INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 249 
Date 10.1 
The last date on the Hieroglyphic Stairway (see plate 26, a) is fortunately 
decipherable. It is an Initial Series and commences on the next to bottom 
step (K), just to the right of the large altar at the base.2. The Initial Series 
introducing glyph at p and the cycles at Q are almost entirely effaced. (See 
plate 26, a.) The coefficient of the latter, however, is 9. Although only 
partly effaced, the katun coefficient, Ra, is somewhat uncertain, the best 
reading being 13. The tun coefficient, sa, is a normal-form head of doubtful 
value. The uinal coefficient, Ta, is surely either 12 or 17, and the kin coeffi- 
cient, TD, is surely 9. | 
The Initial Series terminal date is recorded on the bottom step, L, at 
a,c. It is 12 ? 7,or 17 Muan, but since the kin coefficient is 9, the day-sign 
must be Muluc, and we have for the Initial Series terminal date 12 Muluc 
7 or 17 Muan. It can be found by calculation that the only places in Katun 
13 where these two dates could have occurred are: 9.13.18.17.9 12 Muluc 7 
Muan and 9g.13.8.15.9 12 Muluc 17 Muan. Since the uinal coefficient is 15 
in the second reading, it may be eliminated, and we have left as the only 
possible reading for Date 10, 9.13.18.17.9 12 Muluc 7 Muan, recorded as 
follows: 
Step K Pp Initial Series introducing glyph 
Q 9 cycles 
R 13 katuns 
S 18 tuns 
Ta 17 uinals 
TD g kins 
Step L a 12 Muluc 
c 7 Muan 
Following this in p-R is the corresponding Supplementary Series. 
Gordon suggests the reading 11.13.9.14.9 12 Muluc 7 Muan for Date 
10,° reaching the same value for the terminal date as the writer, but differ- 
ing as to its corresponding Initial Series number. His value for Date to, 
if correct, would make it the latest Initial Series known anywhere in the Old 
Empire by more than 600 years, and for this reason alone, if for no other, it 
should be viewed with suspicion.t Moreover, against Gordon’s reading there 
is another fundamental objection, namely, that throughout the entire range 
of the Maya hieroglyphic writing no certain Cycle 11 Initial Series is known. 
Indeed, it is highly probable that the Initial Series method of recording dates 


1 Gordon (1902, p. 173) calls this Date 4. 
2 This date and the next, No. 11, might possibly be included with Stela 4 and Altar I’ here at Copan and Stela 
10 at Tikal, as exceptions to the general rule that Initial Series introducing glyphs only occupy the first positions 
in the several texts where they occur. Strictly speaking, this is true, but the cases are hardly parallel, and the 
arrangement of this particular text is such, the longest in the Corpus Inscriptionum Mayarun, that the writer has 
not thought it necessary to regard them as exceptions, 
3 Gordon, 1902, pp. 173-177: 
4The latest Initial Series known in the Old Empire (with this improbable exception) is Stela 2 from Quen 
Santo, in the Department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala (see plate 1). It records the date 10.2.10.0.0. 2 Ahau 
13 Chen, and is over 600 years earlier than Gordon’s reading of Date to. 
