1.
Codex
–
A codex is a book constructed of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus, or similar materials, with hand-written contents. The book is bound by stacking the pages and fixing one edge. Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina, the alternative to paged codex format for a long document is the continuous scroll. Examples of folded codices include the Maya codices, sometimes people use the term for a book-style format, including modern printed books but excluding folded books. The Romans developed the form from wooden writing tablets, the codexs gradual replacement of the scroll—the dominant book form in the ancient world—has been called the most important advance in book making before the invention of printing. The codex transformed the shape of the book itself, and offered a form that lasted for centuries, the spread of the codex is often associated with the rise of Christianity, which adopted the format for use with the Bible early on. In fact, any combination of codices and scrolls with papyrus and parchment is technically feasible, the codex began to replace the scroll almost as soon as it was invented. In Egypt, by the century, the codex outnumbered the scroll by ten to one based on surviving examples. By the sixth century, the scroll had almost vanished as a medium for literature, technically, even modern paperbacks are codices, but publishers and scholars reserve the term for manuscript books produced from Late antiquity until the Middle Ages. The scholarly study of manuscripts from the point of view of the bookbinding craft is called codicology. The study of ancient documents in general is called paleography, the Romans used precursors made of reusable wax-covered tablets of wood for taking notes and other informal writings. Two ancient polyptychs, a pentatych and octotych, excavated at Herculaneum used a connecting system that presages later sewing on of thongs or cords. Julius Caesar may have been the first Roman to reduce scrolls to pages in the form of a note-book. At the turn of the 1st century AD, a kind of folded parchment notebook called pugillares membranei in Latin became commonly used for writing in the Roman Empire, theodore Cressy Skeat theorized that this form of notebook was invented in Rome and then spread rapidly to the Near East. Codices are described in works by the Classical Latin poet. He wrote a series of five couplets meant to accompany gifts of literature that Romans exchanged during the festival of Saturnalia. ”Early codices of parchment or papyrus appear to have widely used as personal notebooks. The parchment notebook pages were commonly washed or scraped for re-use and consequently, writings in a codex were often considered informal, as early as the early 2nd century, there is evidence that a codex—usually of papyrus—was the preferred format among Christians. In the library of the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum, however, in the Nag Hammadi library, hidden about AD390, all texts are codices
Codex
–
The
Codex Gigas, 13th century, Bohemia.
Codex
–
Codices largely replaced scrolls similar to this.
Codex
–
Reproduced Roman-style
wax tablet, from which the codex evolved
Codex
–
Early medieval bookcase containing about ten codices depicted in the
Codex Amiatinus (ca. 700)
2.
Maya civilization
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The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture, the first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC, in the Late Preclassic a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop a number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful, the Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonized the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city in 1697. Classic period rule was centred on the concept of the divine king, kingship was patrilineal, and power would normally pass to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader. Maya politics was dominated by a system of patronage, although the exact political make-up of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic, the aristocracy had greatly increased, resulting in the reduction in the exclusive power of the divine king. Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, the Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, there are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a complex series of interlocking ritual calendars. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice, the Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers a region that spreads from northern Mexico southwards into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradles of civilization worldwide, the Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural developments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing, and calendrical systems
Maya civilization
–
El Castillo, at
Chichen Itza
Maya civilization
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Detail of Lintel 26 from
Yaxchilan
Maya civilization
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Maya civilization
Maya civilization
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Kaminaljuyu, in the highlands, and
El Mirador, in the lowlands, were both important cities in the Late Preclassic.
3.
Saxon State and University Library Dresden
–
The Saxon State and University Library Dresden, abbreviated SLUB Dresden, is located in Dresden, Germany. It is both the library for the German State of Saxony as well as the academic library for the Dresden University of Technology. It was created in 1996 through the merger of the Saxon State Library, the seemingly redundant name is to show that the library brings both these institutional traditions together. The SLUB moved into a new building in 2002 to bring together the inventories of both its predecessors. Its collection numbers nearly nine million, making it one of the largest public archival centers in the Federal Republic of Germany and it holds significant treasures, including the Codex Dresdensis, an octagonal Koran from 1184 and a copy of the Peter Schoeffer Bible printed in 1462. Within the SLUB is the Deutsche Fotothek, holding some 4 million photographs from the past 80 years, and it is a special-interest collection library of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft focusing on “Contemporary Art after 1945” and “History of Technology”. Both collections also include such as commercial photography, documentary photography, photographic art. The first preserved index of the state library’s collections dates back to the year 1574, further services on the internet include, for example, the Kartenforum with historical maps of Saxony and the Fotothek, providing pictorial documents for research. The Deutsche Fotothek is based on the Dresden traditions of photographic techniques, the Landesbildstelle was originally established in Chemnitz, but was shortly afterwards, in 1925, relocated to Dresden. Since 1956 the inventory has been labeled Fotothek, since 1983 it has belonged to the Sächsische Landesbibliothek as a separate section. With 2.3 million photographic documents, the Fotothek has a large share of the overall holdings. The oldest images from around 1850 can be traced back to the photographer Hermann Krone, there are only three other existing codices left. They are located in Paris, Madrid, and Mexico, the Codex runs for inclusion in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. The elaborately-restored Dresdner Sachsenspiegel is exhibited in the chamber for six weeks each year. As part of the Bibliotheca Corviniana, the Corvines of Dresden have been admitted into the Memory of the World Program by UNESCO in 2005, since 2007, the SLUB Dresden operates the Dresden Digitization Center and has been continually expanding its capacity up to 3 million pages per year. More than 95,000 volumes have been digitized and are free to use within the Digital Collections, the SLUB is one of the major providers of data for the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, which has been accessible online since November 2012. This is also facilitated by numerous third-party funds, especially by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, in this way, the SLUB e. g. participates in the digitization of indexes of printing published in the German language area in the 17th and 18th centuries. Also worth mentioning is the digitization of the editions of August Wilhelm Schlegel’s collection
Saxon State and University Library Dresden
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Main reading room of the Saxon State Library
Saxon State and University Library Dresden
–
Shelves of the open access holdings
Saxon State and University Library Dresden
–
Some of the library's most precious books are exhibited in the treasure chamber
Saxon State and University Library Dresden
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Sheet of the Codex Dresdensis
4.
Dresden, Germany
–
Dresden is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic, Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque, the controversial American and British bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city centre. After the war restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Zwinger. Since German reunification in 1990 Dresden is again a cultural, educational and political centre of Germany, the Dresden University of Technology is one of the 10 largest universities in Germany and part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative. The economy of Dresden and its agglomeration is one of the most dynamic in Germany and it is dominated by high-tech branches, often called as “Silicon Saxony”. The city is one of the most visited in Germany with 4,3 million overnight stays per year. The royal buildings are among the most impressive buildings in Europe, main sights are also the nearby National Park of Saxon Switzerland, the Ore Mountains and the countryside around Elbe Valley and Moritzburg Castle. The most prominent building in the city of Dresden is the Frauenkirche, built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed during World War II. The remaining ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial, the church was rebuilt from 1994 to 2005. Although Dresden is a relatively recent city of Germanic origin followed by settlement of Slavic people, Dresdens founding and early growth is associated with the eastward expansion of Germanic peoples, mining in the nearby Ore Mountains, and the establishment of the Margraviate of Meissen. Its name etymologically derives from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the forest, Dresden later evolved into the capital of Saxony. Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drežďany had developed on the southern bank, another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unknown. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin by 1350, and later as Altendresden, dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place Civitas Dresdene. After 1270, Dresden became the capital of the margraviate and it was given to Friedrich Clem after death of Henry the Illustrious in 1288. It was taken by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1316 and was restored to the Wettin dynasty after the death of Valdemar the Great in 1319, from 1485, it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well. The Elector and ruler of Saxony Frederick Augustus I became King Augustus II the Strong of Poland in personal union and he gathered many of the best musicians, architects and painters from all over Europe to the newly named Royal-Polish Residential City of Dresden. His reign marked the beginning of Dresdens emergence as a leading European city for technology, during the reign of Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland the Zwinger Royal Palace, the Hofkirche and the Frauenkirche were built
Dresden, Germany
–
Clockwise: Dresden at night,
Dresden Frauenkirche,
Schloss Pillnitz,
Dresden Castle and
Zwinger.
