1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910821017503321

Autore

Milbrath Susan

Titolo

Star gods of the Maya : astronomy in art, folklore, and calendars / / Susan Milbrath

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Austin, : University of Texas Press, 1999

ISBN

0-292-77851-1

0-292-79793-1

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (383 p.)

Collana

The Linda Schele series in Maya and pre-Columbian studies

Disciplina

520/.972

Soggetti

Maya astronomy

Maya calendar

Mayas - Religion

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [313]-337) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. CONTEMPORARY MAYA IMAGES OF THE HEAVENS -- 2. NAKED-EYE ASTRONOMY -- 3. PRECOLUMBIAN AND COLONIAL PERIOD MAYA SOLAR IMAGES -- 4. PRECOLUMBIAN AND COLONIAL PERIOD LUNAR IMAGES AND DEITIES -- 5. VENUS AND MERCURY: THE BODY DOUBLES -- 6. THE CELESTIAL WANDERERS -- 7. STARS, THE MILKY WAY, COMETS, AND METEORS -- APPENDIX 1. Guide to Astronomical Identities -- APPENDIX 2. Table of Classic Period Dates, Monuments, and Associated Astronomical Events -- APPENDIX 3. Table for Calculating the Tzolkin Intervals -- GLOSSARY -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- PLATES

Sommario/riassunto

Observations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars played a central role in ancient Maya lifeways, as they do today among contemporary Maya who maintain the traditional ways. This pathfinding book reconstructs ancient Maya astronomy and cosmology through the astronomical information encoded in Precolumbian Maya art and confirmed by the current practices of living Maya peoples. Susan Milbrath opens the book with a discussion of modern Maya beliefs about astronomy, along with essential information on naked-eye observation. She devotes subsequent chapters to Precolumbian astronomical imagery, which she traces back through time, starting from the Colonial and Postclassic



eras. She delves into many aspects of the Maya astronomical images, including the major astronomical gods and their associated glyphs, astronomical almanacs in the Maya codices [painted books], and changes in the imagery of the heavens over time. This investigation yields new data and a new synthesis of information about the specific astronomical events and cycles recorded in Maya art and architecture. Indeed, it constitutes the first major study of the relationship between art and astronomy in ancient Maya culture.