The Dresden Maya Codex
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The Dresden Maya Codex from
about 1200 to 1250 is one of the very few
written documents of the pre-Columbian Maya
culture that have survived to the present day.
It contains 3 astronomical tables:
On page 43 of the Dresden Codex the Mars tables are beginning. The mean synodic period of Mars is 779.94 days ≈ 780 days = 3 Tzolkin years of 260 days, but the period varies from 764 days (near perihelion, mean-16 days) to 811 days (near aphelion, mean+31 days). In the middle of page 43 we find multiples of 780:  15.3.6.0 = 109,200 = 140 · 780 18.4.0.0 = 131,040 = 168 · 780 10.2.4.0 = 72,800 = 93 · 780 + 260 9.13.6.0 = 69,600 = 89 · 780 + 180 4.5.17.0 = 30,940 = 39 · 780 + 520  1.1.0.6.0 = 151,320 = 194 · 780 10.15.0 = 3,900 = 5 · 780 9.7.0 = 3,380 = 4 · 780 + 260 6.9.0 = 2,340 = 3 · 780 4.6.0 = 1,560 = 2 · 780  Interval (days) of successive oppositions of Mars (years 799 to 899)  Frequencies of synodic periods of Mars (rounded days, years 799 to 899). Values close to the mean (780 days) are occuring quite rarely. |
Updated: 2015, Feb 14