Dresden, Germany
–
The
Fürstenzug —the Saxon sovereigns depicted in
Meissen porcelain
Dresden, Germany
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Dresden in 1521
Dresden, Germany
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Image of Dresden during the 1890s, before extensive World War II destruction. Landmarks include
Dresden Frauenkirche,
Augustus Bridge, and
Katholische Hofkirche.
5.
Accordion
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Accordions are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type, colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist, the concertina and bandoneón are related, the harmonium and American reed organ are in the same family. The instrument is played by compressing or expanding the bellows while pressing buttons or keys, causing pallets to open and these vibrate to produce sound inside the body. Valves on opposing reeds of each note are used to make the instruments reeds sound louder without air leaking from each reed block. The performer normally plays the melody on buttons or keys on the manual. The accordion is widely spread across the world, nevertheless, in Europe and North America, some popular music acts also make use of the instrument. Additionally, the accordion is used in cajun, zydeco, jazz music. The piano accordion is the official city instrument of San Francisco, the oldest name for this group of instruments is harmonika, from the Greek harmonikos, meaning harmonic, musical. Today, native versions of the accordion are more common. These names refer to the type of accordion patented by Cyrill Demian, accordions have many configurations and types. Similar to a bow, the production of sound in an accordion is in direct proportion to the motion of the player. The bellows is located between the right- and left-hand manuals, and is made from pleated layers of cloth and cardboard, with added leather and metal. It is used to pressure and vacuum, driving air across the internal reeds and producing sound by their vibration. These boxes house reed chambers for the right- and left-hand manuals, each side has grilles in order to facilitate the transmission of air in and out of the instrument, and to allow the sound to better project. The grille for the manual is usually larger and is often shaped for decorative purposes. The right-hand manual is used for playing the melody and the left-hand manual for playing the accompaniment. The manual mechanism of the instrument either enables the air flow, or disables it, the different types have varying components. All instruments have reed ranks of some format, the most typical accordion is the piano accordion, which is used for many musical genres
Accordion
–
A
piano accordion (top) and a
Russian bayan (bottom)
Accordion
–
The Brazilian
Forró Accordionist
Dominguinhos
Accordion
–
A
Weltmeister piano accordion
Accordion
–
Accordion
reed ranks with closeup of reeds
6.
Mayan hieroglyph
–
The earliest inscriptions found which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE in San Bartolo, Guatemala. Maya writing was in use throughout Mesoamerica until the Spanish conquest of the Maya in the 16th and 17th centuries. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs, modern Mayan languages are written using the Latin alphabet rather than Maya script. It is now thought that the codices and other Classic texts were written by scribes, usually members of the Maya priesthood, there is also some evidence that the script may have been occasionally used to write Mayan languages of the Guatemalan Highlands. However, if languages were written, they may have been written by Ch’olti’ scribes. Mayan writing consisted of an elaborate set of glyphs, which were laboriously painted on ceramics, walls or bark-paper codices, carved in wood or stone. Carved and molded glyphs were painted, but the paint has rarely survived, about 90% of Mayan writing can now be read with varying degrees of certainty, enough to give a comprehensive idea of its structure. The Mayan script was a logosyllabic system, individual glyphs could represent either a word or a syllable, indeed, the same glyph could often be used for both. For example, the calendaric glyph MANIK’ was also used to represent the syllable chi, there was polyvalence in the other direction as well, different glyphs could be read the same way. For example, half a dozen apparently unrelated glyphs were used to write the common third person pronoun u-. However, in the case of Mayan, each tended to correspond to a noun or verb phrase such as his green headband. Also, glyphs were sometimes conflated, where an element of one glyph would replace part of a second, conflation occurs in other scripts, For example, in medieval Spanish manuscripts the word de of was sometimes written Ð. Another example is the ampersand which is a conflation of the Latin et, in place of the standard block configuration, Mayan was also sometimes written in a single row or column, L, or T shapes. These variations most often appeared when they would fit the surface being inscribed. For example, the logogram for fish fin, came to represent the syllable ka, for example, balam jaguar could be written as a single logogram, BALAM, complemented phonetically as ba-BALAM, or BALAM-ma, or ba-BALAM-ma, or written completely phonetically as ba-la-ma. Phonetic glyphs stood for simple consonant-vowel or bare-vowel syllables, when these final consonants were sonorants or gutturals they were sometimes ignored, but more often final consonants were written, which meant that an extra vowel was written as well. This was typically an echo vowel that repeated the vowel of the previous syllable and that is, the word fish fin would be underspelled ka or written in full as ka-ha. A more complex spelling is ha-o-bo ko-ko-no-ma for they are the guardians, a minimal set is, ba-ka ba-ki ba-ku = ba-ke ba-ke-le Despite depending on consonants which were frequently not written, the Mayan voice system was reliably indicated
Mayan hieroglyph
–
Pages 6, 7, and 8 of the
Dresden Codex, showing letters numbers and the images that often accompany Maya writing.
Mayan hieroglyph
–
Maya civilization
Mayan hieroglyph
–
Tikal or "Mutal" Emblem Glyph, Stela 26 in Tikal's Litoteca Museum
Mayan hieroglyph
–
An inscription in Maya glyphs from the site of
Naranjo, relating to the reign of king Itzamnaaj K'awil, 784–810
7.
Maya codices
–
This sort of paper was generally known by the word āmatl in Nahuatl, and by the word huun in Mayan. The folding books are the products of professional scribes working under the patronage of such as the Tonsured Maize God. The Maya developed their huun-paper around the 5th century, which is roughly the time that the codex became predominant over the scroll in the Roman world. However, Maya paper was more durable and a writing surface than papyrus. 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. There were many books in existence at the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán in the 16th century, however most were destroyed by the Conquistadors, in particular, many in Yucatán were ordered destroyed by Bishop Diego de Landa in July 1562. Such codices were the primary records of Maya civilization, together with the many inscriptions on stone monuments. However, their range of subject matter in all likelihood embraced more topics than those recorded in stone and buildings, however, not all were unaware of the books value, Fr. The last codices destroyed were those of Nojpetén, Guatemala in 1697, with their destruction, access to the history of the Maya and opportunity for insight into some key areas of Maya life was greatly diminished. There are only four codices whose authenticity is beyond doubt and these are, The Dresden Codex also known as the Codex Dresdensis, The Madrid Codex, also known as the Tro-Cortesianus Codex, The Paris Codex, also known as the Peresianus Codex. The Grolier Codex, also known as the Sáenz Codex, the Dresden Codex is held in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, the state library in Dresden, Germany. It is the most elaborate of the codices, and also an important specimen of Maya art. Many sections are ritualistic, others are of an astrological nature, the codex is written on a long sheet of paper that is screen-folded to make a book of 39 leaves, written on both sides. It was probably written 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 only exact replica, including the huun, made by a German artist is displayed at the Museo Nacional de Arqueología in Guatemala City, since October,2007. Between 1880 and 1900, Dresden librarian Ernst Förstemann succeeded in deciphering the Maya numerals, subsequent studies have decoded these astronomical almanacs, which include records of the cycles of the Sun and Moon, including eclipse tables, and all of the naked-eye planets. The Serpent Series, pp. 61–69, is an ephemeris of these phenomena that uses a base date of 1.18.1.8.0.16 in the prior era. The Codex was discovered in Spain in the 1860s, it was divided into two parts of differing sizes that were found in different locations, the Codex receives its alternate name of the Tro-Cortesianus Codex after the two parts that were separately discovered
Maya codices
–
Page 9 of the Dresden Codex (from the 1880
Förstemann edition)
Maya codices
–
plates 10 and 11 of the Dresden Maya Codex. Drawing by Lacambalam, 2001
Maya codices
–
Rain-bringing snakes, Madrid Codex
8.
