Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts Part 4

3. THE DOG.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 60]

Fig. 60 is its hieroglyph. It is the symbol of the death-G.o.d and the bearer of the lightning. The latter follows quite clearly from the picture in Dr. 40b where the G.o.d is distinguished by its hieroglyph.

This animal is again represented in Dr. 7a, 13c on the right, 21b with its hieroglyph, 29a, 30a (forming a part of 31a, where G.o.d B holds the bound dog by the tail), and 39a without the hieroglyph, 47 (bottom) with a variant of the hieroglyph.

In Dr. 36a the dog bears the Akbal-sign on its forehead. The writing above it contains a variant of the hieroglyph for the dog; this is the third of the rubric. It shows (somewhat difficult of recognition) the Akbal-sign on the forehead of the dog's head occurring in it, and on the back of the head the Kin-sign, as symbols of the alternation of day and night. The same sign occurs again with adjuncts in Dr. 74 (last line, 2nd sign) and once with the _death-G.o.d_ in Dr. 8a. The dog as lightning-beast occurs with the Akbal-sign in the eye instead of on the forehead in Codex Tro. 23*a; here again its hieroglyph is an entirely different one (the third of the rubric).

That the dog belongs to the death-G.o.d is proved beyond a doubt by the regular recurrence in the writing belonging to the dog, of the hieroglyphs, which relate to this deity, especially of Fig. 5. According to Forstemann his day is Oc.

4. THE VULTURE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 61]

This bird is distinctly pictured as a mythological figure in Dr. 8a. It appears again, in feminine form, together with the dog, in Dr. 13c and also in 19a. In the first pa.s.sage, its hieroglyph is almost effaced; the hieroglyph is very striking and occurs nowhere else in the whole collection of ma.n.u.scripts. The body of this animal-deity is striped black and white; in Dr. 38b it is almost entirely black. The same pa.s.sage displays a second hieroglyph for this figure (Fig. 61); this hieroglyph also occurs with the numeral 4 in Dr. 56b. In Dr. 36b this bird of prey is pictured fighting with the serpent; its hieroglyph occurs in the second form; the serpent is designated by the Chuen, the gaping jaws of the serpent (first character of the rubric).

Finally it should be mentioned that the head of this bird occurs frequently as a head ornament, thus in Dr. 11a, 11b, 12b and 14b.

Mention should also be made of the realistic representations of the vulture, eating the eye of a human sacrifice (Dr. 3, Tro. 26*a and 27*a).

According to Forstemann his day is Cib.

5. The Jaguar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 62]

The jaguar is likewise an animal with mythological significance. It is represented in Dr. 8a, where its hieroglyph is the third sign in the writing; it also occurs in Dr. 26 (at the top). It occurs in Tro. 17 (at the end) with a hieroglyph which represents the jaguar's head and contains the numeral 4 (Fig. 62); again it appears without a hieroglyph on p. 20 (bottom) and on 21 and 22 (bottom).

Its day is Ix, and hence it also relates occasionally as year regent to the Ix years, for example in Dr. 26a.

6. The Tortoise.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figs. 63-65]

This animal, like the dog, appears as a lightning-beast (see Dr. 40b, middle). Its hieroglyph is Figs. 63, 64. This sign also is connected with the numeral 4, which occurs so often with animals (but not alone with quadrupeds) as to be worthy of attention. The sign of the tortoise without the numeral is seen in Cort. 17a, where the tortoise itself is also represented. It must have reference to the 17th month of the Maya year, for the month Kayab (and apparently also Pop) contains the head of the tortoise (compare Fig. 65). It occurs several times in the Cortesia.n.u.s, thus on pp. 13, 19, 37, 38; on p. 19 with the hieroglyph (on the top of the lower half of the page, 1st line and at the right of the margin). In Dr. 69 (at the top) we see the sign of the tortoise with the Kin-sign as its eye and the numeral 12; under this group B, with a black body, is seated on the serpent; on the same page the sign occurs again; each time, moreover, apparently as a month-hieroglyph.

According to Forstemann the tortoise is the symbol of the summer solstice, as the _snail_, which occurs only as a head ornament in the ma.n.u.scripts and not independently, is the symbol of the winter solstice; both, as the animals of slowest motion, represent the apparent standstill of the sun at the periods specified. This explains why the month Kayab, in which the summer solstice falls, should be represented by the head of a tortoise, which has for its eye the sun-sign Kin (Forstemann, Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften III, Schildkrote und Schnecke in der Mayaliteratur, Dresden 1892).

According to Forstemann its day is Cauac.

Finally the _owl_ and the _ape_ (or monkey) must be mentioned as animals of mythologic significance, of which we have already spoken in connection with G.o.ds A and C. The _scorpion_ also seems to have an important mythologic significance, and appears in the ma.n.u.scripts in connection with figures of G.o.ds, as, for example, in Cort. 7a and Tro. 31*a, 33*a, 34*a (G.o.d M with a scorpion's tail). In addition to those discussed in this paper, there are a few animals in the ma.n.u.scripts, which probably also have a partial mythologic significance, but which have been omitted because they are represented in a naturalistic manner, thus, for example, the deer on Tro. 8, et seq., while idealization (with human bodies, with torches, hieroglyphic character on the head, etc.) should be considered as an unmistakable sign of mythologic meaning.

A mythologic significance also seems to belong to the _bee_ which plays so prominent a part of the Codex Troano. Probably the section in question of the Madrid ma.n.u.script (1* et seq.) treats of bee-keeping, but incidentally it certainly has to do also with the mythologic conceptions connected with the culture of bees.

The _bat_ which is found as a mythological figure on pottery vessels and inscriptions from the Maya region (compare Seler, Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, 1894, p. 577) does not occur in the ma.n.u.scripts. It is true, however, that hieroglyphic signs, which seem to relate to the head of the bat, occur in isolated cases in the ma.n.u.scripts.

SUMMARY.

An enumeration of the most important deities in the ma.n.u.scripts gives the following results, in connection with which it is to be noted that, of course, the numbers cannot be absolutely correct, because one or another of the pictures occasionally remains doubtful. As far as possible, however, only the _positively_ determined representations have been considered.

The deity occurring most frequently in the DRESDEN Ma.n.u.sCRIPT is G.o.d B, who is pictured there 141 times. Following him in point of number in the same ma.n.u.script are the death-G.o.d A pictured 33 times, G.o.d D 19 times, and G.o.ds C and E 17 and 14 times respectively.

In the MADRID Ma.n.u.sCRIPT, G.o.d D, with 84 pictures, is of most frequent occurrence. He is followed by the maize-G.o.d E with 76 pictures, G.o.d B with 71, G.o.d A with 53, C with 38 and M with 37 pictures.

In the PARIS Ma.n.u.sCRIPT, G.o.d E's picture can be verified 8 times, those of C and B 6 times each and that of G.o.d A twice; N and K are also frequently represented.

An enumeration of all the pictures in all the ma.n.u.scripts shows that the following deities occur most frequently and are therefore to be considered the most important:

1. G.o.d B: pictured 218 times.

2. " D: " 103 "

3. " E: " 98 "

4. " A: " 88 "

5. " C: " 61 "

6. " M: " 40 "

7. " F: " 33 "

Furthermore, interesting conclusions can be arrived at, by means of a list of those deities, who occur in the representations of the ma.n.u.scripts, so _united_ or _grouped together_ as to make it evident that they must stand in some relation to one another. _Mythologic combinations_ of this kind occur among the following deities and mythological animals:

1. In the DRESDEN Ma.n.u.sCRIPT: D and C, B and C, dog and vulture, bird and serpent, B and K.

2. In the MADRID Ma.n.u.sCRIPT: F and M, B and M, C and M, E and M, A and E, A and D, A and F, B and C, D and C, D and E.

3. In the PARIS Ma.n.u.sCRIPT: N and K, B and K.

The most common of these combinations are those of the deities A and F, M and F, A and E, D and C. These groups are entirely intelligible, consisting of death-G.o.d and war-G.o.d, G.o.d of the travelling merchants and war-G.o.d, death-G.o.d and maize-G.o.d (as adversaries: meaning famine), night-G.o.d and deity of the polar star.

[Ill.u.s.tration: I. G.o.ds.

A B C D E

F G H I K

L M N O P

II. Mythological Animals.

1 2 3 4 5 6]