Starting in the 15th century, after the failure of the Crusades to take control of the Middle Eats and the Muslim world, the whole world was colonized first by the Portuguese and the Spaniards, then by the French and the English – mainly but not only, don’t forget the Dutch. In Mesoamerica, the Spanish Crown, the Spanish Catholic Church, and the Spanish Inquisition organized and performed the worst-ever genocide, both human (diseases, war, and extermination of the male population) and cultural: autodafé of books and anything that could be burned and that had anything written in the Maya glyphs, with the menace of extermination of those who would resist. The resistance was fierce. Against European diseases, none was possible. These diseases and the death of a still not yet really numbered proportion of the population enabled the Spaniards and other Europeans to have a serious advantage. They used it fully, even sending some groups of rangers to spread the diseases. The Mayas though resisted culturally and they adopted the Spanish alphabet to transcribe, from memory since the books had been burned, what they could remember and it took them about three centuries to do it. But these transcriptions were at once translated into Spanish, thus imposing a second cultural genocide: the loss of all glyphic diacritic elements that were not actually put in words, or syllables, and then the loss of the language itself and its artistic forms in the stories, myths, poetry, rituals and rites, and other plays and epics told in these transcriptions. The recuperation of the glyphic language only came in the 20th century, after the Second World War when the reading of the glyphs as a writing system enabled the Mayas and humanity to finally understand the many thousand inscriptions on the monuments that were slowly excavated from the jungle. And it was a battle against “Sir” Eric Thompson who refused to consider these inscriptions as any sort of written language pretending they were nothing but cultural symbols, at best mnemonic for storytellers and priests. We had to wait for Yury Valentinovich Knorozov, a Soviet scholar and university professor in Leningrad, today Saint Petersburg, in the 1950-1960s when he finally was heard by other scholars like Micheal D. Coe or Dennis Tedlock. The new developments of Maya Country in Yucatan, Mexico, are centered on the Maya Train and its interconnection with the Tehuantepec isthmus rail corridor that will connect the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, enabling easy access to this Maya train from the East or the West.

2. This book is essential if you want to understand a few things about the stakes of the recently
inaugurated Maya Train which will be interconnected with the Interoceanic Train to be built in
the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. All that in Mexico. This will mean a
tremendous boost for Maya culture, Maya language, and the “resurrection” of the old glyphic
writing. Here are some of these stakes present in the book.
1- This is the fourth Maya Codex that has escaped the autodafé the Spanish colonizers
performed in the 16th
century in Mexico, in Mesoamerica. They burned all the books (only four
escaped) and banned the Maya glyphic syllabary writing system, and of course, the Maya and
other Mexican religions were declared once and for all satanic, diabolical, heretical, or whatever
other words the Spanish Crown and Inquisition decided to use to justify that worst imaginable,
planned, and systematic cultural genocide, and the Mayas who resisted were “genocided” along
with the books. Thousands of invaluable books were destroyed and we do not have real figures
about the extermination of people who decided to resist.
2- This particular Codice, ten pages partly impaired by time, ten pages missing, was saved
because it had been buried along with its owner. That’s the value of these codices: they represent
all the Mayas believed in about life, the supernatural, the cosmos, time, and calendrical events and
cycles, hence science. They had three calendars: the Tzolk’in calendar, the sacred calendar of 13
cycles of 20 days, hence two hundred and sixty days; the Haab’ or Ja’ab’ calendar, the solar
calendar of 18 cycles of 20 days plus 5 extra days at the end of the year, the Wayeb’, the very
ominous and terrifying group of five days that could be seen as a nineteenth month, even if very
short (one-fourth of a normal twenty-day month, by the way “month” is a Western and European
word. The Maya word is “winal,” see below), and this produces a solar year of three hundred and

