Signs 1-4, which are mostly destroyed, can hardly denote anything other than the four quarters of the globe, at least we can still recognize in 4 the sign for the east, which has also the fourth place in pages 46-50. They stand thus together five times in the middle of the left side of pages 46-50, which pertain to this subject. 5 to 9 are the sign for Venus repeated 5 times, probably denoting the four parts of its revolution as on pages 46-50 and also the revolution as a whole. In connection with this first appearance of the Venus sign, I would mention that
the same hieroglyph also occurs in the Tro-Cort., e.g., Cort. 25c, though this Manuscript contains little else that is astronomical, yet it also has the rectangular heavenly shields.
10. This is a well-known form of the Moan sign. In the Globus, Volume LXV, 1894, I sought to make it appear probable that the Moan also denoted the Pleiades, with whose disappearance and reappearance the beginning of the years seems to be connected. Likewise on page 50, where the 2920-period ends, the Venus and Moan signs appear at the top on the right-hand side.
11 and 12 are the same sign, being that of the 13th Uinal (Mac), with which 260 days of the year end, and hence this sign is also used as the sign of the Tonalamatl. The repetition seems to show, that not until the 73 Tonalamatls of the period of 18,980 days are doubled—thus obtaining the number 37,960 of such importance here—are the sun and Venus periods brought into unison (with the whole system).
13. The Kin sign (sun, day) with the superfix, which in all probability expresses conjunction, union, and which, in my opinion, we also see on page 51, combined with Kin and Imix, as the sign for 18,980 days, is used here after the two Tonalamatls to denote the doubling of this period.
14-18. If the preceding signs led us to the Venus-solar period and to the continuation of this subject on pages 46-50, these five hieroglyphs bring us to the Mercury-lunar period and later, on pages 51-58, which are devoted to the same period, we shall find a parallel especially on the last page. First comes 14, which, as has been acknowledged, is the sign for 20 × 360 = 7200 days. 15, a hand holding a rectangle divided by a cross into four parts, is, I believe, the sign for the period of 20 days augmented to 21 by the 1 in front of it. The much more distinct form of sign 16 on the middle of page 58 and also at the top of page 53, should be compared with the sign as given here. The top part is the familiar Ben-Ik sign denoting the 10th and 19th days, and the bottom is the sign of the 14th division of 20 days, which make up the year. Now, however, the 10th day, when it becomes the 19th of the next 20 days, is distant from the first 29 days. The prefix consists of two parts:—First two small circles
joined by a zigzag line, which I think denotes the division of a day into halves; the sign would then equal 29½ days, i.e., very nearly the true lunar month. Second, of two vertical lines, which might denote a doubling. The whole would then be equal to 2 × 29½ = 59. I admit that this interpretation is very artificial and I should be very glad if a better explanation could be found. On the other hand the 17th hieroglyph becomes quite clear when it is compared with the parallel passage on page 58; it is 13 × 360 = 4680 days, a third of the remarkable period of 14,040 days.
Thus we have
| Hieroglyph | 14 = | 7200 | |
| " | 15 = | 21 | |
| " | 16 = | 59 | |
| " | 17 = | 4680 | |
| ——— | |||
| 11960 | , | ||
which is exactly the lunar-Mercury period.