Applying rule 4 (p. [253]) to this tonalamatl, we have: 52 × 5 = 260, the exact number of days in a tonalamatl.
The foregoing tonalamatls have been taken from the pages of the Dresden Codex or those of the Codex Tro-Cortesiano. Unfortunately, in the Codex Peresianus no complete tonalamatls remain, though one or two fragmentary ones have been noted.
No matter how they are divided or with what days they begin, all tonalamatls seem to be composed of the same essentials:
1. The calendric parts, made up, as we have seen on page [251], of (a) the column of day signs; (b) the red numbers; (c) the black numbers.
2. The pictures of anthropomorphic figures and animals engaged in a variety of pursuits, and
3. The groups of four or six glyphs above each of the pictures.
The relation of these parts to the tonalamatl as a whole is practically determined. The first is the calendric background, the chronological framework, as it were, of the period. The second and third parts amplify this and give the special meaning and significance to the subdivisions. The pictures represent in all probability the deities who presided over the several subdivisions of the tonalamatls in which they appear, and the glyphs above them probably set forth their names, as well as the ceremonies connected with, or the prognostications for, the corresponding periods.
It will be seen, therefore, that in its larger sense the meaning of the tonalamatl is no longer a sealed book, and while there remains a vast amount of detail yet to be worked out the foundation has been laid upon which future investigators may build with confidence.
In closing this discussion of the tonalamatl it may not be out of place to mention here those whose names stand as pioneers in this particular field of glyphic research. To the investigations of Prof. Ernst Förstemann we owe the elucidation of the calendric part of the tonalamatl, and to Dr. Paul Schellhas the identification of the gods and their corresponding name glyphs in parts (2) and (3), above. As pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, the most promising
line of research in the codices is the groups of glyphs above the pictures, and from their decipherment will probably come the determination of the meaning of this interesting and unusual period.