3. sixty-five days. This second calendar gives the long-count time for historical time in the past, and at
times in the future, by taking this Haab’ solar year and investing it in a hierarchical vigesimal
cyclical system in which any lower cycle is multiplied by 20 to reach the next level. The solar year
is called a “tun”, and then in this vigesimal system you have a “k’atun” (20 tuns), a “bak’tun” (20
k’atuns), a “pik’tun” (20 bak’tuns), etc.
The beginning of the current Great Cycle was written not as 0.0.0.0.0, but rather as
“13.0.0.0.0, 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u. See this date on the sketch of Quirigua Stela C (Wikimedia
Commons) in the following diagram. The use of the “mi” glyph four times clearly tells us these four
vigesimal blocks are empty. It is well known that year 0 does not exist in any calendar. The point 0
that divides Year -1 from Year +1, is exactly a point in geometry or algebra: it has no dimension. It
is empty, “mi” as the Maya used to say. See below for the glyphic specification of this “mi” word.
Coe is working on a Bak’tun that is only based on 20 times 20 Tuns corresponding to Haab’
years of only 360 days, i.e. 18 “months” of 20 days that he calls Winals. This provides him with a
total of 7,200 days, and I would consider that the mathematical logic of Maya calendars has to
count days in multiples of 73, hence that should be, for a K’atun first calculated on a 365-day Tun,
20 times 365 = 7,300 days. A Bak’tun then is twenty times 7,300 days, hence 146,000 days, 2,000
days more than Coe’s figure. Since it is the basis of all Maya cosmic observations of the Sun,
Moon, Earth, and Venus, 2,000 days out of 146,000 is NOT NEGLIGIBLE, 1.3698% of 146,000
days or 1.3888% of 144,000 days. All we know about the cosmic orientation of the pyramids and
temples of the Mayas has to be more precise, must not tolerate such a “discrepancy.” Hence a
Great Cycle from 13.0.0.0.0 has to be 13 X 146,000 days, hence1,898,000 days, hence 73 x
26,000. Then Coe’s conclusion is correct but based on different figures. A great cycle comes to an
end and the next one starts after exactly 13 Bak’tuns. One great cycle is 13 bak’tuns long when the
same initial calendar day is reached: 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u.
Yet it is not that simple if we consider the Tzolk’in day and the Haab’ day of the Long Count.
The 5 Wayeb days are disturbing the coordination of the two calendars, except if the Wayeb days
are kept and that will make the Great Cycle slightly longer. Calculations have to be made, and
apparently, they haven’t been made since, after checking several sources on Maya calendars and
Long Count and Great Cycles, some assume we are working on the full Haab’ year (365 days) and
others, like Michael D. Coe, assume we are working on only the Haab’ reduced to 18 winals of 20
days, hence 360 days. I guess there is a lot more research to be done if we consider the research
that states the Earth's solar cycle and Venus's cycle are correct: Solar year = 365 days = 5 times
73. Venus year = 584 days = 8 times 73. In the same way, the 52-year cycle that brings Venus and
Earth together is 4 times 13, and 104 that brings Venus and Earth together again is eight times 13.
And that is the basis of the Venus calendar in this particular Codice. But since it coordinates the

4. Earth’s solar year and Venus's year, both constructed on a multiple of 73, this prime number has to
be found in the Long Count Calendar and The Great Cycles.
3- This particular Codice is centered on the planet we call Venus which is only the Star for the
Mayas, “ek’.” EK' (ek'/Ek') (T510af) 1> noun "star"; represents one-half of the full
"star" glyph 2> > noun "Venus"? <> (John Montgomery) Half of the complete "star" glyph.
EK' (ek'/Ek') (T510) 1> noun "star" 2> noun "Venus"? <> (John Montgomery) The
complete "star" glyph. The question mark after Venus does not mean John Montgomery is not sure
that the glyphs designate the planet he calls Venus, the Morning Star or the Evening Star (Étoile
du Berger in French), but it means we do not know if this star had any other name than “ek’” which
is the generic term for a star. The full cycle of Venus is 584 solar days divided into four phases:
Morning Star (236 days), superior conjunction invisibility (90 days), Evening Star (250 days), and
inferior conjunction invisibility (8 days). All that is specified with figures and diagrams on pages 24
and 25 of the book. The Codice covers 104 solar years which represent 65 full Venus cycles. This
104-solar-year cycle can be broken down into 13 periods of 2,920 days (13 times 8 solar years or
13 times 5 Venus cycles.
But we need to be more specific. The cycle we are speaking of is
a- 104 times 365 days (solar years), and 104 is 13 times 8. Note these are 37,960 days and
these days are 73 times 520 days, which is 2 times 260 days, the Tzolk’in Calendar, hence 73 x 2
x 260.
b- 52 solar years is half this first cycle and is 52 times 365 days (solar year), and 52 is 13
times 4. Note 52 solar years is also 18,980 days and these days are 73 times 260 days, the
Tzolk’in calendar.

5. c- A Tzolk’in calendar of 260 solar days is 13 times 20.
d- 65 Venus cycles is 13 times 5 Venus cycles.
This, in a way, justifies the very potent number 13 in Maya time reckoning. It also reveals the
existence of another prime in the calculations, the prime 73. But we have to compare with other
numbers and decompose them.
e- 365 days, a solar Earth’s year, is 5 times 73.
f- 584 days, Venus’s year in solar Earth’s days, is 8 times 73.
All calculations being based on either solar Earth’s years or Venus’s years in solar Earth’s
days, we are going to find the prime 73 everywhere. This prime is [(3 times 20) + 13]. Note here
that 3 is an ominous number in the Maya sacred practical apparatus or even mythology. It is often
connected with self-sacrifice, with shedding some blood on some paper that is then burnt as a gift
for the Gods to repay them for the blood they donated for human beings to be created from corn
meal. You find this “diacritic” visual element in many glyphs as three beads, or three droplets,
meaning the flow of blood. So far I have not been able to find a justification for this 73 prime
number in those calendrical cycles based on cosmic events that are considered by present
astronomers and other physicists as accurate enough to enable some serious calculations, which
the Mayas were doing. In other words, it is not haphazard or religious-minded. It is in real
connection with the cosmos, or what the Mayas were observing in the cosmos. Hence 73 must
have some cosmic meaning or referential dimension.
Let’s summarize the figures there.
3 connected to blood offering.
13 seems to be coming from cosmic observation.
20 is the base of the vigesimal counting system (common in many old counting systems,
particularly in currency and money. One example is that still after the Second World War, up to
1958-9 when the French currency was changed to the New Franc, the old one-Franc coin was
called 20 “sous” (“vingt sous”) and the old five-Franc coin was called 100 “sous” (“cent sous”).
73 is for me an unexplained prime found nearly everywhere in calendrical events. I worked on
the other codices, particularly the Dresden Codex, and I had not noticed this prime number 73, and

