Tying Headbands or Venus Appearing: New Translations of k'al, the Dresden Codex Venus Pages and Classic Period Royal 'Binding' Rituals

Epigraphers of the Mayan hieroglyphic writing system have demonstrated that a single verb root lies behind a substantial array of royal rituals. At the same time, astronomically oriented studies have found the same root associated with the events of celestial bodies. Perhaps the best known of the latter is the operative verb within the Dresden Codex Venus Pages. This book tackles ostensibly minor incongruities within current interpretations of the Venus Pages to reveal a trajectory that resolves the difference between astronomical and epigraphic treatments of the verb in question.