PAGE 24 OF THE DEESDEN MAYA MANUSCRIPT" 



Introduction 



The Dresden Maya manuscript has thus far been published three 

 times, first b}- Lord Kingsborough in his Mexican Antiquities (vol- 

 Lime 3) and twice, with different introductions, by me (Leipzig, 1880. 

 and Dresden, 1892). 



It consists, as I exphiined in my first edition, of two wholly dis- 

 tinct parts. The first, consisting of 48 i)ages, contains on one side 

 pages 1 to 24 and on the other pages 25 to 45 and three blank pages ; 

 the second, consisting of 30 pages, contains on one side pages 40 to (50, 

 on the other pages 61 to 74 and one blank page. 



Page 24, the one to be here discussed, with which the front of the 

 first part ends, is perhaps the most important in the entire manu- 

 script, for one entire side of the second part (46 to 60) is merely 

 a further exposition of the contents of page 24. 



The only difference is that page 24 is confined to astronomic obser- 

 vations, while pages 46 to 60 bring the astronomic and the myth- 

 ologic more into connection. 



The astronomic problem on page 24 is to connect certain given 

 periods of time by common multiples. These periods of time are as 

 follow : 



1. The sacred tonalamatl of 260 days, consisting of 20 weeks of 

 13 days each. 



2. The old official solar year of 360 days, or eighteen periods of 20 

 days each. 



3. The true solar year of 365 days. 



4. The apparent revolution of Mercury of 115 days. 



5. The apparent revolution of Venus of 584 days. 



6. Possibly, the apparent revolution of Mars of 780 days. 



7. The revolution of the moon of between 29 and 30 days, which in 

 the calendar, however, was computed at but 28 days. Thirteen of 

 these month periods of 28 days made up a year of 364 days. 



8. Possibly, the very ancient period, which was also Aztec, of the 

 9 days or nights (seiiores de la noche). 



Before we consider more closely in what manner and how far this 



" Zur Entziffenins dev Mayahandschriften, IV, Dresden, June 11, 1894. 



431 



