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6-The Glyphs of The Maya
6-The Glyphs of The Maya
6-The Glyphs of The Maya
so sure it fits well with the rubric for the project. To be honest, I was never entirely clear on what the expectations were for this project (due to no fault of your own, I just couldnt quite get a grasp on it). So like I said, I like the way the presentation turned out. I feel like I teach the basics of Maya glyphs well, and that by the end the reader has a sense of how/why the glyphs were used. Im also quite proud of how I was able to make a contribution of my own to the field (even if its very small). On the down side, I feel its a little confusing at times. Let me know if you get lost anywhere or if something you read makes no sense. Also, theres a lot of text. I didnt create the power point with presenting in mind, I created it expecting it to be used as a self guided lesson. Thus, all the information you need in laid out in the slides. I know its not quite what a power point is for, but I wanted to experiment.
Egyptian
Mayan
The Glyphs
When written out as plain text the glyphs of the Maya were square or rectangular in shape They were most often written in columns two glyphs wide, read from left to right and top to bottom (see picture) The first glyph, called the initial, often took up the entire first and second rows of the double column, making it four times bigger than normal The succeeding glyphs were also sometimes twice as wide as a normal glyph, though not twice as tall From then on the glyphs would be written as normal
(Senner 205-11)
The Texts
Hieroglyphic texts can be found carved into the great Maya temples, palaces, and observatories These often recounted Maya mythologies, provided important dates in the complex Maya calendar, kept track of Maya astrology, and recorded the births, deaths, and coronations of Mayan kings
In Art
Maya glyphs were not just used as a writing system, they were also incorporated into Maya art For example, in carvings the name of a King may be intertwined within his clothing or what may look like decoration surrounding a god may actually be a stylized glyph that describes some aspect of his personality or purpose
(Stone, Zender 17-8)
A piece of artwork from the Maya Classic period. The painting depicts the Mayan Moon Goddess. What looks to be a tail is actually the Mayan moon glyph, incorporated into the painting in order to help identify the deity.
(Senner 204)
because the first ten or so glyphs of an inscription can all be date glyphs! Decoding the glyphs for Maya dates was the first step to cracking the entire system
To the left is a traditional Maya calendar round. The concentric stone rings represent the months of the Haab and the Tzolkin with a final inner ring with number glyphs from one to thirteen. These rounds were used all across the Yucatan to keep track of the 52 year Maya cycle. (Coe 101-09)
Another Thing
The hieroglyphic text was highly valued by the Maya Some glyphs were logograms, glyphs that were meant to be read literally (i.e. a glyph that looked like a skull meant skull) Others were phonetic, meaning that the glyph represented a sound; sometimes glyphs could be interpreted either way The point is, the Maya had enough simple phonetic glyphs to write without the logograms, which were complicated and took time to write. For reasons not entirely known, the Maya chose not to give up their hieroglyphic writing style. Clearly their system was not simply a means to record ideas but also a complex extension of their beliefs and culture.
(Marcus xviii-xix)
In a modern context
So the question is: How might the Maya writing system be understood in modern terms? Understanding the glyphs in this context can help us understand their original use and allow us to relate to an otherwise distant culture.
A Modern inscription
One thing the Maya saw fit to record was a royal ascension Well use the ascension of a modern ruler as a parallel: President Obama
*Note
The following slides provide a fictional text using pseudo-Mayan glyphs. The inscription is based on the Leiden plaque (Senner 206) but contains no authentic Maya glyphs (unless otherwise noted). The inscription is an invention intended to facilitate the understanding of the Maya writing system and to help draw parallels between our society and that of the ancient Maya. The glyphs are my own invention and are original artwork.
Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2008 Keeping with the Maya specificity in regards to dates, well list the date as the number of millenniums, centuries, years, months, weeks, and days since a certain point in history. For us, that would be the birth of Christ The initial would represent that event, so the glyph could look something like this:
The figure, Jesus, flanked by celestial bodies and crowned with a halo and wings to represent his heavenly origins. Underneath is the Maya symbol for zero (his age at birth)
(Senner 205-8)
While the Maya used representative gods as year, month, and day symbols, were going to use more recognizable emblems For millennium: a stylized roman numeral M (1000 years) For century: a lion and fleurde-lis representative of the 100 Years War fought between England and France For year: The earth completing its orbit around the sun (with symbols for spring and summer to clarify the time span)
Dates cont.
(Senner 205-8)
Dates cont.
For month: a moon encircling the glyph for black, indicating a new moon, a complete lunar cycle (months are constructed based on lunar cycles) For week: Seven sun rises and seven sunsets flanked again by the moon glyph For day: One sunrise and one sunset
Note: the symbols to the left of each glyph represent numbers: the shell for zero, a bar for five, and a dot for one (Senner 205-8)
Another Date
The Maya also had a sort of zodiac, with signs they called lords of the night 1 This zodiac was used as part of the Calendar Round. They listed the date as such: The lord of the night X was seated in month Y 3 This was the way the Maya recorded the Calendar Round date (which, as stated earlier, was simply used to corroborate the long count) So, here well write the sign for Aquarius1 (the corresponding zodiac sign for this time of year), the Maya glyph for seated2, and a glyph for February3
2
(Senner 205-8)
(Senner 205-8)
To finish it off
Last well use an emblem glyph denoting the kingdom being ruled (the United States) and an authentic Maya glyph for house (Macri, Looper 253) combined with a glyph for white to further specify the location (the White House of course!)
(Senner 205-8)
Conclusion
So what do you think? Are hieroglyphs quite as confusing as they once seemed? Hopefully not. Then again, its good to keep in mind that his was a very simplified version of the system. To learn the entire Maya system takes years. The idea, however, is to understand the glyphs in a modern context. How would we use glyphs today? Its certainly different, but is it better or worse than our system? Would you want to write as the ancient Maya did? The answer to that question could very well explain the fate of Maya writing: its fall into the category of dead languages.
Works Cited
Coe, Michael D. Breaking the Maya Code. New York: Thames and
Hudson, 1992. Print. Coe, Michael D, and Justin Kerr. The Art of the Maya Scribe. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Print. Macri, Martha J, and Matthew G. Looper. The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs. Norman [Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. Print.
Marcus, Joyce. Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1992. Print. Schele, Linda, and Peter Mathews. The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs. New York: Scribner,
1998. Print.
Senner, Wayne M. The Origins of Writing. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Print.