The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-01-28
MAYAS READ STARS
ACCURATELY $50 B. C.
Checkup of Calendar Shows
Advanced Civilization.

the Venus calendar of the ancient
| Mayas of Central America has been
solved and a correlation made between
! this strange and wonderful time count
| and the true astronomical positions Of
the planet Venus in the Sixth century
before Christ The results are in COM
plete agreement with those REACHED for
the annual calendar Of the Mayas and
for dates in their day count, accord
ing to the correlation with modern
| chronology announced by the Peabody,
museum OF Harvard university two!
years ago.
At that time it was shown by DR..
Herbert J. Spinden, curator of Mex
lean archaeology on the Harvard mu-
scum staff, that the first definite date,
in the history Of the new world was
August 6, Glib b. c. when the Mayas
began to give each day its consecutive
number and to keep Il sharp record of
celestial events, and that the perfected
annual calendar was inaugurated at
the winter solstice of $50 B. G. Doc,
tor Spinden is now able to prove that,
the Venus calendar of the MayaS was,
put in final working order between two;
risings of Venus as morning star in
conjunction with the summer solstices
Of 53S and $50 B. c..
This demonstration adds to our
knowledge of the remarkable science,
of the Mayas, who must be awarded
the palm of civilization among Amer
lean nations, and it also adds luster to-
Quetsalcoatl, a Toltec conqueror of
more recent times, who now appears,
to have been made goa of the morning
star for solving a problem in astron-!
omy. With the deciphering of the,
Venus calendar several previously I'M,
known hieroglyphs yield up their mean
ings, and the ancient art and religion
Of the Mayas gain new interest.
Venus a Nimble Planet.
The Venus calendar depends on the
fact that Venus holding an orbit inside
that of EARTH makes 10 revolutions
around our central orb in about two
N'HS iSS' IMAM CiSiit Sii Dut SiiiNC
Venus is viewed from the moving earth
she seems to make only five revolu
lions, these being the five laps which
are gained over earth in an uneven
race. To gain lap the nimble planet
first swings out through space and
passes behind the sun, where she is
lost to view at the end of the phase as
morning star. Then, to overtake, she
again swings wide and turns in be-
tween the earth and the sun. APP
preaching the end of her race, Venus
is brilliant object as evening star 60
ing down into the west soon after sun
set At the finish she is lost in the
sunlight at inferior conjunction only
to emerge before sunrise as morning
star.
After the invention of a time count
and a system of hierogyphic writing
had given them means to accurately
record, the Mayas discovered tie
double life of Venus as evening and
morning star, and they carefully plot
ted all her mysterious comings and 60
ingS. They found that Venus disap-
peared for eight days between the
last glimpse of ner in the west and
the first glimpse in the east. This
was close observation, possible only
in the short twilight of the tropics.
They also found that the same phases
of Venus come back in about 5S4 days
on the average, so that five Venus
years are practically equal to eight Or
binary years.
Took Close Calculation.
The adjustments made by the
Mayas in forming the Venus calendar
are all the more remarkable when it is
pointed out that Venus years actually
vary in length by over eight days.
while the average length of both We
nus and tropical years must be car
ried into difficult fractions Of a day
But five times 5S4 exactly equals eight
| times 365, which is enough to insure
a return to the same position in the
Mayan month after the completion of
| five formal Venus years. When the
peculiar Magyar method of naming
| days by a Formulation of 13 numbers
and 20 names, giving a cycle of 2G0
| is brought into this complex, the We
nus calendar becomes a time machine
| whose dial covers 104 civil years, or So
revolutions of the planet
The Mayans were highly logical and
| did not use a makeshift intercalcula-
ton in any of their calendars. There
fore their month moves forward in the
natural years by the same amount that
we offset by inserting extra days in
! leap years. Nevertheless they knew
exactly where they stood at any time
in the true year of nature Sim
ilarly they did not modify the formal
structure of their Venus calendar by
adding or subtracting days, but they
knew exactly how many days should
be added or subtracted to reach the
true places of the planet The mean
ings Of the Magyar month names and
the symbolism of the month signs
agree with the original setting in the
natural year $50 B. c. and, in a similar
way, the evidence in regard to the
Venus calendar calls for an original
setting where the calendarical places
Of Venus coincide with the actual ap-
pearances of the planet.
Robbers Beware