ACKERMANAt a glance
History, context & interpretation
The text and its story
One of only four surviving Maya books, with almanacs, Venus tables, eclipse tables and rituals. It folds out like a screen to 3.5 metres.
Traditional attribution
A sacred almanac of the Maya priests.
Historical scholarship
Painted by several scribes, possibly copying older originals.
Context and curiosity
It was water-damaged during the 1945 bombing of Dresden.
Chronology and transmission
This text belongs to The Americas (Postclassic Maya (Yucatán)). The catalogue gives its approximate dating as c. 11th–13th century CE and original language or script as Maya hieroglyphs. The dated manuscript witnesses and traditional claims may not refer to the same historical event.
Sources and further reading
Historical descriptions are educational summaries. Religious traditions, scholarly interpretations and unverified claims are distinguished where possible; imagery may be illustrative rather than an artifact photograph.
Read free. Keep a research edition.
The online research article is free. An optional CAD $1.99 downloadable, annotated PDF edition is being prepared. Checkout will appear here only once the PDF and automatic delivery are verified. It will not be represented as a complete original manuscript unless the underlying text and rights have been verified.
Explore available books and editions