A star war was a decisive conflict between rival polities of the

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, archit ...

during the first millennium AD. The term comes from a specific type of

glyph A glyph () is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A g ...

used in the

Maya script Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...

, which depicts a star showering the earth with liquid droplets, or a star over a shell. It represents a verb but its

phonemic In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...

value and specific meaning have not yet been deciphered. The name "star war" was coined by the

epigrapher Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

Linda Schele Linda Schele (October 30, 1942 – April 18, 1998) was an American Mesoamerican archaeologist who was an expert in the field of Maya epigraphy and iconography. She played an invaluable role in the decipherment of much of the Maya hieroglyphs. She ...

to refer to the glyph, and by extension to the type of conflict that it indicates.

Examples

Maya inscriptions assign episodes of

Maya warfare Although the Maya were once thought to have been peaceful, current theories emphasize the role of inter-polity warfare as a factor in the development and perpetuation of Maya society. The goals and motives of warfare in Maya culture are not thorou ...

to four distinct categories, each represented by its own glyph. Those accorded the greatest significance by the Maya were described with the "star war" glyph, representing a major war resulting in the defeat of one polity by another. This represents the installation of a new dynastic line of rulers, complete dominion of one polity over another, or a successful war of independence by a formerly dominated polity. Losing a star war could be disastrous for the defeated party. The first recorded star war in 562, between

Caracol Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District, of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau, ...

and

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Co ...

, resulted in a 120-year hiatus for the latter city. It saw a decline in Tikal's population, a cessation of monument erection, and the destruction of certain monuments in the Great Plaza. When

Calakmul Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the large ...

defeated

Naranjo Naranjo is a Pre-Columbian Maya city in the Petén Basin region of Guatemala. It was occupied from about 500 BC to 950 AD, with its height in the Late Classic Period. The site is part of Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park. The city lies along the ...

in a star war on December 24, 631, it resulted in Naranjo's ruler being tortured to death and possibly eaten. Another star war in February 744 resulted in Tikal sacking Caracol and capturing a personal god effigy of its ruler. An inscription from a monument found at Tortuguero (dating from 669) describes the aftermath of a star war: "the blood was pooled, the skulls were piled".

Astronomical connections

Mayanist A Mayanist ( es, mayista) is a scholar specialising in research and study of the Mesoamerican pre-Columbian Maya civilisation. This discipline should not be confused with Mayanism, a collection of New Age beliefs about the ancient Maya. Mayan ...

s have noted that the dates of recorded star wars often coincide with astronomical events involving the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

, either when it was first visible in the morning or night sky or during its absence at

inferior conjunction In astronomy, a conjunction occurs when two astronomical objects or spacecraft have either the same right ascension or the same ecliptic longitude, usually as observed from Earth. When two objects always appear close to the ecliptic—such as t ...

. Venus was known to

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

n civilizations as the bringer of war (in contrast to the equivalent European belief assigning that characteristic to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

). The Maya called it ''Chak Ek or "Great Star" and made it the focus of detailed astronomical observation and calculation. The

Dresden Codex The ''Dresden Codex'' is a Maya civilization, Maya book, which was believed to be the oldest surviving book written in the Americas, dating to the 11th or 12th century. However, in September 2018 it was proven that the Maya Codex of Mexico, pre ...

, one of only four surviving Maya books, includes astronomical tables for calculating the position of Venus, which the codex depicts as spearing people as it passes overhead. Seventy percent of recorded star war dates are reported to correspond with Venus's evening phase, while 84 percent match the first appearance of the evening star. Star wars also appear to have had a seasonal bias, clustering in the dry season from November through January. Few were recorded to have happened during the planting season and none at all during harvest time, between mid-September and late October. There may also have been a correlation between star wars and

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

s; some star wars at

seem to have taken place shortly after eclipses, in one case in July 743 only one day after a solar eclipse.Milbrath, p. 195 The precise nature of the proposed link between star wars and astronomical events is unclear. It is possible that events such as eclipses may have stimulated star wars, prompting the Maya to launch star wars in the belief that they had received a favorable omen for military endeavors. They may also have had astronomical connections with planets other than Venus; many star wars appear to be correlated with the retrograde periods of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Recorded star wars

A number of star wars are recorded in Mayan inscriptions dating from between 562 and 781. These include:

References

{{Maya Maya civilization Ancient warfare Archaeoastronomy 6th century in the Maya civilization 7th century in the Maya civilization 8th century in the Maya civilization

Examples

Astronomical connections

Recorded star wars

See also

References