Snippet: Kebangkitan Surrogate bermula

(IBM GENERAL MANAGER- Todd Kirtley)

Sementara ramai orang kita masih khayal dengan hiburan dan syok dibuai mimpi, dan dengki mendengki sesama sendiri. Kini IBM telah pun mencipta komputer generasi ke 5, yang mana saintis menciptanya untuk menghubungkan sel otak dengan komputer.

Pada persidangan superkomputer 11/18/2009, IBM mengumumkan kemajuan yang signifikan dalam mencipta sebuah sistem komputer yang menbuat simulasikan kemampuan otak untuk perasaan, persepsi, tindakan, interaksi dan kognisi. Para saintis dan jurutera di IBM’s Almaden Research Center, di San Jose, California, mengumumkan pada Supercomputing Conference (SC09) di Portland, Oregon, bahawa mereka telah mencipta otak terbesar simulasi-to-date tentang superkomputer.

Para saintis di IBM Research bekerja dengan rakan-rakannya dari Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, telah dilakukan pertama real-time di dekat simulasi kortikal otak yang melebihi skala kucing korteks, ataupun, 1 bilion neuron dan spiking belajar individual 10 triliun sinapsis.

Untuk melakukan pertama mereka secara real-time di dekat simulasi kortikal otak yang melebihi skala kucing korteks, pasukan membina sebuah simulator kortikal yang menggabungkan sejumlah inovasi dalam perkomputeran, memori dan komunikasi canggih, serta butiran biologi daripada neurofisiologi dan neuroanatomy . Simulasi dilakukan dengan menggunakan simulator kortikal tentang Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Dawn Blue Gene / L superkomputer dengan 147.456 CPU dan 144 terabyte RAM.

“Belajar daripada otak adalah sebuah cara menarik untuk mengatasi kepadatan kuasa dan cabaran yang dihadapi dalam perkomputeran hari ini,” kata Josephine, pengarah makmal IBM Research.

“Sebagai digital dan dunia fizikal terus menyertai dan komputasi menjadi lebih tertanam dalam struktur kehidupan sehari-hari kita, ini membolehkan kita mencipta sebuah sistem perkomputeran yang lebih hebat yang boleh membantu kita memahami banyak maklumat yang semakin sedia bagi kita , banyak cara otak kita dapat dengan cepat mentafsirkan dan bertindak atas tugas-tugas kompleks. “

Penyelidikan ini dibiayai oleh US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), yang menghabiskan sekurang-kurangnya US $ 40 juta untuk mengembangkan pemproses elektronik untuk meniru fungsi otak mamalia, saiz, dan ketahanan daya otak. Para projek DARPA, yang disebut Sistem Adaptive Plastic Scalable Neuromorphic Elektronik, atau sinaps, dilancarkan akhir tahun lalu dan akan terus sampai dengan tahun 2015 dengan tujuan mensimulasikan sebuah prototaip cip 10 bilion neuron disambungkan melalui 1 trilion sinapsis.

IBM adalah salah satu daripada tiga kumpulan yang terlibat dalam projek. Selain $ 21 juta dana untuk IBM, DARPA juga membiayai HRL Labs, di Malibu, California, dan HP Labs, di Palo Alto, California

Jadi untuk pengetahuan anda saat ini, para saintis mempunyai kemampuan superkomputer untuk meniru model otak dan komputer generasi kelima telah menjadi tonggak penting dalam keputusan; dan IBM hanya mengambil satu langkah besar dalam mencapai tonggak itu.

Musibah Di Akhir Zaman

Ramai yang tidak sedar bahawa hanya 2 negara sahaja di dalam dunia ini yang belum disentuh oleh musibah dan bala ALLAH. Negara tersebut ialah Malaysia dan Britain.

Namun apakah negara kita mampu bertahan sehingga Hari Kiamat. Sedangkan ALLAH berjanji di dalam Al-Quran bahawa tidak ada bumi yang tidak akan terlepas dari terkena azab.

