Venus
The Maya were fanatical astronomers. Given special focus were the
points of zenith when the Sun crossed over the Mayan lines of latitude.
On an annual basis the sun travels to its summer solstice point, and it
was during this time that numerous traditions and ceremonies, sacred to
the Maya, would be carried out.
The Maya could easily determine the dates of lunar and solar events.
At local noon, the eclipse of the solstice cast no shadow, and the Maya
were able to predict this event with startling accuracy. These advanced
astronomical techniques were quite unknown to the Spanish conquistadors
who invaded the Yucatan peninsula in the 16th century.
Contrary to assumptions that the Sun was the focus of Mayan cosmology,
Venus was the astronomical object of greatest interest. They actually thought
it was more important than the Sun and watched it carefully as it moved
through its stations (it takes 584 days for Venus and the Earth to line
up in their previous position compared to the Sun). It takes about 2922
days for the Earth, Venus, the Sun and the stars to complete a longer
cycle together.
The pattern of Venus is usually calculated according to the time when
Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth. During this event, Venus cannot
be seen from Earth at night as it is directly blocked from view. When again it rises,
Venus reaches its greatest brilliance, in addition to an elongated orbit upon
which it moves quickly away from the sun.
After that, it remains observable for 260 days in the morning sky until it
reaches the other endpoint of its cycle. When this occurs, Venus is on the opposite
side of the Sun, becoming dim and difficult to track, until it swings back beneath
the horizon to appear once again on the opposite side of the Sun after 50 days.
Venus had a profound spiritual importance for the Maya and other Mesoamerican
cultures. The historical record indicates that the Maya scheduled the wars they
waged according to the stationary points of Venus and Jupiter. Human captives and
volunteers were sacrificed on first annual appearance of Venus when it was at its
dimmest, fearing that if they did not offer sacrifice, the planet might not reappear,
and the gods would become angry.
The Dresden Codex, one of few Mayan texts to survive destruction at the hands of
the Conquistadores, allows us to accurately interpret their writings and calendar dates.
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