Maya codices (sg.: codex) are folding books written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark paper. The folding books are the products of professional scribes working under the patronage of deities such as the Tonsured Maize God and the Howler Monkey Gods. The codices have been named for the cities where they eventually settled. The Dresden Codex is generally considered the most important of the few that survive.
The Maya made paper from the inner bark of a certain wild fig tree, Ficus cotinifolia.[1][2] This sort of paper was generally known by the word huun in Mayan languages (the Aztec people far to the north used the word āmatl [ˈaːmat͡ɬ] for paper). The Maya developed their huun-paper around the 5th century.[3] Maya paper was more durable and a better writing surface than papyrus.[4]
Our knowledge of ancient Maya thought must represent only a tiny fraction of the whole picture, for of the thousands of books in which the full extent of their learning and ritual was recorded, only four have survived to modern times (as though all that posterity knew of ourselves were to be based upon three prayer books and Pilgrim's Progress).
— Michael D. Coe[5]
- ^ Schottmueller, Paul Werner (February 2020). A Study of the Religious Worldview and Ceremonial Life of the Inhabitants of Palenque and Yaxchilan (MLA). Harvard University. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ Hellmuth, Nicholas M. "Economic Potential for Amate Trees" (PDF). Maya Archaeology. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ Burns, Marna (2004). The Complete Book of Handcrafted Paper. Dover Publications. p. 199. ISBN 9780486435442.
- ^ Wiedemann, Hans G.; Brzezinka, Klaus-Werner; Witke, Klaus & Lamprecht, Ingolf (May 2007). "Thermal and Raman-spectroscopic analysis of Maya Blue carrying artefacts, especially fragment IV of the Codex Huamantla". Thermochimica Acta. 456 (1): 56–63. Bibcode:2007TcAc..456...56W. doi:10.1016/j.tca.2007.02.002.
- ^ Coe, Michael D. The Maya, London: Thames and Hudson, 4th ed., 1987, p. 161