6. the Dresden Codex has a whole section on the Venus calendrical cycle. Either I was negligent in
my reading or it was not clearly presented, probably both because this 73 prime number is at least
problematic.
We must also keep in mind most of these numbers carry their own symbolism within their
multiples. Self-sacrifice is often alluded to in glyphs with 6 or 9 beads or droplets that can be worn
as a collar. Also, think of the number of multiples of 13 I have given. 73 is similar and has many
multiples. We have to keep in mind this cultural genocide nearly destroyed all this culture and
knowledge.
4- another mathematical fact is, unluckily, misrepresented in this book, and it is, alas, a
common mistake. On page 17, Andrew D. Turner says the Mayas counted from zero to nineteen.
That’s a mistake. They counted from 1 to 20 and a set of items, when they reached the number 20
triggered an automatic emptying of this set and transformed the twenty items into one item in the
immediately higher tier. This is exactly what happens in any decimal system. When a set of units
reaches ten, automatically a decimal system jumps into the next tier. It does not empty the lower
level, but it triggers the rising movement. The Mayas had a glyph for this empty set and another for
the number 20, the trigger of the vigesimal system. Remember the old Pound Sterling that
contained twenty shillings. If you had twenty (or more) coins amounting to twenty shillings, you
could exchange these twenty shillings for a one-pound note. You had no shillings anymore, but you
had a pound instead, whose value was twenty shillings. Let me be clear about this fact in Maya
glyphs. In the lowest tier of the numeration,
The meaning is first of all within the Maya conceptualization of “zero” as “empty,” which
corresponds to what I said about twenty, “k’al” - K'AL (k'al) (T683a) > noun "twenty;" cardinal
number; the "moon" sign <> [Jacques Coulardeau] with the three dots or beads or drops under the
triple cartouche, a ternarity or triplicity that evokes self-sacrifice, the gift of blood to the Gods, and
the completion of this set of twenty items triggers the completion of a vigesimal group that is at
once turned into one more unit in the immediately higher tier in the system, leaving the lowest tier
empty, hence “mi.” Visually the two stopping hands mean “completion” but both hands have double
circular empty dots inside a circular cartridge on the right side of the hand as opposed to the thumb
on the left side of the hand which is probably a right-hand’s back since one of these two glyphs
shows the nails, but we could assume also one is the back of a right hand (nails visible) and the
other is the palm side of the left hand (nails not visible, the thumb shorter). But these empty circles,
or beads, or dots on the hands are a symbol of their having been cut off (like the finger for “jun” or
“hun”), hence amputated, hence in phase with the completion meaning because when you reach
the twentieth item in one level of numeration it triggers the upraising of one unit into the higher
level leaving the lower level empty hence “mi.” Even today this role of twenty, “k’al,” is not clear for
scholars who have had at the very least ten years of Western mathematics.

7. Note this “k’al” element is used as the first basic element of derived verbal forms meaning
“bound, tied, wrapped,” “closed,” or “set.” It can also be the first formative element of words
connected to the principle of “accession” to some throne or authority. It is also used to designate a
tun-ending date. In all these glyphs the T713a glyph is the opening element in the morphology of
the word or phrase in oral discourse, whereas in glyphic writing it is positioned right under all the
others. Let me give you some illustrations of this “discrepancy” between the oral discourse and the
writing system:
This is the symbolizing level of any language. A symbol (and we must keep in mind the oral
form of the symbol is just as symbolic as the glyphic representation of the symbol) can be used for

8. various different situations with various different meanings. And that is where we can shift from one
word represented by this or that representational drawing, then the latter simplified to become
symbolical of the particular referential element behind them, hence the oral names of them, but
these symbols being hieroglyphs or composite glyphs, or syllabary/alphabetical glyphs, what we in
most languages call alphabetic writing, we have jumped from symbols to phonetic writing. There is
no break in that continuous development, despite what Silvia Ferrara may say going the other way
in The Greatest Invention.
Now you can understand the depth of this cultural and linguistic genocide. The Mayas resisted
the change, but to avoid being physically eliminated in a cruel way or another, they adopted the
Spanish Latin alphabet and transcribed – from memory – all they had kept in their minds in this
Latin Alphabet, slightly adapted at times, showing here again the script is dependent on the
phonology of the oral language, but in this process, the transcription lost all or most of the
morphological and paradigmatic visual dimension of the glyphs.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU