MORLEY— MAYA SUPPLEMENTARY SERIES 



this astronomical significance it had a purely numerical meaning as 

 well. Through some chain of associations, at present lost to us, it 

 also stood for the number 20. 



Numerous examples of this dual use of the moon-sign, both in 

 the inscriptions and in the manuscripts, might be cited, but a few 

 will suffice for illustrative purposes. 



As representing the great luminary of the night, this sign is some- 

 times placed in apposition to the sun on the top of stelae, the so-called 

 "divinity sides" of Stelae 1 and 4 at Yaxchilan being cases in point. 1 

 It occurs also in a similar close relation with the sun on a pair of 

 lintels at Chicozapote. 2 An even commoner occurrence is its use in 

 constellation bands with a number of heavenly bodies, as the sun, 

 Venus, and Mars, for example. 3 



In the Dresden Codex the sun and the moon appear in "day- 

 shields" side by side I nJjM I /(Sj8|> hanging from the sky. 4 



These several examples clearly indicate that the principal element of 

 Glyph A is a specific sign for the moon. 



Its other use, as a symbol for the number 20, is established by 

 numerous examples in both the Dresden and the Madrid manuscripts, 

 where it is repeatedly used in tonalamatls to represent the numerical 

 value 20. 5 In these places the accompanying calculations are usually 

 such as to preclude all possibility of doubt as to its value. 



In Glyph A of the Supplementary Series the moon-sign seems to 

 have this same numerical value, as the following discussion will show. 



An examination of the various examples of Glyph A figured in the 

 accompanying plates will disclose the fact that this glyph never has 

 any other coefficient than 9 or 10. This is an invariable rule. 



At first sight, and reasoning from the analogies afforded by the 

 period glyphs of the Initial Series, it would appear as though the 

 number 20 were multiplied sometimes by 9 and sometimes by 10. 

 The resulting quantities 180 and 200, however, have no parallels in 

 astronomical phenomena, and long ago the writer reached the con- 

 clusion that this was a blind lead. Indeed the matter rested here until 



1 See Maler, 1903, pis. 69 and 70. 



2 Ibid., pi. 37. 



'Yaxchilan, Stela 4; Piedras Negras, Stelse 10 and 11; Palenque, the Palace, House A, and 

 the Temples of the Inscriptions, the Cross, and the Sun. 



4 These day-shields have sometimes been regarded as eclipse symbols. The writer is more 

 inclined to regard them as representing the idea of a complete day, however, i.e., the twenty-four- 

 hour day, composed of both light and darkness, the basic unit of the Maya chronological system. 

 See Dresden 69b and 74 for examples of this use of the moon-sign. 



6 For examples of this use, see Dresden 12 a, b, and c; Dresden 15 a and b; and Tro-Cor. 

 113 d. 



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