THE GROLIER CODEX
J. Eric S. Thompson
The Grolier codex came to public notice in April, 1971, when displayed as
part of the exhibition "Ancient Maya Calligraphy" at the Grolier club, New York. Its
survival was hailed by Michael D. Coe as "nothing less than a miracle" (New York
Times, April 21, 1971). Where, when, and under what circumstances this super-
natural event took place has never been revealed, but it is said to have been found
with a jade, turquoise, shell and tortoise shell mosaic mask, now in Dumbarton Oaks
Collection and previously published by von Winning (1968, Plate 333) who assigns it
to Yucatan. He writes me that was the provenance given the piece by the seller. In
that case the asserted find-spot of Codex Grolier would also be in Yucatan.
Now, with its publication (at very slightly over half size) in the Grolier
Club?s sumptious and most beautiful book by Michael Coe, The Maya scribe and his
world, 1973, Grolier codex can be studied. I have not seen the original.
The codex is a fragment comprising eleven incomplete and damaged pages
of bark paper with stucco surface painted only on one side. Pages average 12.5 cm.
wide, and the length of the longest incomplete page is 18 cm. One gets a strong
impression that the missing lowest parts carried no design or glyphic text. Colors
are red, black and blue green (very little) together with red to brown washes.
As Coe notes, the fragment illustrates part of a Venus table with a general
resemblance to pages 46-50 of the Maya Dresden codex, which treat of the same
subject, but there are several important differences. One is thatwhereas in Dresden
codex pictures accompany only dates marking appearance of the planet as morning
star after inferior conjunction, Grolier codex has illustrations for all four stations of
Venus, the above heliacal rising after inferior conjunction, disappearance (approximate),
236 days later, before superior conjunction; reappearance (approximate), 90 days
later as evening star, in the west (day 326); and disappearance, 250 days later, before
inferior conjunction (day 576). This is followed B days later by another heliacal
rising as morning star, thus completing the synodical revolution which averages 584
(actually 583. 92) days. Far and away the most spectacular of these stations is that of
Venus' appearance as morning star; disappearance and reappearance before and after
superior conjunction are tame in comparison. For that reason the scribes of Dresden
codex and of three codices from the Mexican "mainland" rated only appearance of
morning star as worthy of an accompanying illustration.
Because after 5 revolutions Venus will rise on the same day name, but with
a different number, Dresden codex devotes 5 pages to the planet's revolutions, with
helical rising as morning star, accompanied by pictures and augural glyphs, occupying
-1 -
nearly 2/3 of each page on the right. The other three stations without pictures occu-
pying slightly over 1/3 of each page on the left side, a clear indication of their far
lesser importance.
In Grolier codex each station has a page to itself with no indication at all
that morning star station is so much more important. Clearly, the complete Venus
cycle would have occupied 40 pages of Grolier, each with its own illustration. The
columns of days are the same as those in Dresden codex.
Grolier codex gives the same intervals between stations as in Dresden, these
being, as noted, 90, 236, 150 and 8 respectively. Numbers above 20 are expressed
in the vigesimal system, but the twenties are not written as bars (each representing
5) and dots (for 1), but only as dots. That is 236 is shown as 11 dots for 220 (11 x
20) plus 16 expressed as 1 dot over 3 bars. Such a system is neither Maya fish,
Nahuatl fowl nor Mixtec red herring.
Twenties in proto-historic and early colonial Mexico outside the Maya area
were represented by the international symbol, a flag, examples may be seen in Codex
Mendoza (Aztec), Codex Sierra (attributed to the Chocho of Oaxaca), the town book of
Santiago Guevea (Zapotec), and codice de tributos de Mizquiahuala (Otomi?). The
flag symbol was even used in southern Guatemala as Fuentes y Guzman reported.
Accordingly, were Grolier codex a product of cultur-al hybridization, as Coe supposes,
one would expect libanners, not 11 dots, to record 220.