Spanish Inquisition
–
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition, was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the Medieval Inquisition and it became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Christian Inquisition along with the Roman Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition. The Inquisition was originally intended primarily to ensure the orthodoxy of those who converted from Judaism, the regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after the royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1502 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert or leave Spain. The Inquisition was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabella II, the Spanish Inquisition is often stated in popular literature and history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression. Modern historians have tended to question earlier accounts concerning the severity of the Inquisition, Henry Kamen asserts that the myth of the all-powerful, torture-mad inquisition is largely an invention of nineteenth century Protestant authors with an agenda to discredit the Papacy. Although records are incomplete, about 150,000 persons were charged with crimes by the Inquisition and about 3,000 were executed. The Inquisition was created through papal bull, Ad Abolendam, issued at the end of the century by Pope Lucius III as a way to combat the Albigensian heresy in southern France. There were a number of tribunals of the Papal Inquisition in various European kingdoms during the Middle Ages. In the Kingdom of Aragon, a tribunal of the Papal Inquisition was established by the statute of Excommunicamus of Pope Gregory IX, in 1232, during the era of the Albigensian heresy. With time, its importance was diluted, and, by the middle of the fifteenth century, there was never a tribunal of the Papal Inquisition in Castile. Members of the episcopate were charged with surveillance of the faithful, during the Middle Ages, in Castile, little attention was paid to heresy by the Catholic ruling class. Jews and Muslims were tolerated and generally allowed to follow their traditional laws, however, by law, they were considered inferior to Catholics and were subject to discriminatory legislation. The Spanish Inquisition can be seen as an answer to the nature of Spanish society following the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim Moors. After invading in 711, large areas of the Iberian Peninsula were ruled by Muslims until 1250, when they were restricted to Granada, which fell in 1492. However, the Reconquista did not result in the expulsion of Muslims from Spain, since they. The Jews, who had previously thrived under Muslim rule, now suffered similar maltreatment, however, as Henry Kamen notes, so-called convivencia was always a relationship between unequals. Despite their legal inequality, there was a tradition of Jewish service to the crown of Aragon and Jews occupied many important posts. Castile itself had an unofficial rabbi, ferdinands father John II named the Jewish Abiathar Crescas to be Court Astronomer
Spanish Inquisition
–
The burning of a 16th-century Dutch
Anabaptist Anneken Hendriks, who was charged with heresy
Spanish Inquisition
–
Seal for the Tribunal in Spain.
Spanish Inquisition
–
Auto-da-fé,
Plaza Mayor in
Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru, 17th century
Spanish Inquisition
–
Diego Mateo López Zapata in his cell before his trial by the Inquisition Court of Cuenca
9.
New World
–
The New World is one of the names used for the Earths Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas. The term was coined by Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci, the Americas were also referred to as the fourth part of the world. New World are meaningful in historical context and for the purpose of distinguishing the worlds major ecozones, and to classify plant and animal species that originated therein. One can speak of the New World in a context, e. g. when discussing the voyages of Christopher Columbus. For lack of alternatives, the term is still useful to those discussing issues that concern the Americas. The term New World is used in a context, when one speaks of Old World. Biological taxonomists often attach the New World label to groups of species that are exclusively in the Americas, to distinguish them from their counterparts in the Old World. New World monkeys, New World vultures, New World warblers, the label is also often used in agriculture. Common Old World crops, and domesticated animals did not exist in the Americas until they were introduced by contact in the 1490s. Other famous New World crops include the cashew, cocoa, rubber, sunflower, tobacco, and vanilla, there are rare instances of overlap, e. g. In wine terminology, New World has a different definition, Vespucci was finally convinced when he proceeded on his mapping expedition through 1501-02, covering the huge stretch of coast of eastern Brazil. But this opinion is false, and entirely opposed to the truth, Vespuccis letter was a publishing sensation in Europe, immediately reprinted in several other countries. The Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto had used the term un altro mundo to refer to sub-Saharan Africa, however, this was merely a literary flourish, not a suggestion of a new fourth part of the world. Cadamosto was quite aware sub-Saharan Africa was firmly part of the African continent, the Italian-born Spanish chronicler Peter Martyr dAnghiera often shares credit with Vespucci for designating the Americas as a new world. Peter Martyr used the term Orbe Novo in the title of his history of the discovery of the Americas as a whole, a year later, Peter Martyr again refers to the marvels of the New Globe and the Western hemisphere. Christopher Columbus touched the continent of South America in his 1498 third voyage, in another letter, Columbus refers to having reached a new heavens and world and that he had placed another world under the dominion of the Kings of Spain. The Vespucci passage above applied the New World label to merely the continental landmass of South America, although the proceedings of the Toro-Burgos conferences are missing, it is almost certain that Vespucci articulated his recent New World thesis to his fellow navigators there. In English usage the term New World was problematic and only accepted relatively late, while it became generally accepted after Vespucci that Columbuss discoveries were not Asia but a New World, the geographic relationship between the two continents was still unclear
New World
–
Sebastian Münster 's map of the New World, first published in 1540
New World
–
Allegory of the New World:
Amerigo Vespucci awakens the sleeping Americas
New World
–
The World Map by
Diogo Ribeiro (1529) labels the
Americas as MUNDUS NOVUS. It traces most of South America and the east coast of North America.
10.
Madrid Codex (Maya)
–
The Madrid Codex is one of three surviving pre-Columbian Maya books dating to the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. The Madrid Codex is held by the Museo de América in Madrid and is considered to be the most important piece in its collection, however, the original is not on display due to its fragility, an accurate reproduction is displayed in its stead. The Codex was made from a strip of amate paper that was folded up accordion-style. This paper was coated with a thin layer of fine stucco. The complete document consists of 56 sheets painted on both sides to produce a total of 112 pages, the Troano is the larger part, consisting of 70 pages comprising pages 22–56 and 78–112. It takes its name from Juan Tro y Ortolano, its original owner, the remaining 42 pages were originally known as the Cortesianus Codex, and include pages 1–21 and 57–77. Each page measures roughly 23.2 by 12.2 centimetres, the Madrid Codex is the longest of the surviving Maya codices. Its content mainly consists of almanacs and horoscopes used to help Maya priests in the performance of their ceremonies, the codex also contains astronomical tables, although fewer than are found in the other two surviving Maya codices. Some of the content is likely to have copied from older Maya books. Included in the codex is a description of the New Year ceremony, the codex is stylistically uniform, leading Coe and Kerr to suggest that it was the work of a single scribe. Closer analysis of elements suggests that a number of scribes were involved in its production, perhaps as many as eight or nine. The religious content of the codex makes it likely that the scribes themselves were members of the priesthood, the codex probably was passed down from priest to priest and each priest who received the book added a section in his own hand. The images in the Madrid Codex depict rituals such as sacrifice and invoking rainfall, as well as everyday activities such as beekeeping, hunting, warfare. The codex likely was produced in Yucatán, J. Eric Thompson was of the opinion that the Madrid Codex came from western Yucatán and dated to between 1250 and 1450 AD. Two paper fragments incorporated into the front and last pages of the codex contain Spanish writing, the codex was discovered in Spain in the 1860s, it was divided into two parts of differing sizes that were found in different locations. The codex receives its name of the Tro-Cortesianus Codex after the two parts that were separately discovered. Early Mayanist scholar Léon de Rosny realised that both fragments were part of the same book, ownership of the Troano Codex passed to the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in 1888. Madrid resident Juan de Palacios tried to sell the smaller fragment, the Museo Arqueológico Nacional acquired the Cortesianus Codex from book-collector José Ignacio Miró in 1872
Madrid Codex (Maya)
–
Copy of the Madrid Codex on display at the
Museo de América in Madrid
Madrid Codex (Maya)
–
Scenes connected to the hunt, Madrid Codex
11.
