The Cultural Background of Maya Writing -- Overview of a civilization -- Scribes and artists -- The language of the inscriptions -- The Nature of the Maya Script -- Principles -- Syllabograms -- Morphosyllabic signs -- Logograms with phonetic complements -- Polyvalence -- Conflation -- Some grammar -- Nouns -- Gender -- Pronouns -- Adjectives -- Verbs -- Locative prepositions -- Time and the Calendar -- General remarks -- Maya numbers -- The Calendar Round -- The 260-day Count -- The Haab -- The Long Count and the Initial Series -- The Initial Series -- The Supplementary Series -- Distance Numbers, Period Endings, and anniversaries -- Royal Lives and Royal Rituals -- General remarks -- Life-cycle events -- Birth -- Accession -- Death and burial -- Ritual activities -- Period Ending rites -- Bloodletting -- God impersonation -- Royal dance -- Ballplaying and ballcourts -- Places and Polities -- Emblem Glyphs -- Toponyms (place names) -- Dynastic Names and Titles -- Titles -- Rulers -- Relationships -- Parentage statements -- Spouse -- Siblings -- Warfare -- Glyphs for general war -- The taking of prisoners -- Scribes and Artists -- Users of brush pens -- Carvers -- Other titles for artists and scribes -- Ceramic Texts -- General remarks -- The Primary Standard Sequence (PSS) -- The Supernatural World -- General remarks -- Divinity and godhead -- The major gods -- Paired gods -- Triads -- The Death Gods -- The way spirit-companions -- The Inanimate and Animate Worlds -- The physical world -- The directions -- The colors -- The sky and the earth -- Humans -- Animals -- Buildings and structures -- Stone objects -- Pottery vessels -- Costume and personal adornment -- Illustration Examples -- Syllabary -- A Maya Lexicon -- Calendrical Formulae and Tables -- Software Programs -- Exercise Answers.
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