An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs

by Sylvanus Griswold Morley

[143] Although this date is considerably older than that on Stela 9 at Copan, its several glyphs present none of the marks of antiquity noted in connection with the preceding example (pl. [8], B). For example, the ends of the bars denoting 5 are not square but round, and the head-variant period glyphs do not show the same elaborate and ornate treatment as in the Copan text. This apparent contradiction permits of an easy explanation. Although the Initial Series on the west side of Stela C at Quirigua undoubtedly refers to an earlier date than the Initial Series on the Copan monument, it does not follow that the Quirigua monument is the older of the two. This is true because on the other side of this same stela at Quirigua is recorded another date, 9.17.5.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Kayab, more than three hundred years later than the Initial Series 9.1.0.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Yaxkin on the west side, and this later date is doubtless the one which referred to present time when this monument was erected. Therefore the Initial Series 9.1.0.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Yaxkin does not represent the period which Stela C was erected to mark, but some far earlier date in Maya history.

[144] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pl. 74.

[145] For the full text of this inscription see Maler, 1903: II, No. 2, pls. 74, 75.

[146] For the full text of this inscription see Maler, 1903: II, No. 2, pl. 79, 2.

[147] For the full text of this inscription see Maler, 1911: V, No. 1, pl. 15.

[148] As used throughout this book, the expression "the contemporaneous date" designates the time when the monument on which such a date is found was put into formal use, that is, the time of its erection. As will appear later in the discussion of the Secondary Series, many monuments present several dates between the extremes of which elapse long periods. Obviously, only one of the dates thus recorded can represent the time at which the monument was erected. In such inscriptions the final date is almost invariably the one designating contemporaneous time, and the earlier dates refer probably to historical, traditional, or even mythological events in the Maya past. Thus the Initial Series 9.0.19.2.4 2 Kan 2 Yax on Lintel 21 at Yaxchilan, 9.1.0.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Yazkin on the west side of Stela C at Quirigua, and 9.4.0.0.0 13 Ahau 18 Yax from the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque, all refer probably to earlier historical or traditional events in the past of these three cities, but they do not indicate the dates at which they were severally recorded. As Initial Series which refer to purely mythological events may be classed the Initial Series from the Temples of the Sun, Cross, and Foliated Cross at Palenque, and from the east side of Stela C at Quirigua, all of which are concerned with dates centering around or at the beginning of Maya chronology. Stela 3 at Tikal (the text here under discussion), on the other hand, has but one date, which probably refers to the time of its erection, and is therefore contemporaneous.

[149] There are one or two earlier Initial Series which probably record contemporaneous dates; these are not inscribed on large stone monuments but on smaller antiquities, namely, the Tuxtla Statuette and the Leyden Plate. For the discussion of these early contemporaneous Initial Series, see pp. [194]-[198].

[150] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: II, pls. 4-7.

[151] For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: IV, pls. 80-82.

[152] As explained on p. [179], footnote 1, this Initial Series refers probably to some mythological event rather than to any historical occurrence. The date here recorded precedes the historic period of the Maya civilization by upward of 3,000 years.