Paris Codex
–
The Paris Codex is one of three surviving generally accepted pre-Columbian Maya books dating to the Postclassic Period of Mesoamerican chronology. The document is very poorly preserved and has suffered damage to the page edges. The codex largely relates to a cycle of thirteen 20-year katuns, the Paris Codex is generally considered to have been painted in western Yucatán, probably at Mayapan. It has been dated to around 1450, in the Late Postclassic period. More recently an earlier date of 1185 has been suggested, placing the document in the Early Postclassic, the Paris Codex is currently held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, in the Département des Manuscrits, catalogued as Mexicain 386. The codex is formed from a strip measuring 140 centimetres long by 23.5 centimetres high, the content of the codex is mainly ritual in nature, and one side of the codex contains the patron deities and associated rituals for a cycle of thirteen katuns. One fragment contains animals that represent astronomical signs along the ecliptic including a scorpion, some pages of the codex are marked with annotations made with Latin characters. On one side of the codex the general format of each page largely follows the arrangement, with a standing figure on the left hand side. Each page also contains the ajaw day glyph combined with a numerical coefficient, the seated figures are each associated with a sidereal glyph indicating that they represent the ruling deity of each katun. The reverse of the codex is more varied in nature and includes a dedicated to a calendrical cycle ruled by Chaac. A set of two pages illustrates the days of the tzolkin 260-day cycle that correspond to the beginning of the year over a period of 52 years. The final two pages of the codex depict a series of thirteen animals that represent the so-called zodiac. Bruce Love noted the similarities between a scene on page 11 of the codex and Stela 1 at Mayapan, based on this he proposed that the codex was produced in Mayapan around 1450. However, further analysis of the stela in question suggests a date of 1185 indicating that the calendrical information may refer to an earlier katun cycle than the one suggested by Love. The astronomical and calendrical information within the Paris Codex are consistent with a Classic period cycle from AD731 to 987 indicating that the codex may be a copy of an earlier document. The Paris Codex came to light in 1859 when Léon de Rosny found it in a basket of old papers in the corner of a chimney in the Bibliothèque Impériale in Paris. The codex had apparently been examined some twenty-five years earlier by scholars and had been catalogued, the document was found with a piece of paper attributing it to the collection of colonial Maya documents assembled by Juan Pío Pérez. The Paris Codex at the website of the Bibliothèque Nacionale de France, the Paris Codex at the website of Northwestern University Library, with reconstructed images of pages
Paris Codex
–
The final two pages of the Paris Codex, showing the Maya "zodiac"
Paris Codex
–
Page 3 of the Paris Codex, displaying the typical combination of a standing and a seated figure
12.
Grolier Codex
–
The Grolier Codex is a Maya book of a pre-Columbian type but of disputed authenticity. It first appeared in a collection in the 20th century and was displayed at the Grolier Club in New York. The codex consists of a fragment of a Maya book, containing almanacs of Venus represented in a simplistic fashion, the Grolier Codex would be only the fourth surviving pre-Columbian Maya book if genuine. The codex is said to have recovered from a cave in the Mexican state of Chiapas in the 1960s, together with a mosaic mask. It was displayed at the Grolier Club from April 20 to June 5,1971, in 1973, Michael D. Coe published the first half-size recto-side facsimile of the codex in The Maya Scribe and His World, produced by the Grolier Club. The codex contains a Venus almanac that, in structure, is related to the Venus almanac contained in the Dresden Codex. The Mixtec interpretation of the iconography may simply be due to knowledge of highland Maya iconography during the Postclassic period. The codex is preserved, the surviving page fragments display a number of figures in central Mexican style, combined with Maya numbering. The document is held by the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico city and is not on public display. The physics institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México subjected the codex to non-destructive testing in an effort to determine its authenticity, the researchers concluded that they were unable to prove or disprove the pre-Columbian nature of the codex. In 2016 a team of Mayanists including Coe published a review of the evidence, the Grolier Codex is a screenfold book fashioned from bark paper, coated with stucco on both sides and painted on one side. Ten painted pages survive of a book, formerly there were judged to be eleven pages. The lower portions of the pages are badly damaged by moisture, the greatest height of any of the surviving page fragments is 18 centimetres and the average page width is 12.5 centimetres. Several of the pages are still attached to other, The lost pages would have been the first eight. Five single sheets of paper were found associated with the codex, they had no stucco coating and were brown. Two of these had adhered to the codex and the three may have once been with the codex but had separated. One of these sheets had a line in the same red hematite pigment used in the codex itself. A smaller sheet of paper was attached to the lined sheet
Grolier Codex
–
Page 6 of the Grolier Codex, depicting a death god with captive
Grolier Codex
–
Maya civilization
Grolier Codex
–
The Codex was first displayed at the Grolier Club in New York, hence its name
Grolier Codex
–
The captive on page 9 of the Grolier Codex has a sense of perspective that is alien to Mesoamerican art
13.
Grolier Club
–
The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount dAguisy, Treasurer General of France, whose library was famous, his motto, grolierii et amicorum, suggested his generosity in sharing books. The Grolier Club maintains a library specializing in books, bibliography and bibliophily, printing, binding, illustration. The Grolier Club has one of the extensive collections of book auction. The Grolier Club also has a program of public exhibitions which treat books and prints as objects worthy of display, on a par with painting, the exhibitions draw on various sources including holdings of the Club, its members, and of institutional libraries. In 2013, it hosted an exhibition on women in science, the Grolier Club is a member of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies. The founders of the club were William L. Andrews, Theodore L. DeVinne, A. W. Drake, Albert Gallup, Robert Hoe III, Brayton Ives, Samuel W. Martin, E. S. Mead, perfection in the art of bookmaking is encouraged. E. D. French engraved the clubs own bookplate as well as bookplates for many of its members, phelps Stokes, Bruce Rogers, Henry Watson Kent, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rudolph Ruzicka, Lawrence C. Harry Elkins Widener, the wealthy young bibliophile whose early death in sinking of the RMS Titanic inspired his mother to construct Harvards Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, had been a member, the Grolier Club has had three locations since its founding in 1884. It moved in 1890 to a Romanesque Revival building at 29 East 32nd Street, in 2013, plans were announced for a 51-story apartment tower to be built beside the Grolier Club, using air rights purchased from the club and from the adjoining Christ Church
Grolier Club
–
The Grolier Club's home at 47 East 60th Street
14.
Glyphs
–
In typography, a glyph /ˈɡlɪf/ is an elemental symbol within an agreed set of symbols, intended to represent a readable character for the purposes of writing. In Turkish, however, it is not a glyph because that language has two versions of the letter i, with and without a dot. In Japanese syllabaries, a number of the characters are made up of more than one separate mark, however, in some cases, additional marks fulfill the role of diacritics, to differentiate distinct characters. In general, a diacritic is a glyph, even if it is contiguous with the rest of the character, two or more glyphs which have the same significance, whether used interchangeably or chosen depending on context, are called allographs of each other. The term has been used in English since 1727, borrowed from glyphe, from the Greek γλυφή, glyphē, carving, and the verb γλύφειν, glýphein, to hollow out, engrave, carve. The word glyph first came to widespread European attention with the engravings, in archaeology, a glyph is a carved or inscribed symbol. It may be a pictogram or ideogram, or part of a system such as a syllable. In 1897 Dana Evans discovered glyphs written on rocks in the Colorado Desert and these ancient characters have been called the most enlightening discovery in Native American History in the 19th Century. In typography, a glyph has a different definition, it is the specific shape, design. The same is true in computing, in computing as well as typography, the term character refers to a grapheme or grapheme-like unit of text, as found in natural language writing systems. The range of glyphs required increases correspondingly, in summary, in typography and computing, a glyph is a graphical unit. In graphonomics, the glyph is used for a noncharacter. Most typographic glyphs originate from the characters of a typeface, in the mobile text input technologies, Glyph is a family of text input methods based on the decomposition of letters into basic shapes. In role-playing games, the glyph is sometimes used alongside the word rune in describing magical drawings or etchings. Runes often refer to placing the image on an object or person to empower it, whereas the magic in a glyph lies dormant and is only triggered when the glyph is read or approached
Glyphs
–
The adjacent characters ſi represented as one glyph
Glyphs
–
Various glyphs representing the lower case letter "
a "
15.
Maya blue
–
Maya blue is a unique bright azure blue pigment manufactured by cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, such as the Maya and Aztec. Smaller trace amounts of other mineral additives have also been identified, Maya blue first appeared around 800, and it was still used in the 16th century in several Convents of Colonial Mexico, notably in the paintings of the Indian Juan Gerson in Tecamachalco. These paintings are an example of the combination of Indian and European techniques sometimes known as Arte Indocristiano. After that, the techniques for its production were lost in Mexico, despite time and the harsh weathering conditions, paintings colored by Maya blue have not faded over time. More remarkably, the color has resisted chemical solvents and acids such as nitric acid, the chemical composition of the compound was determined by powder diffraction in the 1950s and was found to be a composite of palygorskite and indigo, most likely derived from the leaves of the añil. An actual recipe to reproduce Maya blue pigment was published in 1993 by a Mexican historian and chemist, the combination of different clays, together with the use of the leaves of the añil and the actual process is described in his paper. Pre-Columbian American culture In the Americas, Maya blue was used as a colorant in pre-Columbian artworks, sculptures, murals, and textiles, for example, many illustrations in the Florentine Codex written by Bernardino de Sahagún contain the maya blue color. Maya blue is associated with the center of a flame, holding the most heat and therefore the most tonalli, the blue color is considered precious. Other classic artificial blue pigments, Egyptian blue, Chinese blue List of colors Azul Maya, descriptive site by Reyes-Valerio
Maya blue
–
A warrior with azul Maya on the background
Maya blue
–
Mexican Colonial Painting by Juan Gerson where Maya blue was used: The technique disappeared in the early colonial period.
