SELEK] VENUS PERIOD IN PICTURE WRITINGS 8(>5 



contl (lied (yn yiih quitoa yn ic-iiac necico j^n mic Qnetzalcoatl). 

 And wlu'ii Quetzalcoatl was dead he was not seen for 4 days; 

 they said that then he dwelt in the underworld, and for 4 more 

 da^'s he was bone (that is, he was emaciated, he was weak) ; not until 

 8 days had passed did the great star appear (ye chicueylhiiitica 

 yn necico huey citlalli), that is, as the morning star. They said that 

 then Quetzalcoatl ascended the throne as god (yn quitoaya Quetzal- 

 coatl quitoa ya yciiac moteuhtlali). 



Even though it has not yet been possible to prove that periods of 

 visibility and invisibility are given in detail in the Mexican picture 

 manuscripts, the total outcome of pages 46 to 50 of the Dresden manu- 

 script, the apparent revolution in 584 days five times repeated and 

 these five revolutions repeated thirteen times, is distinctly set down on 

 certain pages of the Borgian codex group and, moreover, the pic- 

 tures which accompau}^ the dates and series of numerals on pages 46 

 to 50 of the Dresden manuscript have their parallels on the same 

 pages of the picture manuscript of the Borgian codex group. The 

 Venus period is, generally speaking, the leitmotif for a large number 

 of the pages of these manuscripts. 



In the 584 days which constitute the period of the apparent revolu- 

 tion of Venus the tonalamatl of 260 days is contained twice, with a 

 renuiinder of 64 days. It follows, therefore, that if one Venus period 

 begins at the first of the twenty day signs, the beginnings of the fol- 

 lowing Venus periods fall on the fifth, ninth, thirteenth, and seven- 

 teenth signs, and the initial day of the sixth Venus period is again 

 designated by the same sign as that of the first; but the numeral 

 joined Avith the sign of the initial day of the sixth period is not the 

 same as that of the initial day of the first. In other words, but five of 

 the twenty signs, which form the basis of the tonalamatl, fall on the 

 initial days of the successive Venus periods. This important fact ex- 

 plains, first and foremost, as it seems to me, the familiar arrangement 

 of the tonalamatl in columns of five signs each. We see this arrange- 

 ment carried out in detail in the tonalamatl at the beginning of 

 each of the three picture writings of our group : the Borgian, 

 Vaticanus B (no. 3773 of the inventory), and Bologna codices. 

 It is also implied on many other pages of these manuscripts and in a 

 large majority of the representations of the Maya manuscripts. This 

 important fact explains, above all, why five successive Venus periods 

 have been grouped together as a unit, as on pages 46 to 50 of the. 

 Dresden manuscript. In view of this fact it should be considered 

 as in a manner merely accidental that this period of five Venus pe- 

 riods Avas exactly equal to 8 solar years, reckoning each solar year at 

 365 days. If this period of five Venus periods occurs in thirteen 

 repetitions on the same pages 46 to 50 of the Dresden nuuniscript. this 

 is indeed quite sufficiently and, in my opinion, solely to be explained 



