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Description
Like cultures throughout the world, the ancient Maya viewed solar and lunar eclipses as momentous and frightening events. The Maya also recognized the relationship between the cycles of the moon and solar eclipses, and used this knowledge to anticipate future eclipses. Pages 51 through 58 of the Dresden codex contain an “eclipse warning table,” which predicted days on which a solar eclipse could occur over a period of 11,960 days. With periodic corrections, the table could be recycled to predict eclipses through December 6, 2140, not all of which would have been visible in the Maya Region.
Reference:
Bricker, Harvey, and Victoria R. Bricker (1983) Classic Maya Prediction of Solar Eclipses. Current Anthropology. Vol. 24, pp. 1-23.
Curation Date
9-2013
Photo Source
Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