16.
J. Eric S. Thompson
–
Sir John Eric Sidney Thompson, KBE was a leading English Mesoamerican archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and epigrapher. While working in the United States, he dominated Maya studies, Thompson was born on 31 December 1898 to father George Thompson, a distinguished surgeon and fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Thompson was raised in the home on Harley Street in London. At the age of 14 he was sent to Winchester College to receive an independent education, in 1915, at the beginning of World War I, Thompson used the assumed name Neil Winslow to join the British Army while underage. A year into service he was wounded and sent home to recover and he continued to serve in the Coldstream Guards until the end of the war, ending his service at the rank of officer. After the war Thompson left for Argentina to work as a gaucho on a cattle farm. Thompson first considered a medical or political career however he decided to study anthropology at the Fitzwilliam House at Cambridge University under A. C. Haddon. With the completion of his degree in 1925, Thompson wrote to Sylvanus G Morley, in 1926 Thompson arrived in the Yucatan of Mexico under the direction of Morley to work at Chichen Itza. Here he started working on the friezes of the Temple of the Warriors, later that year Morley sent Thompson to report on the site of Coba, located to the east of Chichen Itza. During the first field season at Coba, Thompson deciphered the dates on the Macanxoc stela, Morley, the foremost epigrapher, did not originally agree with the readings of the dates. It was not until a trip to Coba that Morley was persuaded by Thompsons readings. Within the next year, Thompson took post as the Assistant Curator at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and he would work there until 1935 when he left for a position at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D. C. In 1926, while employed by the Field Museum, Thompson, under the supervision of Thomas A. Joyce and it was the fieldwork at Lubaantun that lead Thompson to disagree with Joyces argument for the early megalith and in-and-out style of architectural stratigraphy. Thompson argued that the constructions were due to root action. This root action disturbed the construction by pushing the rocks out in the fashion of the in-and out construction that invalidated Joyces argument. Toward the end of the first season at Lubaantun, the site of Pusilha was discovered and Thompson was sent to investigate with his guide, Faustino Bol. Thompsons subsequent interactions with his guide, who was a Mopan Maya, would later shed light on how Thompson viewed the ancient Maya and their culture. As a result of their conversations, Thompson concluded that is was clear that archaeological excavations were not the only means of learning about the ancient ways
J. Eric S. Thompson
–
Thompson's grave at
Ashdon,
Essex.
17.
Chichen Itza
–
Chichen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period. The archaeological site is located in Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán State, Chichen Itza was a major focal point in the Northern Maya Lowlands from the Late Classic through the Terminal Classic and into the early portion of the Postclassic period. The site exhibits a multitude of styles, reminiscent of styles seen in central Mexico and of the Puuc. Chichen Itza was one of the largest Maya cities and it was likely to have one of the mythical great cities, or Tollans. The city may have had the most diverse population in the Maya world, the ruins of Chichen Itza are federal property, and the sites stewardship is maintained by Mexicos Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. The land under the monuments had been privately owned until 29 March 2010, Chichen Itza is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico, an estimated 1.4 million tourists visit the ruins every year. The Maya name Chichen Itza means At the mouth of the well of the Itza and this derives from chi, meaning mouth or edge, and chen or cheen, meaning well. Itzá is the name of an group that gained political. One possible translation for Itza is enchanter of the water, from its, sorcerer, the name is spelled Chichén Itzá in Spanish, and the accents are sometimes maintained in other languages to show that both parts of the name are stressed on their final syllable. Other references prefer the Maya orthography, Chichen Itza and this form preserves the phonemic distinction between ch and ch, since the base word cheen begins with a postalveolar ejective affricate consonant. The word Itza has a high tone on the a followed by a glottal stop, evidence in the Chilam Balam books indicates another, earlier name for this city prior to the arrival of the Itza hegemony in northern Yucatán. While most sources agree the first word means seven, there is debate as to the correct translation of the rest. This earlier name is difficult to define because of the absence of a standard of orthography. This name, dating to the Late Classic Period, is recorded both in the book of Chilam Balam de Chumayel and in texts in the ruins. Chichen Itza is located in the portion of Yucatán state in Mexico. The northern Yucatán Peninsula is arid, and the rivers in the interior all run underground, there are two large, natural sink holes, called cenotes, that could have provided plentiful water year round at Chichen, making it attractive for settlement. Of the two cenotes, the Cenote Sagrado or Sacred Cenote, is the most famous, according to post-Conquest sources, pre-Columbian Maya sacrificed objects and human beings into the cenote as a form of worship to the Maya rain god Chaac. Edward Herbert Thompson dredged the Cenote Sagrado from 1904 to 1910, a study of human remains taken from the Cenote Sagrado found that they had wounds consistent with human sacrifice
Chichen Itza
–
El Castillo dominates the center of the Chichen Itza archaeological site.
Chichen Itza
–
A feathered serpent sculpture at the base of one of the stairways of El Castillo.
Chichen Itza
–
Columns in the Temple of a Thousand Warriors
Chichen Itza
–
The Jaguar Throne inside the "El Castillo" pyramid.
18.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Charles V was ruler of both the Spanish Empire from 1516 and the Holy Roman Empire from 1519, as well as of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1506. He voluntarily stepped down from these and other positions by a series of abdications between 1554 and 1556, through inheritance, he brought together under his rule extensive territories in western, central, and southern Europe, and the Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia. As a result, his domains spanned nearly four square kilometers and were the first to be described as the empire on which the sun never sets. Charles was the heir of three of Europes leading dynasties, the Houses of Valois-Burgundy, Habsburg, and Trastámara and he inherited the Burgundian Netherlands and the Franche-Comté as heir of the House of Valois-Burgundy. From his own dynasty, the Habsburgs, he inherited Austria and he was also elected to succeed his Habsburg grandfather, Maximilian I, as Holy Roman Emperor, a title held by the Habsburgs since 1440. Charles was the first king to rule Castile and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, the personal union, under Charles, of the Holy Roman Empire with the Spanish Empire resulted in the closest Europe would come to a universal monarchy since the death of Louis the Pious. France recovered and the wars continued for the remainder of Charless reign, enormously expensive, they led to the development of the first modern professional army in Europe, the Tercios. The struggle with the Ottoman Empire was fought in Hungary and the Mediterranean, after seizing most of eastern and central Hungary in 1526, the Ottomans’ advance was halted at their failed Siege of Vienna in 1529. A lengthy war of attrition, conducted on his behalf by his younger brother Ferdinand, in the Mediterranean, although there were some successes, Charles was unable to prevent the Ottomans’ increasing naval dominance and the piratical activity of the Barbary Corsairs. Charles opposed the Reformation and in Germany he was in conflict with the Protestant Princes of the Schmalkaldic League who were motivated by religious and political opposition to him. Once the rebellions were quelled the essential Castilian and Burgundian territories remained mostly loyal to Charles throughout his rule, Charles’s Spanish dominions were the chief source of his power and wealth, and they became increasingly important as his reign progressed. In the Americas, Charles sanctioned the conquest by Castillian conquistadors of the Aztec, Castillian control was extended across much of South and Central America. The resulting vast expansion of territory and the flows of South American silver to Castile had profound long term effects on Spain. Charles was only 56 when he abdicated, but after 34 years of rule he was physically exhausted and sought the peace of a monastery. Upon Charles’s abdications, the Holy Roman Empire was inherited by his younger brother Ferdinand, the Spanish Empire, including the possessions in the Netherlands and Italy, was inherited by Charles’s son Philip II. The two empires would remain allies until the 18th century, Charles was born in 1500 as the eldest son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile in the Flemish city of Ghent, which was part of the Habsburg Netherlands. The culture and courtly life of the Burgundian Low Countries were an important influence in his early life and he was tutored by William de Croÿ, and also by Adrian of Utrecht. He also gained a decent command of German, though he never spoke it as well as French, a witticism sometimes attributed to Charles is, I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Charrles V by
Titian, 1548.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Signature
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Copper coin "korte" with portrait of Charles V, struck in Antwerp, 1548
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
–
A young Charles V, by
Bernard van Orley,
Louvre Museum, Paris, France
19.