More disturbing are the first digits expressed as bars and dots within rings
tied at the top. That peculiar arrangement is frequent in Dresden codex but found no-
where else. Except in one almanac (pp. 71 a -73 p), where its function is not under-
stood, it encircles the lowest digit, that of the days, of a count ranging from merely
a few days and 20-day "months" up to 140 years which invariable leads forward from
a date, here called X which lies that same distance before the Maya era, here designated
Y. The Maya era is the position 13. 0. 0. 0. 0 4 Ahau 8 Cumku which lay some 4, 000
years in the past when Dresden codex was painted.
The tied ring around the number of days serves as a warning that Date X lies
the distance of the total count before the era (Y). In fact, the position of 4 Ahau 8
Cumku is invariably recorded as such or in the abbreviated form 4 Ahau immediately
below the ringed number. That is the tied ring functions practically as the B. C. in
our English calendar.
The ringed number count always appears in conjunction with a second and
much longer count (of 3, 000 to 4, 000 years), the starting point of which is again Date
X. The terminal of this second count(Z) is followed by the day name and number and
sometimes the accompanying month position reached. Such an equation would be the
equivelant of, for example one in our calendar reading "From a date X, 12 years, 3
3
months and 8 days before January 1, A.D. 0 (Y), count forward 1986 years 11 months
and 9 days to reach August 2, A. D. 1974 (Z). Without the ringed number warning, the
reader might take the terminal date to be in 1986. I suspect the tied ring stands for
the root tab carrying the idea of a tie, link or companionship (cf. tabal, expressed as
tie sign and the glyph (23) al, which designates the Lords of the Nights; tabal signifies
companion, a term used in Mexican sources for those same deities because they are
the acompanados of the days).
Significantly, in one place (Dresden p. 51!) the starting point of such a count
lies not before 4 Ahau 8 Cumku, but 8 days later.  The tied loop is not present.
The appearance of the tied loop in records of the distance from one station
of Venus to another is nonsensical. It is as though we wrote "From appearance of
Venus as morning star to its disappearance is 236 days B. C.; from disappearanoe to
reappearance is 90 days B. C." etc.
Early sources inform us of the important role Venus played as morning star.
When it Ahe morning star/ newly emerged, much fear came over them; all
were frightened. Everywhere the outlets and openings /of houses/ were closed up.
It was said that perchance /the light/might bring a cause of sickness, something evil,
when it came to emerge. But sometimes it was regarded as benevolent (Sahaguin,
1950-70, bk. 7, ch. 3).
The Memoriales con escolios of Sahagun, in repeating the above, adds that
when the planet began to be visible in the east, tihey slew captive men in reverance,
and offered it their blood, spattering it toward /the star/ with their fingers. The
Anales de Cuauhtitlan (Codex Chimalpopoca, 1945, para. 51) also from Central
Mexico, details the planet's evil effects:
They /the old men/ knew when / Quetzalcoatl as morning star/ appears,
on what particular numbers and what particular signs he shines. He casts his rays at
them and shows his anger toward them. If it / appearance as morning star/ falls on
1 Cipactli, he spears the old, men and women equally. If on 1 Ocelotl, if on 1 Mazatl,
if on 1 Tochtli he spears the children. If on 1 Actl he spears the great lords, and just
the same on 1 Miquiztli. If on 1 Quiauitl, he spears the rain and it will not rain. If
on 1 Ollin he spears the youths and maidens; if on 1 Atl everything dries up. For that
cause old men and old women venerated each of those signs.
Flechar here translated to spear, in fact means to kill with arrow or dart,
that is by a hurled weapon. As will be seen, the weapon was a dart propelled by an
atlatl. From the above it is clear that the rays of the planet were regarded as the darts
or arrows with which he slew categories. Indeed, in Nahuatl the sun' s rays are called
tonamitl: tona, contraction of term for sun; mitl, arrow or dart.
4
Mendieta (1879, bk. 2, ch. 5), perhaps drawing on Andres de Olmos, writes
that Quetzalcoatl's soul became a star, "and it was that one that at times casts a ray
like a lance or spear [lanza], and sometimes in this land that star or comet has been
seen, and after it pestilences among the Indians and other calamities have been observed
to follow. " As is well know, Quetzalcoatl became the morning star and as such he
was called Tlauizcalpantecutli, Lord of the dawn.
Association of the morning star with sickness was apparently accepted by
the Indians of San Miguel Sola, Oaxaca, as late as the middle of the 17th century. To
prevent a recurrence of sickness members of a household, after preliminary fasting,
bathed in a river for nine mornings when the morning star rose (Berlin, 1957: 27).
Dresden codex shows Venus as morning star hurling his darts with an atlatl,
and as noted, does not consider other stations of the planet worthy of either augural
glyphs or pictures. Venus as morning star, complete with darts, atlatl and his slain
victims, is depicted in Codex Borgia (pp. 53-54), Codex Vatican B (pp. 80-84) and
Bologna (pp. 9-11), in each case five times to form the period of 2920 days, as in
Dresden codex. In Codex Bologna Venus is shown with a skull, undoubtedly a reference
to his having just emerged from the underworld, land of the dead, in his transit from
west to east in changing from evening to morning star (cf. Tlalchitonatiuh, the sun at
rising, similarly depicted with death symbols).
AU sources, then, are in accord in recognizing Venus as of paramount import-
ance only at heliacal rising as morning star, and in emphasising that it was then the
planet inflicted death and pestilence with his rays. No source mentions Venus at any
other station; that is understandable for at the remaining three positions Venus is not
a star -- she is in the back row of the chorus.
In Grolier the situation is very different. There is no pattern. Instead, the
arrangement is one to make any Maya priest tear his long hair.
Venus gods pierce a temple with a dart hurled at helical rising as morning
star (p. 8) and at disappearance before superior conjunction (p. 5), at a now lost target
at reappearance as evening star (p. 10), and at water or some creature in the water at
disappearance before inferior conjunction (p. 11). He holds a roped prisoner at helical
rising as morning star (p. 4), at reappearance after superior conjunction (pp. 6 and
probably 2), at disappearance before superior conjunction (pp. 1 and 9) and at disappear-
ance before inferior conjunction (p. 3). Once he stands, spear in hand, facing a tree at
disappearance before inferior conjunction (p. 3).
Only once of the four times in which the Venus impersonator hurls darts at
victims is the act correctly assigned to appearance as morning star. One occasion is
appearance as evening star; the other two are disappearance of the planet before inferior
and superior conjunction. How, one wonders, can the planet hurl his death rays when
he disappears from sight.  Such representations make nonsense of the whole
5
body of evidence concerning Middle American beliefs about the planet.
In five scenes, possibly six, Venus is shown holding a bound captive. There
is no basis for this in surviving tradition. Indeed, as a resident of the skies such action
would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. One such scene (p. 4) represents
Venus' appearance as morning star, when he should be hurling his rays at victims. On
page 8 the Venus god carries both a spear and an atlatl, having discharged his one dart
left-handedly, a decidedly anamalous arming with long spear and atlatl.
The speared temple as victim (pp. 5 and 8) is not found on the Venus pages
of Mexican codices or Dresden codex. Indeed, as a common Mexican symbol of con-
quest it would seem out of place here. Venus' victims fall into categories; the slaughter
of the whole community does not fit the pattern, although, admittedly Seler thought he
recognized the symbol for atepetl, town, combining that with the warriors as victims,
but his argument is unconvincing (Seler, 1904-1906, 2: 151-157).
As to the Venus gods in Grolier, none resembles any of those in Dresden
codex. God K appears twice, but on both occasions with human incisors which is
incorrect; they should be ophidian fangs. There are three death figures and five human
faces without marked characteristics (two have Roman noses and one of these seems
to be wearing a woman' s quechquemitl and has a cleft in his head between two frets --
enough to frighten any good Maya or Mixtec out of his wits).
The three recognized Maya codices are books of divination or prophecy.
