Codex Dresdensis online

The Library of University and State in Dresden(Germany) presents the alleged doomsday calendar of the Mayan Indians now online.
It consists of 39 leaves of fig tree bark, which together reach 3.50 meters in length. The Codex shows hieroglyphs, images and icons, which preserved the knowledge of diseases, harvest times, religious ceremonies, sacrifices and Astronomy of the Mayan priests.
The calendar was decrypted in the 19th Century by the Dresdner librarian Ernst Wilhelm Förstemann. Buerger(Director of the Library) said there are other Maya records in Madrid, Paris and Mexico City.
However, only the Dresden document contains a calendar and an apocalyptic image which displays a flood accompanied by mythic dragon figures.
Most likely all pretty well known already, but I didn't want to post just a link
Libr ary of State and University Dresden
Calendar as PDF download(32Mb, recommended, wonderful pictures)

The great flood:

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The images in the PDF are really nice.
It's worth the download!
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This is an outstanding piece of world heritage. I was struck by the consistency of the characters and figures, their writing system was obviously a well established convention.
I am guessing that the left/right facings of the figures conveys some meaning as nearly all of the single figures are shown facing left.
If anyone knows where I can find a good commentary on this please post a link as I would like to look further in to this.
Such a shame that this is one of perhaps only 3 such works still in existence.
The knowledge of nearly an entire civilization was lost in the rush for gold and empire.

Thank you for posting this

The knowledge of nearly an entire civilization was lost in the rush for gold and empire.

reply to post by Asktheanimals
Mostly due to the fact that the Catholic priests burned almost all of the codices that they could lay their hands on.

They were destroying links that the next generations of natives would have to their own heritage and religion, making it easier for the priests to push Catholicism.

Fr. Bartolomé de las Casas lamented that when found, such books were destroyed: "These books were seen by our clergy, and even I saw part of those that were burned by the monks, apparently because they thought [they] might harm the Indians in matters concerning religion, since at that time they were at the beginning of their conversion."

Wikipedia: Mayan Codex

reply to post by butcherguy


I thought about bashing the church for their role in it and it would have been justly deserved.
I prefer to ponder the meaning and beauty of the work rather than get too caught up in the politics of ethnic cleansing, so that's why I avoided saying anything about it.
Supposedly 4 different scribes worked on this codex yet there is a consistency throughout that amazes me.
How much knowledge did they burn?
It's too much to ponder right now, what's done is done.

reply to post by Asktheanimals
I tried not to bash, as I attend a Catholic church(and I'm not a Catholic). I just put the facts out there.

I thought it was admirable that Fr. de las Casas wrote the truth about the matter, when at the time he might have been tortured for saying such things.

I am sure that the priests that burned the codices did so with what they thought were good intentions. I wonder if there are any of those pieces in the Vatican library..... You know, the secret one?

thank you, i love the art.

too bad so many human cultures were destroyed in the last two thousand years.

the outfits and noses on the drawings, fantastic.

makes one wonder, how much was real and how much from altered drug state.

the pictures could be a form of caricature?
reality amplified.

reply to post by citizen6511

It has been estimated that over 1,500 of these bark-codices were burned in Catholic Bonfires under the auspicies of the catholic church represented primarily (but not soley) by Father Diego de Landa (1524-1579), the Bishop of the Yucatán - Look at what he allegedly said before he died -

"You knew. didn''t you, that we had collected from the Mayan priests a vast number of their priest's bark books which were written in these same heathen characters but since they contained nothing to us but vile superstition and being full of the Devil's lies, we decided to burn them all. When their priests saw how were were disposing by fire of all of their ancient and sacred texts, the highest among them reacted in such an agonied & frenzied horror that I scarecely have the words in my mouth to be able to describe it to you...'

One can only imagine what these priests, guardians of their sacred lore for millenia, were thinking when they saw so many centuries of careful caluclation and observation go up in smoke at the hands of the outsiders !!

It has been an oral tradition among the remnants of the scattered Mayan priesthood to-day in Guatemala that the Catholics were only able to burn about half of what they had, and skirted the rest away 'buried in our caves where the white man will never be able to get at them...'

Interestingly, western archaeologists have uncovered over 150,000 earthen-ware jars and plates buried in Mayan sacred sites (many are just personal belongings with texts that say 'the cereal bowl belonging to the king') but others seem to recount much of the mythic and scientific astronomical information that was once pained on the destroyed bark-codices- with texts in 2 ccolumn blocks which now finally can be photographed in columns (by turning the vase around and photographing one section at a time - then re-arranged in order to be read like a text - this painstaking process will take about 15 more years, and many of the restored texts with many colourful Mayan glyphs resembling the Dresden Codex will be on the internet as early as 2012...


en.wikipedia.org...

So...maybe...all is not lost after all...although that is NO EXCUSE at all for the idiocy and race hatred of that Roman Catholic Arch-Monster 'Father' de Landa !!!!!

I would point out that the Maya and other meso-american groups also tended to destroy the heritage of cities and peoples they captured. It is a common human response to capturing a difference culture. What is different is that the Spanish documented the destruction while the Maya did not.

The Maya were not a unified culture and in some ways they were like Greek city states - always at one another throats, there were about thirty separate dialects and cultures.

One of the true mysteries of archaeology is whether any other codex survived - there were rumours in the 1920's of a tin trunk delivered to a Mayan professor that was reportedly full of them....but so much for rumours.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


I agree wholeheartedly. Outstanding piece of History,and glad to be able to see it. Just imagine how many beautiful historical objects were destroyed for the lust of Gold,and the conquering of lands. I hope to see more treasures like this.

Part1

Looks like something my kids would draw.
Second Line

Originally posted by Gravity215
Looks like something my kids would draw.
Second Line

Give that kid a scholarship!

reply to post by derpif


Thank you very much. It'll be interesting to see when I finish the download. Again, thank you.

Oh wow, thanks everyone for participating.
Very much appreciated.

It's very unfortunate that so much of the Mayan history is forever lost.
It must have hurt so bad to see the hard work of many generations to go up in flames.
Hopefully pieces like this Codex will serve as a testament to future generations on the value of historic items.

reply to post by Asktheanimals

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
I am guessing that the left/right facings of the figures conveys some meaning as nearly all of the single figures are shown facing left.
If anyone knows where I can find a good commentary on this please post a link as I would like to look further in to this.

Well spotted, didn't noticed that to be honest.
Ernst Wilhelm Foerstemann, who decrypted the Codex, must have noticed and adressed that very question.
I'll try if I can find something and will let you know if I succeed.


reply to post by Sigismundus

Thank you for posting this piece of information

reply to post by Asktheanimals

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reply to post by Asktheanimals

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reply to post by Asktheanimals


Breaking the Maya Code by Michael Coe is a fantastic resource. Great scholar on all things Mayan, and has several wonderful books out there.

reply to post by Skooter_NB


Greatly appreciated!
Thank you