68 Mr. A. P. Maudslay. A Maya Calendar Inscription 



20 ahaus 1 katun 



20 katuns. 1 cycle 



13 cycles 1 great cycle 



73 great cycles .... 1 grand era 



The animal calendar is divided into eighteen named months, each 

 consisting of twenty named days, and one short month (named 

 Uayeb) of five days. 



The twenty named days of the month are numbered continuously 

 from 1 to 13., so that if the first-named day of the month has the number 

 ,1 attached to it, the last-named day of the month will be numbered 

 7 (13 + 7 = 20), and the first day of the next month will be num- 

 bered 8, and so on. 



Tli ere are fifty-two annual calendars in a calendar round, and at 

 •the end of the 52nd year the series is repeated. 



All the dates and reckonings found on the monuments which can 

 'be made out by the aid of these tables are expressed in Ahaus, 

 Katuns, &c, and not in years ; but Mr. Goodman maintains that the 

 true year was known to the Mayas, and that it is by the concurrent 

 use of the chronological and annual tables that the dates carved on 

 the monuments can be properly located in the Maya Calendar. 



All the dates which have as yet come under notice fall within the 

 three Great Cycles, numbered by Mr. Goodman the 53rd, 54th, and 

 ,55th. 



The following extract from an article in ' Nature ' (July 8, 1897) 

 -gives a good example of the manner in which a date is expressed : — 



" I called attention, some years ago, to the fact that the greater 

 number of the carved inscriptions commenced with easily recognised 

 series of glyphs with numerals or faces attached to them, which I 

 called the Initial Series.. Mr. Goodman now shows that the Initial 

 Sex'ies expresses a date thus : — 



1. 2. 3. 4. 



5. 6. 7. 8. 



(1) The Great Cycle sign. (2) The Cycle. (3) The Katun. (4) The Ahau. 

 (5) The Chuen. (6) The Day. (7) The named day. (8) The named month. 