Except for a few almanacs treating of offerings and apparent orations, every page gives
the good and bad luck of certain days in connection with mundane activities such as
farming, hunting, bee-keeping, idol making, disease and so on. Glyphic texts are
supplemented with pictures. Sometimes a text lacks pictures; there are no pictures
-without texts, demonstrating the over-riding importance of the divinatory glyphs. Years
and katuns (20-year periods) are similarly listed with their glyphs of good and bad luck
as well as tabulations of dates on which eclipses might be expected each with glyphs
recording what was than in store for mankind, for eclipses were much apprehended as
during them the world might end. The same is true of the Venus pages in Dresden
codex. Hieroglyphs name the Venus god, the supervisory deity, and the victim at each
first appearance of the morning star, and the catastrophes to be expected according to
the day of appearance. "Woe to the corn fields, misery, death, affliction of war,
disease" is the glyphic refrain with variations on the sad theme (Thompson, 1972: 70).
The Maya excelled in astronomy, but that was the means; the ends were astro-
logical. The astronomical material was set down in order that the priests might know
from the accompanying glyphic passages what fate awaited mankind at that most dreaded
moment of Venus's first appearance as morning star. Day of appearance was important
because of the fate -- almost invariably evil -- associated with that particular day. The
tables are the equivalent of a modern farmer's almanac. The interest is primarily in
what is foretold for specific occasions or dates.
In the Grolier codex there are no accompanying glyphs to warn man of his
fate. It is the Farmer' s Almanac with September blank -- no prophecy of hurricanes
that month or of political upheavals in Washington. It is true that Mexican codices
have no divinatory glyphs on their Venus pages. That is so because the more back-
ward peoples -- so far as writing is concerned -- of Central Mexico had not learned to
employ divinatory glyphs. But Grolier codex purports to be basically a Maya codex,
as the lay-out of the Venus tables, the Maya day signs and the appearance of the Maya
God K, although incorrectly portrayed, clearly demonstrate. Thus Grolier codex fails
to conform to Maya standard practice in hieroglyphic ritual codices, that is to supply
the divinatory data in writing, employing pictures merely to supplement the text. That
failure lays the codex open to grave suspicion as to its authenticity.
A fragment of paper attached to Grolier codex has produced a Carbon 14
date of A. D. 1230 + 130 years. This however, does not authenticate the codex. In
recent years large quantities of plain sheets of pre-Columbian bark paper have been
found by looters operating in caves in the dry region stretching south and east of
Tehuacan.
My friend and colleague Jose L. Franco, whose knowledge of Mexican pre-
Columbian artifacts is perhaps unequalled, writes me that some years ago he examined
in Mexico City loot in the hands of a dealer from caves in the dry region at the bottom
of the Tehuacan Valley. Found with authentic pre-Columbian pieces was a very large
number of bundles of amate (bark) paper, very well made and smooth surfaced or
polished (terso). The bundles were all of about the same size, about 20 cm. x 10 cm.,
but varying in thickness from less than 1 cm. to 2 cm., and all carefully tied with bow
or knot. Each leaf was folded in four. Most of the thicker bundles were of undecorated
paper; the thinner ones were splattered with rubber, and thus of the type used in
offerings, particularly to the rain gods, according to 16th-century ethnological descrip-
tions. The paper was found with crude pottery figures of such deities as Tlaloc,
Xochipilli, etc., and damaged textiles.
Late in 1966 Senior Franco examined two bundles of rather crude amate paper
about 25 x 30 cm. and some 18 cm. thick. The owner, an antique dealer, said they
had been brought to him by looters as samples of several hundred such bundles found
in a cave in the Sierra Madre of Guerrero, together with bundles of herbs and many
pottery vessels. Senor Franco was absolutely certain that the paper was pre-Columbian.
He adds that he has heard of several other finds of amate paper in areas more or less
under Mixtec influence.
I have been told that some who have seen the Grolier codex have been struck
by the contrast between the apparent freshness of the paint and the aged appearance
of the paper. Clearly a forger would have no trouble in obtaining pre-Columbian amate
paper. Indeed, it is said to be a drag on the market; buyers of looted material are not
interested in it.
