Mexican and Central American antiquities, calendar systems, and history; . s us / struck by thespear, a shield and a bundle of spears, and above them an eagleshead, familiar symbols of w^ar and of warriors. The shield andbundle of spears are in a field which is painted yellow, streaked, andbeset with a verticillate design. This picture might signify fire or aburnt field or might even be regarded as an elliptical representationof the atl-tlachinolli, water and fire ; that is, of Avar. In CodexVaticanus we have corresponding to those symbols in which Ave seewater and a mountain Avith an eagle pe
Mexican and Central American antiquities, calendar systems, and history; . s us / struck by thespear, a shield and a bundle of spears, and above them an eagleshead, familiar symbols of w^ar and of warriors. The shield andbundle of spears are in a field which is painted yellow, streaked, andbeset with a verticillate design. This picture might signify fire or aburnt field or might even be regarded as an elliptical representationof the atl-tlachinolli, water and fire ; that is, of Avar. In CodexVaticanus we have corresponding to those symbols in which Ave seewater and a mountain Avith an eagle perched upon it. The eagle isundoubtedly again to be regarded as a symbol of the warrior. Themountain is painted yelloAv. Fire and the atl-tlachinolli might henceperhaps again be suggested. It seems more probable to me, hoAv-ever, that the Avater and the mountain are an expression for atl-tepetl, that is, altepetl, or for the aua-tepeua, the village , the com-munity or the toAvnsmen, in contradistinction to the king. In tlatoani seler] VENUS PERIOD IN PICTURE WRITINGS 881. Fig. 100. Symbolic figures from the Maya and Mexican codices. 382 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 2S in altepetl, the king and the community are always mentionedtogether in the texts. The representations which occupy the fourth and fifth places in theDresden manuscript are apparently of an entirely different the fourth place (page 49) it is the tortoise that is struck by thespear, h. In the fifth j^lace (page 50) we see the figure of a warriorcharacterized by a peculiar involute marking running over the eye,which is also distinguishable in the hieroglyph (a, figure 101).Here the last figure, at least, seems to me to be a parallel repre-sentation to the one which occurs in the fifth place in the manuscriptsof the Borgian codex group. That a is particularly intended todenote a warrior seems to me clear, from the fact that this is theonly one of the five figures struck by a spear who is represented i
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmayas, bookyear1904
