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In a 1986 symposium at the Kimbell Art Museum, host to the Blood of Kings exhibition, Linda Schele (1986) presented an important new study that linked visual imagery and dates recorded on monuments to speci¤c positions of the planets. Her analysis of these date patterns was later published in A Forest of Kings, coauthored with David Freidel. In what has to be one of the longest footnotes in the book, she outlined iconographic elements associated with dates corresponding to planetary positions of Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn (Schele and Freidel 1990:444–446, n. 47). Her ability to weave together discussions of iconography , political history, and astronomy was compelling and led other scholars to new avenues of investigation. In a subsequent study, Anthony Aveni and Lorren Hotaling (1994) used statistical analysis to investigate the astronomical patterning of what they referred to as “culturally tagged” dates. Analyzing the astronomical dates published by Schele and Freidel (1990:444–447), along with related sets generated by Schele (1982:Appendix 4, chart 10), Floyd Lounsbury (1982, 1989), and John Justeson (1989), they studied the patterning in terms of real astronomical events. Aveni and Hotaling found that previously published studies often cited the greatest elongation of Venus as an event of signi¤cance, but the pattern of dates actually revealed that maximum altitude of the planet was the more notable event. Nonetheless , their analysis provided support for studies linking Maya dates to events involving Saturn and Jupiter, especially dates recording the retrograde position of these two planets. In this light, I began to study date patterns associated with God K, whose attributes suggested a possible celestial association. God K, ¤rst identi¤ed in the Postclassic codices (Schellhas 1904), is very prominent on Classic 8 The Planet of Kings Jupiter in Maya Cosmology Susan Milbrath Maya monuments. My study reveals that God K is associated with k’atun- endings involving Jupiter and Saturn events, especially in late Classic Maya times (c.e. 600–850). Furthermore, there seems to be a clear link between certain God K images and dates coinciding with Jupiter’s position in retrograde, when the planet seems to stop and then move backward in the sky. Before looking at these dates, it is important to understand why God K is a good candidate for studies of an astronomical nature. Imagery of God K God K’s celestial context is clear in a number of images. A Postclassic Maya mural painting from Tulum depicts a skyband with a winged God K (Figure 8.1). This type of celestial imagery extends back to Classic period times, as seen in the winged God K under a skyband on the capstone of the Temple of the Owls at Chichen Itza, probably dating between c.e. 800–900 (Figure 8.2). Cacao pods frame God K’s legs. Cacao, the chocolate bean, was the principal currency for Mesoamerica; hence God K is a sky deity associated with great wealth. On page 25 of the New Year pages in the Dresden Codex, Thompson (1972:91) notes that God K appears with a glyph passage saying that cacao is God K’s food (Figure 8.3). Continuity is evident when tracing the visual imagery of God K back through time, but there are variations in details. The Postclassic God K has an upturned snout with branching elements (Figures 8.1, 8.3, and 8.4). Sometimes God K’s snout has a mirror inset, best seen on Dresden Codex page 12a (Figure 8.3). In the Classic period, God K carries a mirror on his brow (Figure 8.5). Sometimes a Figure 8.1. God K’s celestial aspect as winged deity on sky band in Late Postclassic mural from Tulum (after Taube 1992:Figure 34c). Jupiter in Maya Cosmology 119 Figure 8.2. Winged God K in jaws of coiled serpent with sky band arching overhead on painted capstone from Terminal Classic Temple of the Owls at Chichen Itza, Structure 5C7 (after Tozzer 1957:Figure 384). Figure 8.3. Ben New Year with God K in temple of east, Dresden Codex, page 25b (after Villacorta and Villacorta 1977). torch emerges from the mirror, its smoke resembling cigar smoke or the smoke from ¤res (Figure 8.6; Schele and Miller 1983:Figure 3n). More commonly, a smoking celt or axe emanates from God K’s mirror (Figure 8.5). In Classic and Postclassic glyphic writing, God K’s head with a mirrored brow is his name, but sometimes a smoking...

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