Fig. 20.—The Bee god. (Codex Troano.)
Representations of the Planet Venus.—In view of the prominent part which the Venus-year plays in the calculations of the Codices, it has surprised students that no pictorial figures of this bright star appear on their pages. On this point I have some suggestions to make.
In one part of the Codex Troano (pp. 1*–10*) there are a great many—nearly fifty—pictures of an insect resembling a bee in descending flight. These pages have been explained by Thomas as relating to apiculture and the festivals of the bee-keepers, and by Seler, who rejects that rendering, as referring generally to the descent of deities to receive offerings. Direction downward is indicated not only by the position of the insect, but by the accompanying hieroglyph, which reads caban, the first syllable of which, cab, means “downward.” My suggestion is that in this bee-like insect we have an ikonomatic allusion to the Evening Star, which, as I have already stated, was sometimes called xux ek, “the bee or wasp star.”[[80]]
Not only is the picture phonetically appropriate, and the “sign” consistent, but that a deity is referred to is shown by three anthropomorphic pictures of the bee (two on p. 4* and one on p. 5*). Furthermore, the “sign” or monogram of the bee deity (Fig. [20]) appears on the so-called “title pages” of the Cod. Tro. and Cod. Cortes., adjacent to that of the north star, indicating that another stellar deity is represented.
The object toward which the insect descends is generally either a fire, or that shown in Fig. [22].[[81]] This was supposed by Brasseur to be a honeycomb, and by Seler, a food offering. It is almost precisely the conventional representation of the clouds, as may be noted in the interesting scene on Cod. Tro., p. 5*, where this object is placed upon the earth, below which is the cloud symbol. Often it is yellowish, a point which has been urged in proof that it is honey. Does it not mean the golden-hued clouds of sunset, and the fire, the flame of the setting sun, into which the Evening Star descends?
The sign caban, “downward,” naturally refers to the Earth.[[82]] Thither sinks the star of evening to join the departed orb of day; hence this star mythically becomes the Earth-goddess, the associate of the setting sun. Cuculcan is very frequently depicted in relation to an old crone, having, like himself, but one tooth, and, like himself, ever engaged in kindly offices, good to men. She, I take it, is the Evening Star in her epiphany as Mother Earth, source of life, ancestress of the race.
Fig. 21.—Monograms of the Bee God.
Fig. 22.—Offerings to the Bee God.