[Plate XXIX.]
(a) Stone Sculpture of the Early Zapotecan Period showing Rulers seated upon Thrones before an Altar.
(b) Jade Tablets pierced for Suspension, found in Zapotecan Tomb.
The 260 day cycle of the time count, was subdivided into four periods of 65 days and each period was under control of a single god and was associated with one of the cardinal points. Each period of sixty-five days was further divided into five groups of thirteen days for a ceremonial reason. Some authorities have considered that the general form of the Central American calendar originated in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and spread to the north and to the south. But dependable history in the Mayan area goes back much farther than in the Zapotecan region and renders such a guess extremely hazardous.
Mitla.
The famous temples of Mitla are the best-preserved examples of architecture on the highlands of Mexico and are peculiar in form and decoration. The word Mitla is a corruption of the Aztecan word Mictlan, place of the dead. This site was the burial ground of Zapotecan kings and may have been a place of pilgrimage. It was conquered by the Aztecs in the last decade of the fifteenth century. While the architecture belongs in a class by itself the frescoes have the distinct character of the Aztecan period.
Fig. 55. Wall Paintings of Mitla, resembling in style the Pictographic Art of the Codices from Southern Mexico.