Alexander von Humboldt
–
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian geographer, naturalist, explorer, and influential proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher. Humboldts quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography, Humboldts advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement laid the foundation for modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring. Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in Latin America and his description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. Humboldt was one of the first people to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined and this important work also motivated a holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity. Alexander von Humboldt was born in Berlin in Prussia on 14 September 1769 and he was baptized as a baby in the Lutheran faith, with the Duke of Brunswick serving as godfather. At age 42, Alexander Georg was rewarded for his services in the Seven Years War with the post of Royal Chamberlain and he profited from the contract to lease state lotteries and tobacco sales. He first married the daughter of Prussian General Adjutant Schweder, in 1766, Alexander Georg married Maria Elisabeth Colomb, a well-educated woman and widow of Baron Hollwede, with whom she had a son. Alexander Georg and Maria Elisabeth had three children, a daughter, who died young, and then two sons, Wilhelm and Alexander and her first-born son, Wilhelms and Alexanders half-brother, was something of a neer do well, not often mentioned in the family history. Alexander Georg died in 1779, leaving the brothers Humboldt in the care of their emotionally distant mother, Humboldts mother expected them to become civil servants of the Prussian state. The money Baron Holwede left to Alexanders mother became, after her death, instrumental in funding Alexanders explorations, due to his youthful penchant for collecting and labeling plants, shells and insects, Alexander received the playful title of the little apothecary. On April 25,1789, he matriculated at Göttingen, then known for the lectures of C. G. Heyne and his brother Wilhelm was already a student at Göttingen, but they did not interact much since their intellectual interests were quite different. His vast and varied interests were by this time fully developed, at Göttingen he met Georg Forster, a naturalist who had been with Captain James Cook on his second voyage. Humboldt traveled with Forster in Europe, the two traveled to England, Humboldts first sea voyage, The Netherlands, and France. In England, he met Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, the scientific friendship between Banks and Humboldt lasted until Bankss death in 1820, and the two shared botanical specimens for study. Banks also mobilized his scientific contacts in later years to aid Humboldts work, Humboldts scientific excursion up the Rhine resulted in his 1790 treatise Mineralogische Beobachtungen über einige Basalte am Rhein. Humboldts passion for travel was of long standing, Humboldts talents were devoted to the purpose of preparing himself as a scientific explorer. During this period, his brother Wilhelm married, but Alexander did not attend the nuptials, Humboldt graduated from the Freiberg School of Mines in 1792 and was appointed to a Prussian government position in the Department of Mines as an inspector in Bayreuth and the Fichtel mountains
Alexander von Humboldt
–
Alexander von Humboldt (by
Joseph Stieler, 1843)
Alexander von Humboldt
–
The Tegel Palace (or Humboldt Palace), where Alexander von Humboldt and
Wilhelm von Humboldt lived for several years.
Alexander von Humboldt
–
Portrait of Alexander von Humboldt by Friedrich Georg Weitsch, 1806
Alexander von Humboldt
–
Geography of Plants, 1805.
20.
Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough
–
Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough was an Irish antiquarian who sought to prove that the indigenous peoples of the Americas were a Lost Tribe of Israel. His principal contribution was in making available facsimiles of ancient documents and some of the earliest explorers reports on Pre-Columbian ruins and he was the eldest son of George King, 3rd Earl of Kingston, Lord Kingsborough, the latter a Tory. He represented Cork County in parliament between 1818 and 1826 as a Whig, in 1831, Lord Kingsborough published the first volume of Antiquities of Mexico, a collection of copies of various Mesoamerican codices, including the first complete publication of the Dresden Codex. The exorbitant cost of the reproductions, which were often hand-painted, landed him in debtors prison, the last two volumes of Antiquities of Mexico were published posthumously. The Codex Kingsborough is named after him, together with the Monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix, with their respective scales of measurement and accompanying descriptions. The whole illustrated by many valuable inedited manuscripts, by Augustine Aglio, london, A. Aglio, R. Havell, H. G. Bohn. Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Viscount Kingsborough
Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough
–
The title page of Antiquities of Mexico, volume 1.
Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough
–
For other people named Edward King, see
Edward King (disambiguation).
21.
Antiquities of Mexico
–
It was assembled and published by Edward King, Lord Kingsborough, in the early decades of the 19th century. While much of the material pertains to pre-Columbian cultures, there are also relevant to studies of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Antiquities of Mexico was produced to make copies of manuscripts in European collections available for study by scholars. The work consists of nine volumes, each published in an elephant folio format. It was originally planned as ten, but Lord Kingsborough died before the work could be completed. Kingsborough commissioned the Italian landscape painter Agostino Aglio to furnish the reproduction drawings and lithographs of the Mesoamerican artworks, born in Cremona and resident in London since 1803, Aglio had previously illustrated antiquities of Ancient Egypt and Magna Græcia on behalf of the English architect William Wilkins. Many of the facsimiles of codices are hand-colored
Antiquities of Mexico
–
Title page of volume 1
22.
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
–
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, as he is known in Europe, was a nineteenth-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a man in the United States, ultimately settling in Ohio in 1815, where he made notable contributions to botany, zoology. He also contributed to the study of ancient Mesoamerican linguistics, in addition to work he had completed in Europe. Rafinesque was eccentric, and is portrayed as an erratic genius. He was an autodidact who excelled in fields of knowledge, as a zoologist, botanist, writer. He wrote prolifically on such topics as anthropology, biology, geology, and linguistics. Today, scholars agree that he was far ahead of his time in many areas, among his theories was that ancestors of Native Americans had migrated by the Bering Sea from Asia to North America. Rafinesque was born on October 22,1783 in Galata, a suburb of Constantinople and his father F. G. Rafinesque was a French merchant from Marseilles, his mother M. Schmaltz was of German descent and born in Constantinople. His father died in Philadelphia about 1793, Rafinesque spent his youth in Marseilles, and was mostly self-educated, he never attended university. By the age of twelve, he had begun collecting plants for a herbarium, by fourteen, he taught himself perfect Greek and Latin because he needed to follow footnotes in the books he was reading in his paternal grandmothers libraries. In 1802, at the age of nineteen, Rafinesque sailed to Philadelphia in the United States with his younger brother and they traveled through Pennsylvania and Delaware, where he made the acquaintance of most of the young nations few botanists. In 1805 Rafinesque returned to Europe with his collection of specimens, and settled in Palermo, Sicily. He became so successful in trade that he retired by age twenty-five, for a time Rafinesque also worked as secretary to the American consul. During his stay in Sicily, he studied plants and fishes and he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1808. After their son died in 1815, he left her and returned to the United States, when his ship Union foundered near the coast of Connecticut, he lost all his books and all his specimens. Settling in New York, Rafinesque became a member of the newly established Lyceum of Natural History. In 1817 his book Florula Ludoviciana or A Flora of the State of Louisiana was strongly criticized by fellow botanists, by 1818, he had collected and named more than 250 new species of plants and animals. Slowly he was rebuilding his collection of objects from nature, in 1819 Rafinesque became professor of botany at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where he also gave private lessons in French, Italian and Spanish
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
–
The
Mule Deer is one of many species first named by Rafinesque.
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
–
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
–
The genus
Rafinesquia was named in Rafinesque's honor.
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
–
Atlantic Journal (1832–1833)
23.
