Page:Stone of the Sun.djvu/79

 the Bible (the date of the Deluge, that of the confusion of tongues, etc., etc.), and others like the Sothic period of the Egyptians, a totally inadmissible hypothesis, he connects the date 13-ácatl of the rectangle with 1352 of our era, date in his opinion of the foundation of Mexico; the statement is doubly false, for neither was Tenochtitlan founded in that year, nor was that year 13-cane in the native chronology, but 3-técpatl, as the tables of Veytia prove, We saw before that 1323 was the true 13-ácatl, and already it is known that the Codex Fuenleal refers the foundation of the Mexican metropolis to that time. Although his knowledge of archaeology was no great thing, it should be said that in his work Anahuac Tyler suggested that the date of the rectangle mentioned referred to this same year 1323.

Let us pass to another point. It has been claimed that the divisions of the body of the xiuhcóatl correspond to the constellations of the native zodiac, idea of the archaeologist, Hermann Beyer. Without opposing so fertile and strong a thesis, we will make some concrete observations. As well in the cipactli of Xochicalco as on page 72 of the Borgian Codex, the I3 divisions manifestly indicate 65 Venus years: the chronographic characters in the codex and the accompanying dates prove it without any sort of doubt. In Xochicalco each front of the edifice has tyings for the value of 416 years, corresponding to the two sculptured cipactli, and two more suggested by means of glyphs adjacent to the body of the monsters. These free symbols are 26 in each front; it may be seen with clearness in the magnificent plates of Peñafiel's book (Monumentos de arte mexicano antiguo) and in Castañeda's drawing, reproduced by Kingsborough. Summed to the 26 directly inclosed in the bodies, we encounter 52 glyphs of 8 solar or 5 Venus years each. Each front or side of the edifice then expresses the number of 416 solar or 260 Venus years, value expressly confirmed in the 8 respective signs of tyings. In the codex the sign of tying effected by two numerals accompanies the serpents. According to this, 104 years or 416 in the four serpents is the matter. If in the museum relief, the proposition had been to represent the constellations, they would not have been upon the serpents, but on the quadrangular base of the monument, the preserved part of which shows still traces of some; this thesis appears to us more probable than that of Mr. Beyer.

I) With respect to the knots or tyings of the relief, they might signify the same 416 years figured by little bars, since there are eight. The so-called "Colossal Legs" of Tula are nothing else but the