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VENUS LORE IN THE POSTCLASSIC MAYA CODICES: DEITY MANIFESTATIONS OF THE MORNING AND EVENING STAR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2017

Gabrielle Vail
Gabrielle Vail*
Affiliation:
Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 3120, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
*
E-mail Correspondence to: valid@email.unc.edu
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Abstract

This study explores the mythology surrounding the appearances and disappearances of Venus from the sky and the role the morning and evening star aspects of Venus played in Maya divinatory and astronomical texts. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources link the morning star aspect of Venus with a series of bearded hunting deities. Representations of these figures—armed with the accoutrements of Venus—have recently been identified in the hunting almanacs of the Madrid Codex. Other codical manifestations of Venus include the rain deity Chaak, who appears as both the morning and evening star, and the merchant deity God M, who may have had evening star associations in certain contexts. Significant correspondences exist between the Maya Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh and the War Twins highlighted in creation narratives of Zuni culture, who correspond to the morning and evening star. The celestial roles of both sets of twins will be explored to better understand their function in ceremonial and calendrical contexts.

Type
Special Section: Mesoamerican Cultural Astronomy and the Calendar
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , Fall 2017 , pp. 475 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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