Palenque
–
Palenque, also anciently known as Lakamha, was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca.226 BC to ca and it is located near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, about 130 km south of Ciudad del Carmen,150 m above sea level. It averages a humid 26 °C with roughly 2160 mm of rain a year, the most famous ruler of Palenque was Kinich Janaab Pakal, or Pacal the Great, whose tomb has been found and excavated in the Temple of the Inscriptions. By 2005, the area covered up to 2.5 km². Mythological beings used a variety of glyphs in their titles indeed suggests a complex early history. For instance, Kuk Bahlam, the founder of the Palenque dynasty, is called a Toktan Ajaw in the text of the Temple of the Foliated Cross. The famous structures that we know today probably represent an effort in response to the attacks by the city of Calakmul. He is best known through his funerary monument, dubbed the Temple of Inscriptions after the text preserved in the temples superstructure. At the time Alberto Ruz Lhuillier excavated Pakals tomb it was the richest and best preserved of any scientifically excavated burial then known from the ancient Americas. It held this position until the discovery of the rich Moche burials at Sipan, Peru, the extensive iconography and textual corpus has also allowed for study of Classic period Maya mythology and ritual practice. After him, a king came to power, nicknamed Casper by archaeologists, the next two kings were probably Caspers sons. Little was known about the first of these, Butz Aj Sak Chiik, until 1994, the first tablet mentioned his successor Ahkal Mo Naab I as a teenage prince, and therefore it is believed that there was a family relation between them. For unknown reasons, Akhal Mo Naab I had great prestige, when Ahkal Mo Naab I died in 524, there was an interregnum of four years, before the following king was crowned en Toktán in 529. Kan Joy Chitam I governed for 36 years and his sons Ahkal Mo Naab II and Kan Balam I were the first kings who used the title Kinich, which means the great sun. This word was used also by later kings, Balam was succeeded in 583 by Yohl Iknal, who was supposedly his daughter. The inscriptions found in Palenque document a battle that occurred under her government in which troops from Calakmul invaded and sacked Palenque and these events took place in 599. A second victory by Calakmul occurred some years later, in 611, under the government of Aj Ne Yohl Mat. In this occasion, the king of Calakmul entered Palenque in person, consolidating a significant military disaster, Aj Ne Yohl Mat was to die in 612
Palenque
–
Collage of Palenque.
Palenque
–
Palenque
Palenque
–
Stone carving of
Pacal the Great, one of the main figures responsible for the city's art and architecture.
Palenque
–
A
bas-relief in the Palenque museum that depicts Upakal K'inich, the son of
K'inich Ahkal Mo' Naab III.
24.
Cyrus Thomas
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Cyrus Thomas was a U. S. ethnologist and entomologist prominent in the late 19th century and noted for his studies of the natural history of the American West. Thomas was born in Kingsport, Tennessee, on July 27,1825 and he was educated in village schools in the Kingsport area and an academy student at Jonesboro, Tennessee, as well as being self-educated. His mother hoped he would join the field, so he studied anatomy and physiology. He was admitted to the bar in 1851, between his study of medicine and law his father appointed him to a county seat to “take charge of some business. ”From 1851 to 1854 Thomas served as county clerk of Jackson County. He later abandoned the practice of law, and in 1865 became superintendent of some Jackson County schools and this lasted only for a few years. Also during this time he entered the ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, four years later in 1869 he joined the expedition of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, who had organized a science corps for the exploration of the Rocky Mountains. Thomas gained a strong interest in history, and in 1858 he founded the Illinois Natural History Society. Thomas was also the statistician and entomologist on the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871. In 1873 Thomas was appointed a professor of science at Southern Illinois University. He kept his title of chief entomologist until 1882 after the commission came to an end in 1879, at this time,1882, he was appointed archaeologist to the United States Bureau of American Ethnology. Thomas was married twice, having lost his first wife, Dorthy Logan and he remarried in 1865 to Viola L. Davis. With her, he fathered five girls and one boy, who died in infancy, Thomas died on June 26,1910, and was buried in Frederick, Maryland. Thomas made some noteworthy contributions as an entomologist, having helped control the plague that was retarding the growth of the border states. With this information they were able to predict the outbreaks rather accurately for the upcoming year, the chinch bug was another culprit damaging crops. Thomas and LeBaron, using the tactic of studying the chinch bug’s relationship to the weather. Thomas found a pattern between the chinch bug and weather, concluding that outbreaks can be expected about every seven years, after presenting his findings he accurately predicted an outbreak in 1881. He also accompanied expeditions to the West as an entomologist—one of these being the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, on this expedition Thomas addressed the problem of locusts with Riley and Packard. During this investigation they found the breeding ground, how the weather affected them
Cyrus Thomas
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Cyrus Thomas
Cyrus Thomas
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Cyrus Thomas - During 1870 Hayden survey
25.
Mayan script
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The earliest inscriptions found which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE in San Bartolo, Guatemala. Maya writing was in use throughout Mesoamerica until the Spanish conquest of the Maya in the 16th and 17th centuries. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs, modern Mayan languages are written using the Latin alphabet rather than Maya script. It is now thought that the codices and other Classic texts were written by scribes, usually members of the Maya priesthood, there is also some evidence that the script may have been occasionally used to write Mayan languages of the Guatemalan Highlands. However, if languages were written, they may have been written by Ch’olti’ scribes. Mayan writing consisted of an elaborate set of glyphs, which were laboriously painted on ceramics, walls or bark-paper codices, carved in wood or stone. Carved and molded glyphs were painted, but the paint has rarely survived, about 90% of Mayan writing can now be read with varying degrees of certainty, enough to give a comprehensive idea of its structure. The Mayan script was a logosyllabic system, individual glyphs could represent either a word or a syllable, indeed, the same glyph could often be used for both. For example, the calendaric glyph MANIK’ was also used to represent the syllable chi, there was polyvalence in the other direction as well, different glyphs could be read the same way. For example, half a dozen apparently unrelated glyphs were used to write the common third person pronoun u-. However, in the case of Mayan, each tended to correspond to a noun or verb phrase such as his green headband. Also, glyphs were sometimes conflated, where an element of one glyph would replace part of a second, conflation occurs in other scripts, For example, in medieval Spanish manuscripts the word de of was sometimes written Ð. Another example is the ampersand which is a conflation of the Latin et, in place of the standard block configuration, Mayan was also sometimes written in a single row or column, L, or T shapes. These variations most often appeared when they would fit the surface being inscribed. For example, the logogram for fish fin, came to represent the syllable ka, for example, balam jaguar could be written as a single logogram, BALAM, complemented phonetically as ba-BALAM, or BALAM-ma, or ba-BALAM-ma, or written completely phonetically as ba-la-ma. Phonetic glyphs stood for simple consonant-vowel or bare-vowel syllables, when these final consonants were sonorants or gutturals they were sometimes ignored, but more often final consonants were written, which meant that an extra vowel was written as well. This was typically an echo vowel that repeated the vowel of the previous syllable and that is, the word fish fin would be underspelled ka or written in full as ka-ha. A more complex spelling is ha-o-bo ko-ko-no-ma for they are the guardians, a minimal set is, ba-ka ba-ki ba-ku = ba-ke ba-ke-le Despite depending on consonants which were frequently not written, the Mayan voice system was reliably indicated
Mayan script
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Pages 6, 7, and 8 of the
Dresden Codex, showing letters numbers and the images that often accompany Maya writing.
Mayan script
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Maya civilization
Mayan script
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Tikal or "Mutal" Emblem Glyph, Stela 26 in Tikal's Litoteca Museum
Mayan script
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An inscription in Maya glyphs from the site of
Naranjo, relating to the reign of king Itzamnaaj K'awil, 784–810
26.
Facsimile
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A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in scale, color, condition, for books and manuscripts, this also entails a complete copy of all pages, hence, an incomplete copy is a partial facsimile. Facsimiles are sometimes used by scholars to research a source that they do not have access to otherwise, many are sold commercially, often accompanied by a volume of commentary. They may be produced in limited editions, typically of 500–2,000 copies, the term fax is a shortened form of facsimile though most faxes are not reproductions of the quality expected in a true facsimile. Advances in the art of facsimile are closely related to advances in printmaking, maps, for instance, were the focus of early explorations in making facsimiles, although these examples often lack the rigidity to the original source that is now expected. An early example is the Abraham Ortelius map, innovations during the 18th century, especially in the realms of lithography and aquatint, facilitated an explosion in the number of facsimiles of old master drawings that could be studied from afar. In the past, a such as the photostat, hectograph. More recently, facsimiles have been made by the use of form of photographic technique. For documents, a facsimile most often refers to document reproduction by a photocopy machine, in the digital age, an image scanner, a personal computer, and a desktop printer can be used to make a facsimile. Important illuminated manuscripts like Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry are not only on display to the public as facsimiles, however, unlike normal book reproductions, facsimiles remain truer to the original colors—which is especially important for illuminated manuscripts—and preserve defects. Facsimiles are best suited to printed or hand-written documents, and not to such as three-dimensional objects or oil paintings with unique surface texture. Reproductions of those objects are often referred to as replicas
Facsimile
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Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, a famous
illuminated manuscript, is on view to both the public and to scholars only in the form of a high-quality facsimile
Facsimile
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Facsimile of Edgar Allan Poe's original manuscript for The Murders in the Rue Morgue
27.
