Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Another important calendar for the Maya was the Venus cycle. The Maya were excellent astronomers, and could calculate the Venus cycle extremely accurately. There are six pages in the Dresden Codex (one of the Maya codices) devoted to the accurate calculation of the location of Venus. The Maya were able to achieve such accuracy by careful observation over many years. The Venus cycle was especially important because the Maya believed it was associated with war and used it to divine good times for coronations and war. Maya rulers planned for wars to begin when Venus rose. The Maya also possibly tracked other planets’ movements, including those of Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter.

Joe Monzo has interpreted the boundaries of the longcount to be defined by a periodic astronomical event: the triple conjunction just before sunrise of the moon, Venus, and Jupiter (see his webpage below in "external links"). However, this interpretation relies on modern astronomical calculations not used by the Maya.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Venus cycle", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki