INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 279 
position, B4a after Glyph A, of the Supplementary Series. No reason, 
however, can be advanced to explain this reversal of the usual practice. 
At B7b u. h. “2 tuns” appear to be recorded and at aoa u.h., 1, 2, or 
3 tuns. At Bsb the day of the Initial Series terminal date “8 Ahau’”’ is 
repeated, followed by another tun-sign. The last two glyph-blocks are 
completely effaced. As already explained, Stela M was probably erected to 
commemorate the hotun-ending on which the Hieroglyphic Stairway was 
completed or dedicated. 
STELA N. 
Provenance: On the southern side of the Court of the Hieroglyphic 
Stairway just in front of the stairway leading to 
Temple 11 of the Acropolis, Main Structure. (See 
plate 6.) 
Date: g.16.10.0.0 1 Ahau 3 Zip.! 
Text, (a) photograph: Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1, plates 76, 78, 80, 81. 
j Spinden, 1913, plate 19, 4 (front only). 
(b) drawing: figure 42. 
Gordon, 1902, figures 23, 24 (hier. ped. only). 
Maudslay, ibid, plates 77, 79, 82, 83, a (hier. ped. only). 
Morley, 1915, plate 26 and figure 58. r 
Stephens, 1841, frontispiece to vol. 1 and opposite p. 138. 
References: Bowditch, 1910, pp. 101, 102, 186, and table 29. ; 
Galindo 1834, Appendix XI, p. 597. 
Goodman, 1897, pp. 132, 133. 
Gordon, 1896, p. 35. 
Gordon, 1902, pp. 171, 181-185. 
Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1 of text, pp. 55-57. 
Morley, 1915, pp. 248, 249. 
Seler, 1902-1908, vol. 1, p. 756. 
Spinden, 1913, pp. 157, 159, 162, and table 1. 
Stephens, 1841, vol. 1, pp. 136-138. 
Thomas, 1900, pp. 786, 787, 802. 
Stela N stands at the southern side of the Court of the Hieroglyphic 
Stairway, in front of the middle of the stairway leading to Temple 11. 
(See plate 6.) It is 3.5 meters high, 1.27 meters wide, and faces both north 
and south,? there being a human figure of heroic size on each of these faces.* 
There is a single column of 20 glyph-blocks on each of the narrow faces, 
making a total of 40 for the entire stela. Around the base of the monument 
there is a pedestal of four stones, each of which is inscribed with 8 glyphs, 
32 in all. These, combined with the 40 on the stela proper, make a total of 
40+32=72 for the entire text. 


1 For other monuments recording this same hotun-ending, see Appendix VIII. 
2 Three other monuments at Copan besides Stela N face in two directions, 7. ¢., have human figures on two 
opposite faces, namely, Stela 3, 5, and C. Stela C and 5 face east and west, and Stel N and 3 north and south. 
All four belong to Class 5 on the basis of this arrangement of their designs. 
3 Stephens, who gives drawings of both these figures, falls into a curious error in assigning them to two different 
stele. The figure facing the court (7. ¢., north) he calls the front of a Stela D, which he locates a short distance 
south of Stela M on the eastern side of the court. The other figure facing the mound (i. ¢., south), which he calls 
C, he properly locat.s in the position of Stela N, and even refers to it in his description as the back. This con 
fusion doubtless arose through a mistake in his field-notes, so that instead of having the two figures of one monu- 
ment at C (i.¢., Stela N) he has two monuments at D and C. A comparison of the frontispiece of Stephens, 1841, 
vol. 1, and the plate fronting p. 138 with Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1, plates 77 and 82 respectively, shows this 
error. See also Stephens, vol. 1, pp. 136-138, and his map facing p. 133, where he gives the height of Stela N as 
3.96 meters and the width as 1.22 meters as compared with Maudslay’s measurements of 3.35 meters high and 
1.27 meters wide. 
