Global Philology：An International Lecture Series

Classic Maya Philology

Title: Classic Maya Philology

Speaker: Nikolai Grube, University of Bonn

Moderator: Martin Kern, Princeton University

Time: 20:00-22:00 (GMT+8), April 27, 2022.

Zoom conference number: 922 3991 6850

Password: 1111

Zoom Links:

https://zoom.us/j/92239916850?pwd=MnhBaGxZY1ZpQ3BGMWovRHR1U0h2QT09

About the Speaker:

Nikolai Grube is an Epigrapher and historian; Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn; Director of the project “Text database and dictionary of Classic Mayan”；Researcher at the North Rhine Westphalian Academy of the Sciences, Humanities and the Arts and of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). His major research fields include the political organization of archaic states and the role and development of writing among the Classic Maya. His major publications include Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens (2000 & 2008, co-authored with Simon Martin) and Der Dresdner Maya-Kalender (2012).

Lecture Introduction:

The hieroglyphic texts of the Classic Maya of Mexico and Central America (250 CE - 900 CE) represent the most important written corpus in the Americas before the European invasion. Most of the texts preserved to us are carved on stone. However, we know that there was also a rich book culture, of which only a few copies have survived. The production, maintenance and presentation of texts were the domain of painters and sculptors at the royal courts, who saw themselves first and foremost as highly qualified craftsmen whose mastery manifested itself in calligraphically sophisticated text artifacts. The carving and painting of texts was considered as a sacred act accompanied by rituals of dedication. A large part of the text holdings was probably regarded as primordial, ancient knowledge that came into the world through divine powers and was transferred by the scribes into the present time.

English lecture with simultaneous translation