Ancient Maya Number Symbolism

In this snippet from the Madrid* Codex (from FAMSI), it is obvious that the numbers mean something symbolic. The bars represent "5" and each dot represents "1". So the number in red on the heart of the deer is 7. The seventh day of the Tzolkin calendar is Manik which can mean 'deer' or 'grasping'. This deer is grasped by the snare, that's for sure.

In writing numbers, the bar goes underneath the dots. At first I thought some of the numbers were written upside down ... but then I looked harder and decided the artist used color to separate them out. Over the head of the deer at first looked like an upside down 7. But the color difference could make it a 5 and a 2. (I can imagine the artist giving me a "well, duh!" look if he were still with us.)

Between the back legs there is a red 13. Thirteen was a special number to the Maya.

Now that I look even more closely, I see that black "2"s underlie four of the red numbers: the 2 by his mouth, the 5 over his head, the 11 under his tail, and the 13 between his legs.

This picture fascinates me. Mayan scholars? If one of you ever reads this, could you please explain it to me? Please explain it to me before I get carried away and start babbling that the 7 from the deer's heart and the 13 from between his legs adds up to 20 which creates the Golden Proportion. And that the deer is breathing out a red 2 because he is both frightened and frustrated and that is two things, and ......
Please explain it to me before someone tells me to get a life.

* and someone did! an observant scholar told me I had it wrong - I said Dresden, but it's from the Madrid Codex.


Related posts:
Current MY2K article.