Maya numerals
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The Maya numeral system is a vigesimal positional notation used in the Maya civilization to represent numbers. The numerals are made up of three symbols, zero, one and five, for example, thirteen is written as three dots in a horizontal row above two horizontal lines stacked above each other. Numbers after 19 were written vertically in powers of twenty, for example, thirty-three would be written as one dot above three dots, which are in turn atop two lines. The first dot represents one twenty or 1×20, which is added to three dots and two bars, or thirteen, upon reaching 202 or 400, another row is started. The number 429 would be written as one dot above one dot above four dots, the powers of twenty are numerals, just as the Hindu-Arabic numeral system uses powers of tens. Other than the bar and dot notation, Maya numerals can be illustrated by face type glyphs or pictures, the face glyph for a number represents the deity associated with the number. These face number glyphs were used, and are mostly seen on some of the most elaborate monumental carving. Addition and subtraction, Adding and subtracting numbers below 20 using Maya numerals is very simple, addition is performed by combining the numeric symbols at each level, If five or more dots result from the combination, five dots are removed and replaced by a bar. If four or more bars result, four bars are removed, similarly with subtraction, remove the elements of the subtrahend symbol from the minuend symbol, If there are not enough dots in a minuend position, a bar is replaced by five dots. If there are not enough bars, a dot is removed from the next higher minuend symbol in the column, the Maya/Mesoamerican Long Count calendar required the use of zero as a place-holder within its vigesimal positional numeral system. A shell glyph – – was used as a symbol for these Long Count dates. However, since the eight earliest Long Count dates appear outside the Maya homeland, it is assumed that the use of zero predated the Maya, indeed, many of the earliest Long Count dates were found within the Olmec heartland. However, the Olmec civilization had come to an end by the 4th century BC, in the Long Count portion of the Maya calendar, a variation on the strictly vigesimal numbering is used. The Long Count changes in the place value, it is not 20×20 =400, as would otherwise be expected. This is supposed to be because 360 is roughly the number of days in a year, subsequent place values return to base-twenty. In fact, every known example of large numbers uses this modified vigesimal system and it is reasonable to assume, but not proven by any evidence, that the normal system in use was a pure base-20 system. Maya Mathematics - online converter from decimal numeration to Maya numeral notation, anthropomorphic Maya numbers - online story of number representations
Maya numerals
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Numeral systems
Maya numerals
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Maya numerals
Maya numerals
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Detail showing three columns of glyphs from
La Mojarra Stela 1. The left column uses Maya numerals to show a Long Count date of 8.5.16.9.7, or 156 CE.
28.
Mayan calendar
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The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had been in use throughout the region. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, the Maya calendar consists of several cycles or counts of different lengths. The 260-day count is known to scholars as the Tzolkin, or Tzolkin, the Tzolkin was combined with a 365-day vague solar year known as the Haab to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haab, called the Calendar Round. The Calendar Round is still in use by groups in the Guatemalan highlands. A different calendar was used to longer periods of time. It is a count of days since a mythological starting-point, the GMT correlation was chosen by John Eric Sydney Thompson in 1935 on the basis of earlier correlations by Joseph Goodman in 1905, Juan Martínez Hernández in 1926 and Thompson himself in 1927. By its linear nature, the Long Count was capable of being extended to refer to any date far into the past or future and this calendar involved the use of a positional notation system, in which each position signified an increasing multiple of the number of days. The Maya numeral system was vigesimal, and each unit of a given position represented 20 times the unit of the position which preceded it. An important exception was made for the place value, which instead represented 18 ×20, or 360 days. It should be noted however that the cycles of the Long Count are independent of the solar year, less-prevalent or poorly understood cycles, combinations and calendar progressions were also tracked. An 819-day Count is attested in a few inscriptions, repeating sets of 9 days associated with different groups of deities, animals, and other significant concepts are also known. The tzolkin is the commonly employed by Mayanist researchers for the Maya Sacred Round or 260-day calendar. The word tzolkin is a neologism coined in Yucatec Maya, to mean count of days, the various names of this calendar as used by precolumbian Maya peoples are still debated by scholars. The Aztec calendar equivalent was called Tonalpohualli, in the Nahuatl language, the tzolkin calendar combines twenty day names with the thirteen day numbers to produce 260 unique days. It is used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events, Each successive day is numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. Separately from this, every day is given a name in sequence from a list of 20 day names, Some systems started the count with 1 Imix, followed by 2 Ik,3 Akbal, etc. up to 13 Ben. The day numbers then start again at 1 while the sequence continues onwards, so the next days in the sequence are 1 Ix,2 Men,3 Kib,4 Kaban,5 Etznab,6 Kawak
Mayan calendar
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Maya civilization
29.
Mayan Long Count calendar
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The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is a non-repeating, vigesimal and base-18 calendar used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. For this reason, it is known as the Maya Long Count calendar. The Long Count calendar was used on monuments. The two most widely used calendars in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, were the 260-day Tzolkin and the 365 day Haab, the equivalent Aztec calendars are known in Nahuatl as the tonalpohualli and Xiuhpohualli. The combination of a Haab and a Tzolkin date identifies a day in a combination which does not occur again for 18,980 days, to identify days over periods longer than this, Mesoamericans used the Long Count calendar. There has been debate over the precise correlation between the Western calendars and the Long Count calendars. The August 11 date is based on the GMT correlation, the completion of 13 baktuns marks the Creation of the world of human beings according to the Maya. On this day, Raised-up-Sky-Lord caused three stones to be set by associated gods at Lying-Down-Sky, First-Three-Stone-Place, because the sky still lay on the primordial sea, it was black. The setting of the three stones centered the cosmos which allowed the sky to be raised, revealing the sun, rather than using a base-10 scheme, like Western numbering, the Long Count days were tallied in a modified base-20 scheme. In a pure base-20 scheme,0.0.0.1.5 is equal to 25, the Long Count is not pure base-20, however, since the second digit from the right rolls over to zero when it reaches 18. Thus 0.0.1.0.0 does not represent 400 days, note that the name baktun was invented by modern scholars. The numbered Long Count was no longer in use by the time the Spanish arrived in the Yucatán Peninsula, instead the Maya were using an abbreviated Short Count. Long Count dates are written with Mesoamerican numerals, as shown on this table, a dot represents 1 while a bar equals 5. The shell glyph was used to represent the zero concept, the Long Count calendar required the use of zero as a place-holder, and presents one of the earliest uses of the zero concept in history. On Maya monuments, the Long Count syntax is more complex, the date sequence is given once, at the beginning of the inscription, and opens with the so-called ISIG which reads tzik-a hab’. Next come the 5 digits of the Long Count, followed by the Calendar Round, the supplementary series is optional and contains lunar data, for example, the age of the moon on the day and the calculated length of current lunation. The text then continues with whatever activity occurred on that date, a drawing of a full Maya Long Count inscription is shown below. Interpretations of inscriptions on some artifacts differ, la Mojarra Stela 1, the Tuxtla Statuette, Tres Zapotes Stela C, and Chiapa Stela 2 are all inscribed in an Epi-Olmec, not Maya, style
Mayan Long Count calendar
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Detail showing three columns of glyphs from a portion of the 2nd century CE
La Mojarra Stela 1. The left column gives a Long Count date of 8.5.16.9.7, or 156 CE. The two right columns visible are glyphs from the
Epi-Olmec script.
Mayan Long Count calendar
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East side of stela C, Quirigua with the mythical creation date of 13
baktuns, 0 katuns, 0 tuns, 0 uinals, 0 kins, 4 Ahau 8 Cumku - August 11, 3114 BCE in the
proleptic Gregorian calendar.
Mayan Long Count calendar
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The back of Stela C from
Tres Zapotes, an Olmec archaeological site. This is the second oldest Long Count date yet discovered. The numerals 7.16.6.16.18 translate to September 1, 32 BCE (Gregorian). The glyphs surrounding the date are what is thought to be one of the few surviving examples of
Epi-Olmec script.
Mayan Long Count calendar
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Chichen Itza Initial Series inscription. This date (glyphs A2, B2, …, A5) is 10.2.9.1.9 9 Muluk 7 Sak, equivalent to July 28, 878 (GMT Gregorian).
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Media related to Dresden Codex at Wikimedia Commons
