Dresden Codex

The Dresden Codex is a Maya book, which was believed to be the oldest surviving book written in the Americas, dating to the 11th or 12th century.^[1] However, in September 2018 it was proven that the Maya Codex of Mexico, previously known as the Grolier Codex, is, in fact, older by about a century.^[2] The codex was rediscovered in the city of Dresden, Germany, hence the book's present name. It is located in the museum of the Saxon State Library. The codex contains information relating to astronomical and astrological tables, religious references, seasons of the earth, and illness and medicine. It also includes information about conjunctions of planets and moons.^[3]

The book suffered serious water damage during World War II. The pages are made of amate, 20 centimetres (7.9 in) high, and can be folded accordion-style; when unfolded the codex is 3.7 metres (12 ft) long. It is written in Mayan hieroglyphs and refers to an original text of some three or four hundred years earlier, describing local history and astronomical tables. Like all other pre-Hispanic books from Mesoamerica, the Dresden Codex takes the form of a screenfold. The pages consist of a paper made from the pounded inner bark of a wild species of Ficus (hu'un in Maya—a word that became semantically equivalent to “book”).^[4]

^ Murray, Stuart (2009). Library, the : an illustrated history. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. p. 140. ISBN 9781628733228.
^ Romero, Laura; Saavedra, Diana (24 September 2018). "El Códice Maya de México, auténtico y el más antiguo" [The Maya Codex of Mexico, authentic and the oldest one]. Gaceta UNAM (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
^ Carrasco, Dav́d (2001). The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195108156.
^ Grube, Nikolai K. "Dresden, Codex." In David Carrasco (ed).The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001.

[1] Murray, Stuart (2009). Library, the : an illustrated history. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. p. 140. ISBN 9781628733228.

[2] Romero, Laura; Saavedra, Diana (24 September 2018). "El Códice Maya de México, auténtico y el más antiguo" [The Maya Codex of Mexico, authentic and the oldest one]. Gaceta UNAM (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.

[3] Carrasco, Dav́d (2001). The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195108156.

[4] Grube, Nikolai K. "Dresden, Codex." In David Carrasco (ed).The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]