Let us next examine the lower picture. A blindfolded personage is kneeling on the left. A serpent's head rises from the ground in front of him. ”

“ Thus we find in the third column of page 63 the date XIII Imix 9 Uo. It comes in the year 12 Ix and represents the number 1,523,921 (or a number separated from it by a multiple of 18,980) . Now 1,523,921 = 4175 × 365 + 46 and = 5861 × 260 + 61. This agrees with the lower number inserted in red:—1,538,342 = IV Ik 15 Zac (12 Muluc) , which comes later by 14,421 = 39 × 365 + 186 and = 55 × 260 + 121. 121, however, is the difference between both XIII Imix and IV Ik and the days XIII Akbal and IV Kan in the last column of page 62. ”