Persoalannya sekarang ialah bilakah Malaysia akan terkena musibah seperti di Aceh.

Atau mungkin para pembaca budiman menyangka Malaysia sememangnya terlepas dari segala bala dan sama hebatnya Malaysia ini seperti hero komik Superman.

Tidak. Sama sekali tidak.

Setiap tahun Malaysia melahirkan puluhan ribu anak di luar nikah. Malaysia bukan sahaja menjadi tempat untuk memuaskan nafsu seks rambang, malah Malaysia juga menjadi tempat untuk pemimpin untuk menipu rakyat. Malaysia juga menjadi tempat di mana bank-bank memijak kepala orang miskin. Malaysia juga menjadi tempat saluran yahudi menjalankan konspirasi. Malaysia juga menjadi tempat Umat Islam untuk menaruh untung nasib dengan bermain judi . Dari pihak elit sombong sehingga ke pihak longkang busuk, semua golongan terlibat dengan perjudian. Rasuah pula sudah menjadi darah daging dalam setiap insan termasuk mereka yang tidak pernah lekang kopiah di kepala.

Jadi apakah rakyat Malaysia mampu ketawa dan yakin dengan keamanan yang ada pada Malaysia kini.

Jangan !!! Jangan terpedaya dengan waktu aman kita ini.

Sekiranya pembaca budiman ingin tahu tentang berita Alam Malakut sekarang ini, Malaysia sudah diletakkan dalam keadaan bahaya. Bumi sudah mengeluarkan kata-kata amaran. Suara-suara di langit sudah berbunyi. Bersiap sedialah wahai wargaku. Bukan dengan benteng kecanggihan dunia. Tetapi dengan benteng taubat.

Bertaubatlah wahai saudara-saudari sekalian. Berita musibah dari Alam Malakut sudah sampai ke kawasan kita. Bertaubatlah !!!

Kisah di Padang boleh dijadikan sempadan. Di situlah terletaknya kampung asal Ulama’ terkenal Prof Hamka. Di situlah terletaknya pusat Ulama’ . Di situlah satu-satunya kampung yang menjalankan hukum hudud.

Tetapi disebabkan oleh kesombongan ilmu Agama yang diperolehi , maka Jemaah Jalan Kaki Pendakwah telah dihalau dengan menggunakan anjing-anjing peliharaan. Bukan itu sahaja, malah Jemaah Dakwah tersebut telah dihambat dari masjid-masjid sehingga larut malam sehinggakan mereka terpaksa tidur di bawah jambatan pada jam 2 pagi. Maka sebaik sahaja kisah telenovela kesombongan para Ulama’ berlaku, maka bumi pun telah diperintah oleh ALLAH S.W.T. untuk menelan kesemua 3 kampung tersebut jatuh ke dalam jurang rekahan sedalam 30 meter.

Kini giliran negara kita pula . Buatlah persiapan taubat wahai wargaku Malaysia.

Selamat Menyambut Hari Korban !!!

Selamat Bersama-sama Menjadi Angka Korban !!!

Selamat Berjumpa Di Hari Kebangkitan !!!

Selamat Menggelupur Kepanasan Di Atas Padang Mahsyar !!!

Konspirasi Dunia- Harry Potter

Harry Potter. Siapa tidak kenal dengan watak kegemaran kanak-kanak dan remaja ini. Berkaca mata dan mempunyai kebolehan sihir adalah tanda pengenalan watak ini. Novel-novel dan filem-filemnya menjadi kegilaan ramai sehinggakan ada yang sanggup menghabiskan duit semata-mata ingin memiliki koleksi novel tersebut. Tidak kurang juga kanak-kanak yang berangan ingin menjadi seperti Harry Potter suatu hari nanti dengan kemahiran sihir dan penyapu terbangnya. Inilah antara Mind Control The Hidden Hand yang paling berjaya!

