How Might they be Understood in a Modern Context?

Colin Kovacic

The History of the Maya

The ancient Maya were inhabitants of the modernday Yucatan Peninsula They reached their height between 200 and 900 AD During this time they developed one of the most sophisticated writing systems in the New World
Map displaying the physical extent of the ancient Mayan civilization (Coe 48)

The Writing System The Maya utilized a

system many compare to the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt (thus they are said to have a hieroglyphic writing system) While the Maya did use pictures in their writing the system itself varied greatly from that of the Egyptians, as is made obvious in this comparison
(Coe 16)

Egyptian

Mayan

The Glyphs
When written out as plain text, the glyphs of the Maya were square or rectangular in shape They were most often written in columns two glyphs wide, read from left to right and top to bottom (see picture) The first glyph, called the initial, often took up the entire first and second rows of the double column, making it four times bigger than normal The succeeding glyphs were also sometimes twice as wide as a normal glyph, though not twice as tall From then on the glyphs would be written as normal
(Senner 205-11)

The Texts
Hieroglyphic texts can be found carved into the great Maya temples, palaces, and observatories These often recounted Maya mythologies, provided important dates in the complex Maya calendar, kept track of Maya astrology, and recorded the births, deaths, and coronations of Mayan kings

Inscription from the Temple of the Cross, Palenque

(Schele, Mathews 17-9)

Other Texts Although not widely known, the

majority of Maya inscriptions are actually found on pottery These clay codices are so prevalent because they survived the burning of other paper and wood codices by Spanish missionaries At one time the codex, folded sheets of bark paper filled with painted glyphs and artwork, may have been the most common hieroglyphic record. Since their burning, however, only three genuine examples remain.

Pages from the Dresden Codex

(Coe, Kerr 129)

In Art
Maya glyphs were not just used as a writing system, they were also incorporated into Maya art For example, in carvings the name of a King may be intertwined within his clothing or what may look like decoration surrounding a god may actually be a stylized glyph that describes some aspect of his personality or purpose
(Stone, Zender 17-8)

A piece of artwork from the Maya Classic period. The painting depicts the Mayan Moon Goddess. What looks to be a tail is actually the Mayan moon glyph, incorporated into the painting in order to help identify the deity.

 The Maya had a VERY complicated calendar system, in fact, there were multiple ways to express one date The long count used cycles of time to measure the time since a specific point thousands of years in the past (they mythological beginning of the Maya) The other main calendar was the Calendar Round. This was a combination of a 260 day lunar year, called the Tzolkin and a 365 day solar year called the Haab. The round measured dates in 52-year cycles.

The Maya Calencar

(Senner 204)

Dates and Glyphs is so important is The reason this dating system

because the first ten or so glyphs of an inscription can all be date glyphs! Decoding the glyphs for Maya dates was the first step to cracking the entire system
To the left is a traditional Maya calendar round. The concentric stone rings represent the months of the Haab and the Tzolkin with a final inner ring with number glyphs from one to thirteen. These rounds were used all across the Yucatan to keep track of the 52 year Maya cycle. (Coe 101-09)

The Value of Glyphs

The hieroglyphic text was highly valued by the Maya Some glyphs were logograms, glyphs that were meant to be read literally (i.e. a glyph that looked like a skull meant skull) Others were phonetic, meaning that the glyph represented a sound; sometimes glyphs could be interpreted either way The point is, the Maya had enough simple phonetic glyphs to write without the logograms, which were complicated and took time to write. For reasons not entirely known, the Maya chose not to give up their hieroglyphic writing style. Clearly their system was not simply a means to record ideas but also a complex extension of their beliefs and culture.

(Coe, Kerr 54-5)

The Words of a King

Temples and palaces were almost always commissioned by the king, thus he could have anything he wanted inscribed on them. These inscriptions wont always agree with one another. In fact, oftentimes they simply wont make any sense at all. One has to understand that there was no distinction between history and myth for the Maya. What was written was truth, so the king might alter, for example, his coronation date in order for it to coincide with a luckier day or so that he might take credit for the military conquests of a former ruler
(Marcus xviii-xix)

In a Modern Context
So the question is: How might the Maya writing system be understood in modern terms? Understanding the glyphs in this context can help us understand their original use and allow us to relate to an otherwise distant culture.

