"If modern astronomy tells us that the tropical year lasts 365.2422 days, it is astonishing to learn that the Mayan sages had achieved an approximation certainly extraordinary, by assigning a period of 365.2420 days." (Miguel Leon Portilla. 1968)
The time was cyclical and non-linear. The exact measure in which they divided the day and night periods were 22 units, while earth rotates on its axis. The Vigesimal[1] conception makes the figures perfect. Where 5, 13, 18, 20, find amazing combinations. The weeks of 5 days, the 20 day months and the 18 months forming a year, plus the five "nemontemi" days and their "bundles" of 52 years. The calendars can be seen as a series of circles which perfectly fit about each other. That is, the lunar calendar or 260-day Tonalpohualli, it fits exactly within the solar calendar of 365 days and the solar calendar in turn, fits perfectly with the bundle of 52 years or Xiuhmolpilli and all three with the Venus calendar of 584 days. However, the Maya count takes our breath away, because they register dates, past and future, which we admire for its accuracy and size.
"But it was in the Maya obsession on the cycles where primarily lies the importance of Venus: 5 orbital cycle periods of this planet correspond almost exactly to 8 years of 365 days (5 X 584 days = 8 X 365 days = 2920 days). The connection with the "ritual year" of 260 days was given after a Huehuetiliztli period of 104 years corresponding to 65 Venus orbital cycles and 146 "ritual years". These numbers are rounded, since the Venus orbital cycle is actually of 583.92 days while the solar year lasts 365.24 days.
The Mayans made elaborated tables to correct the small discrepancies between the Venus orbital period, the year and other cycles.
Thus, when 301 cycles of 584 days have lapsed, the Mayans had subtracted a total 24 days (analogous to our custom of adding one day every four years) and with this correction they could predict the position of Venus with an error of just 2 hours in 481 years! The
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- ↑ The vigesimal or base 20 numeral system is based on twenty (in the same way in which the ordinary decimal numeral system is based on ten).
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