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Mayan codices (singular codex) are books written by the Mayans in the ancient Mayan hieroglyphic writing system. There were many such books in existence, but they were destroyed in bulk by the Conquistadors and priests after the Spanish conquest, famously all those in Yucatan were ordered destroyed by Bishop Diego de Landa in July of 1562.
Only three codices and a fragment of a fourth survived to modern times. These are:
- The Madrid Codex, also known as the Tro-Cortesianus Codex
- The Dresden Codex
- The Paris Codex, also known as the Peresianus Codex
- The Grolier Fragment
The Dresden Codex is held in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, a museum in Dresden, Germany. It is an important work, as it explains to us the details of the Mayan calendar and number system. The codex is written on a long sheet of paper which is 'fanfolded' to make a book of about 39 leaves, written on both sides. It was probably written by Mayan scribes just before the Spanish conquest. Somehow it made its way to Europe and was bought by the royal library of the court of Saxony in Dresden in 1739.
The Madrid Codex deals with horoscopes and astrological tables and is the product of eight different scribes. It is in Madrid, where it may have been sent back to the Royal Court by Hernán Cortés.
The fourth known surviving Maya book, the Grolier Codex, is a fragment a few pages long.
External links
- Mayan Codices (http://www.mayadiscovery.com/ing/history/default.htm)
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