The most well known Mayan codex (accordion-folded book) is
the Dresden Codex (also known as the Codex Dresensis). Lost and found again, this
codex is a major source of information on Maya astronomy and the calendar
system.
Origin
Archaeologists think the Dresden Codex hails from the
Yucatan region of the Mayan world. They also think it’s the oldest of the four
known codices, and was crafted sometime between the 1200s and the 1300s AD.
Thompson says it was made in 1200 AD to 1250 AD, while Satterthwaite says it
can’t be earlier than 1345 AD, but another man – Everson – says it was sometime
in the 1200s.
Beyond its creation date, the truth about other aspects of
the codex is also under consideration. It’s possible the codex was created by
four scribes, and these scribes may’ve been copying an older book from around
755 AD.
Travel To Europe
At some point, someone took the codex from the Maya and it
ended up in Europe. It’s not entirely clear how the codex made it there. One
theory says that the Dresden Codex’s trip across the Atlantic occurred in 1519,
when Hernán Cortés gave it to Emperor Charles V.
However it got to Europe, in 1739 a man named D. Johann
Christian Goetze bought the codex while he was in Vienna. Goetze was the head
of the Royal Library in Dresden (a city once part of Saxony, now part of modern
Germany), and the codex became part of the library’s collection.
The codex remained a book in the Royal Library, where the
upper left corners of its pages were damaged by water during World War II,
during the bombing of Dresden. A man named Yuri Knorzov (a Russian soldier who
became a famous scholar of the Maya) took the codex.
Dimensions
This codex possesses 39 “pages”, which are about 3.5 inches
wide and about 8 inches tall. In total, when unfolded the Dresden Codex is
about 11.5 feet long. It is possible that it had more pages that are now lost.
Contents
What does the Dresden Codex contain in its pages? That is
still a matter of debate. Though archaeologists believe that it contains
eclipse and other planetary cycle information, the details are not always
clear. Things they think the codex contains include ritual calendars and
divinations based on the sun, Venus and the moon. It is also possible that
Mars' cycle is included in the Dresden Codex.
References:
“The Ancient Maya”; Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006
University of Arizona Libraries: Mayan Codex Facsimiles
Library of Congress: Exploring the Early Americas: Dresden Codex