7
Senor Franco informns me that in the last 8 to 10 years he has seen at least
six fake codlees of the same type as the Grolier codex.
Faking is big business; a falsified hieroglyphic book, or even a fragment of
one, can fetch a very high price if the buyer be persuaded the piece is genuine. A
faker, playing for high stakes, would have no trouble In getting information on Maya
handling of the Venus cycle. The Venus pages of Dresden codex have been illustrated
and described in detail in various available publications. In-this case he did not heed
Alexander Pope's warning "A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep or taste
not the Pierian spring." Shallow draughts, whether from the springs of Urania and
her fellow Muses or from the cenotes of Maya astrologers, intoxicate the brain, and
the ignoramus falls headlong to disaster.
The little learning of the composer of Codex Grolier was insufficient to save
him from the pitfalls noted above and summarized below:
1) As 20's are not written Maya fashion, they should conform completely
to Mexican style which calls for banners, not dots, to represent vigesimes.
2) The practice of ringing numbers which serves to indicate distances before
the Maya era, are completely out of place and stultify counts of days between stations
of the synodical revolution of Venus.
3) Early sources are unanimous that Venus hurled darts, that is its rays of
light, only at first appearance as morning star. In Grolier codex darts are hurled once
correctly at appearance as morning star; once at appearance as evening star; and twice
at disappearance before conjunction when its rays would be extinguished!
4) Venus holds bound captives in 5, possibly 6, pictures. Sources tell us
nothing of Venus capturing prisoners. Indeed, being confined to celestial journeys,
such a task presumably would be impossible. One such scene marks the planet's
appearance as morning star, when, all sources are agreed, he should be hurling his
darts.
5) Once Venus has a long spear in one hand, an atlatl in the other, a combin-
ation never found, to the best of my knowledge in Middle American art.
6) The speared temple, twice depicted, is a Mexican symbol of conquest; it
is out of place in these pages which do not deal with conquest.
7) The only recognizable deity, other than a death god, is the Maya God K
who appears twice. In both places he has a row of human incisors instead of the ophid-
ian fangs he should display. Neither he nor a death god is among Venus deities portrayed
in Dresden codex.
8
8) Codex Grolier lacks divinatory glyphs, but the recording of those was
the main purpose of Maya ritualistic codices. Yet this book is primarily Maya in
contents and presentation. The Venus table is expanded from the five pages of Dresden
codex to 20 pages, nevertheless, the main purpose of the table, the astrology is
omitted.
9) Easy access to pre-Columbian bark paper vitiates the Carbon-14 date
as an argument for the genuiness of the codex.
9
RE FERENCES
Berlin, H.
1957   Las antiguas creencias en San Miguel Sola, Oaxaca, Mexico. Beitrage
zur mittelamerikanischen Volkerkunde. Hamburgischen MuseuZn f.
Volkerkund u. Vorgeschichte, 4: 1-50. Hamburg.
Codice Chimalpopoca
1945   Codice Chimalpopoca. Anales de Cuauhtitlan, y leyenda de los soles.
Traducci6n directa del nahuatl por Lic. P. F. Vela'squez. Univ.
Nac. Aut4noma de Mexico. Mexico.
Coe, M.D.
1973   The Maya scribe and his world. The Grolier club. New York.
Mendieta, G. de
1870   Historia eclesiastica indiana. Mexico.
Sahagun, B. de
1950-70 Florentine codex. General history of the things of New Spain.
Translated and edited by A. J. 0. Anderson and C. E. Dibble. School
Amer. Res., Monograph 14. 13 vols. Santa Fe and Salt Lake City.
Seler, E.
1904-6 Codex Borgia. Eine altmexikanische Bilderschrift der Bibliothek
der Congregatio de Propaganda Fide. 2 vols. Berlin.
Thompson, J.E.S.
1972 A commentary on the Dresden codex, a Maya hieroglyphic book.
American Philosophical Society, Memoir 93. Philadelphia.
Winning, H. von
1968   Pre-Columbian art of Mexico and Central America. New York.