A Modern Inscription
One thing the Maya saw fit to record were royal ascensions Well use the ascension of a modern ruler as a parallel: President Obama

*Note
The following slides provide a fictional text using pseudo-Mayan glyphs. The inscription is based on the Leiden plaque (Senner 206) but contains no authentic Maya glyphs (unless otherwise noted). The inscription is an invention intended to facilitate the understanding of the Maya writing system and to help draw parallels between our society and that of the ancient Maya. The glyphs are my own invention and are original artwork.

 Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2008 Keeping with the Maya specificity in regards to dates, well list the date as the number of millenniums, centuries, years, months, weeks, and days since a certain point in history. For us, that would be the birth of Christ The initial* would represent that event, so the glyph could look something like this:

Step One: The Date

The figure, Jesus, flanked by celestial bodies and crowned with a halo and wings to represent his heavenly origins. Underneath is the Maya symbol for zero (his age at birth)

*see the third point on slide 4 for reference

(Senner 205-8)

 While the Maya would have used pictures of gods as year, month, and day symbols, were going to use more recognizable emblems For millennium: a stylized roman numeral M (1000 years) For century: a lion and a fleurde-lis, representative of the 100 Years War fought between England and France For year: The earth completing its orbit around the sun (with symbols for spring and winter to clarify the time span)

Dates cont.

Note: the symbols to the left of each glyph represent numbers: the shell for zero, a bar for five, and a dot for one

(Senner 205-8)

Dates cont.
For month: a moon encircling the glyph for black, indicating a new moon, a complete lunar cycle (the lengths of months are based on lunar cycles) For week: Seven sun rises and seven sunsets flanked again by the moon glyph For day: One sunrise and one sunset

Note: the symbols to the left of each glyph represent numbers: the shell for zero, a bar for five, and a dot for one (Senner 205-8)

The Calendar Round

The Maya also had a sort of zodiac, with signs they called lords of the night 1 This zodiac was used as part of the Calendar Round. They listed the date as such: The lord of the night X was seated in month Y 3 This was the way the Maya recorded the Calendar Round date (which, as stated earlier, was simply used to corroborate the long count) So, here well write the sign for Aquarius1 (the corresponding zodiac sign for this time of year), the Maya glyph for seated2, and a glyph for February3
2

(Senner 205-8)

The Titles
Last, we actually have to write the event weve spent so long dating! First, well rewrite the glyph for seated Then a glyph for Obama (A kings name could have been one emblem glyph, or written out phonetically. Here Im using an emblem glyph.) An eagle with a crown signifying president or chief executive officer (crown meaning chief, eagle representing the executive branch of government)

(Senner 205-8)

Location
Last well use an emblem glyph denoting the kingdom being ruled (the United States) and an authentic Maya glyph for house (Macri, Looper 253) combined with a glyph for white to further specify the location (the White House of course!)

(Senner 205-8)

The Completed Inscription

Now we have a complete record of Obamas inauguration, written in true Maya style (if not with authentic Maya glyphs) If you happened to notice that the millenniums, centuries, years, months, and days dont quite add up to Obamas real inauguration date, dont consider it a mistake. Remember that if Obama were a Mayan king he may have thought it luckier to be inaugurated on the first of February. Since that is how its written, thats how it happened

Conclusion
So what do you think? Are hieroglyphs quite as confusing as they once seemed? Hopefully not. Then again, its good to keep in mind that his was a very simplified version of the system. To learn the entire Maya system takes years. The idea, however, is to understand the glyphs in a modern context. How would we use glyphs today? Its certainly different, but is it better or worse than our system? Would you want to write as the ancient Maya did? The answer to that question could very well explain the fate of Maya writing: its fall into the category of dead languages.

Works Cited
Coe, Michael D. Breaking the Maya Code. New York: Thames and
Hudson, 1992. Print. Coe, Michael D, and Justin Kerr. The Art of the Maya Scribe. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Print. Macri, Martha J, and Matthew G. Looper. The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs. Norman [Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. Print.

Marcus, Joyce. Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1992. Print. Schele, Linda, and Peter Mathews. The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs. New York: Scribner,

Works Cited cont.

1998. Print.
Senner, Wayne M. The Origins of Writing. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Print.

Works Cited cont.

Stone, Andrea J, and Marc Zender. Reading Maya Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Maya Painting and Sculpture. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2011. Print.