Reading the Maya Glyphs 2E PA

by Coe,Michael D.

• ISBN13: 9780500285534
• ISBN10: 0500285535
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-06-17
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Summary

Decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing has progressed to the point where most Maya written texts'”whether inscribed on monuments, written in the codices, or painted or incised on ceramics'”can now be read with confidence. In this practical guide, first published in 2001, Michael D. Coe, the noted Mayanist, and Mark Van Stone, an accomplished calligrapher, have made the difficult, often mysterious script accessible to the nonspecialist. They decipher real Maya texts, and the transcriptions include a picture of the glyph, the pronunciation, the Maya words in Roman type, and the translation into English. For the second edition, the authors have taken the latest research and breakthroughs into account, adding glyphs, updating captions, and reinterpreting or expanding upon earlier decipherments. After an introductory discussion of Maya culture and history and the nature of the Maya script, the authors introduce the glyphs in a series of chapters that elaborate on topics such as the intricate calendar, warfare, royal lives and rituals, politics, dynastic names, ceramics, relationships, and the supernatural world. The book includes illustrations of historic texts, a syllabary, a lexicon, and translation exercises.

Author Biography

Michael D. Coe is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Curator Emeritus in the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. In 1986 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1989 received the Tatiana Proskouriakoff Award from Harvard University for distinction in Mesoamerican research Mark Van Stone trained as a type designer, stone carver, and art historian. For over two decades he has studied the development of written forms from the perspective of a working calligrapher. Now completing his doctoral dissertation on Maya scribal workshop practice, he is the leading interpreter of Maya calligraphic art

Table of Contents

PREFACE	7	(91)
1 THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF MAYA WRITING	11	(6)
1.1 Overview of a civilization	11	(2)
1.2 Scribes and artists	13	(2)
1.3 The language of the inscriptions	15	(2)
2 THE NATURE OF THE MAYA SCRIPT	17	(20)
2.1 Principles	17	(3)
2.2 Syllabograms	20	(2)
2.3 Morphosyllabic signs	22	(2)
2.4 Logograms with phonetic complements	24	(1)
2.5 Polyvalence	25	(1)
2.6 Conflation	26	(1)
2.7 Some grammar	26	(9)
2.7.1 Nouns	27	(1)
2.7.2 Gender	28	(1)
2.7.3 Pronouns	29	(2)
2.7.4 Adjectives	31	(1)
2.7.5 Verbs	32	(3)
2.8 Locative prepositions	35	(2)
3 TIME AND THE CALENDAR	37	(22)
3.1 General remarks	37	(1)
3.2 Maya numbers	38	(2)
3.3 The Calendar Round	40	(5)
3.3.1 The 260-day Count	41	(1)
3.3.2 The Haab	42	(3)
3.4 The Long Count and the Initial Series	45	(8)
3.4.1 The Initial Series	48	(1)
3.4.2 The Supplementary Series	49	(4)
3.5 Distance Numbers, Period Endings, and anniversaries	53	(6)
4 ROYAL LIVES AND ROYAL RITUALS	59	(9)
4.1 General remarks	59	(1)
4.2 Life-cycle events	59	(4)
4.2.1 Birth	59	(2)
4.2.2 Accession	61	(1)
4.2.3 Death and burial	62	(1)
4.3 Ritual activities	63	(5)
4.3.1 Period Ending rites	63	(1)
4.3.2 Bloodletting	64	(1)
4.3.3 God impersonation	65	(1)
4.3.4 Royal dance	65	(1)
4.3.5 Ballplaying and ballcourts	66	(1)
4.3.6 Postscript	67	(1)
5 PLACES AND POLITIES	68	(6)
5.1 Emblem Glyphs	68	(3)
5.2 Toponyms (place names)	71	(3)
6 DYNASTIC NAMES AND TITLES	74	(12)
6.1 Titles	74	(5)
6.2 Rulers	79	(7)
7 RELATIONSHIPS	86	(3)
7.1 Parentage statements	86	(1)
7.2 Spouse	87	(1)
7.3 Siblings	88	(1)
8 WARFARE	89	(5)
8.1 Glyphs for general war	89	(1)
8.2 The taking of prisoners	90	(4)
9 SCRIBES AND ARTISTS	94	(4)
9.1 Users of brush pens	94	(1)
9.2 Carvers	95	(1)
9.3 Other titles for artists and scribes	96	(2)
10 CERAMIC TEXTS	98	(10)
10.1 General remarks	98	(1)
10.2 The Primary Standard Sequence (PSS)	99	(9)
11 THE SUPERNATURAL WORLD	108	(15)
11.1 General remarks	108	(1)
11.2 Divinity and godhead	109	(1)
11.3 The major gods	110	(8)
11.4 Paired gods	118	(1)
11.5 Triads	118	(1)
11.6 The Death Gods	119	(2)
11.7 The way spirit-companions	121	(2)
12 THE INANIMATE AND ANIMATE WORLDS	123	(14)
12.1 The physical world	123	(5)
12.1.1 The directions	123	(2)
12.1.2 The colors	125	(1)
12.1.3 The sky and the earth	126	(2)
12.2 Humans	128	(1)
12.3 Animals	129	(3)
12.4 Buildings and structures	132	(1)
12.5 Stone objects	133	(2)
12.6 Pottery vessels	135	(1)
12.7 Costume and personal adornment	135	(2)
Illustration Examples	137	(18)
Syllabary	155	(6)
A Maya Lexicon	161	(6)
Calendrical Formulae and Tables	167	(1)
Software Programs	168	(1)
Exercise Answers	169	(3)
Brief Bibliography	172	(1)
Acknowledgments	173	(1)
Index	174