Siri Harry Potter yang menjadi bacaan dan tontonan ramai ini sebenarnya penuh dengan unsur-unsur Masonic dan Kabbalah. Mungkin ada di antara kita yang perasan dengan perkara ini dan mungkin ada juga yang langsung tidak ambil endah dan tidak perasan, yang penting siri Harry Potter ini menghiburkan. Jika saya adalah The Hidden Hand, sudah pastilah saya akan rosakkan pemikiran kanak-kanak dan remaja dengan pelbagai unsur-unsur sihir dan mistik yang secara tidak langsung akan mempengaruhi pemikiran mereka. Tetapi saya tidak boleh merosakkan pemikiran mereka secara terus terang, sudah pastilah saya akan menggunakan medium tertentu seperti Harry Potter yang diminati dan dipuja ini. Mesej tersembunyi di sebalik jalan cerita yang menarik.

Pasti ada yang tertanya-tanya apakah itu Kabbalah? Sebelum ini saya sudah jelaskan sexara ringkas tentang Kabbalah atau Sihir Kuno Yahudi ini. Jika ada yang ingin mengetahui secara lebih lanjut apa itu Kabbalah di sini saya kongsikan sebuah ebook untuk anda memahani lebih lanjut tentang konsep Kabbalah.

http://rapidshare.com/files/107831242/KabbalahSpunkinsup.rar

Sebelum membicarakan lebih lanjut tentang Harry Potter, elok kiranya jika kita menyelidiki biodata penulis siri ni, JK Rowling. Nama sebenarnya ialah Joanne “Jo” Murray. JK Rowling ini adalah nama penanya. Dia dilahirkan di Chipping Sodbury, England pada 31 Julai 1965. Semasa kecil minatnya dalam bidang penulisan sudah terserlah apabila dia telah menulis cerita pada usia 5 tahun. Ketika dia berusia 4 tahun, keluarganya berpindah Winterbourne dan di sinilah dia mempunyai seorang jiran bernama Potter yang kemudian dijadikan nama watak utama bukunya.

Dia cuba melanjutkan pengajian ke University Of Oxford tetapi gagal dan kemudian telah melanjutkan pengajian di University Of Exeter mengambil jurusan Bahasa Perancis. Selepas berpisah dengan suami pertamanya, dia membawa membesarkan anak perempuannya seorang diri dan menumpang di rumah adiknya, Diana di Edinburgh, Scotland. Dan di Edinburg jugalah dia telah menyiapkan buku Harry Potter pertamanya, Harry potter And Philosopher’s Stone.

Dari maklumat-maklumat di atas, di sini kita dapat 2 kata kunci iaitu Edinburgh, Scotland dan University Of Exeter.

Mungkin ada di antara pembaca yang sudah dapat mencantumkan kata kunci ini, mungkin ada yang masih mencari-carinya. Tidak mengapa, mari sama-sama kita menyelesaikan kata kunci ini.

Kata Kunci Pertama- Edinburgh

Edinburg adalah kota terletak di barat Scotland. Kota ini adalah tanah penyelamat pendatang atau pelarian Knight Of Templar yang telah diburu oleh Pope Clement V dan Raja Philip (Raja Perancis) pada 1307. Pada ketika ini, Scotland adalah satu-satunya wilayah di Eropah yang berada di luar kekuasaan Vatican dan tanah inilah yang paling sesuai dipilih oleh Templar untuk tmenyelamatkan diri dan meneruskan agenda rahsia mereka.

Kahadiran mereka telah diterima secara terbuka oleh Raja Scotland masa itu iaitu, Robert de Bruce. Dan mereka telah mewujudkan pertubuhan rahsia dari sisa-sisa Knight Of Templar itu yang dikenali sebagai Freemason. Mendukung misi yang sama, tetapi nama yang berlainan. Sehingga ke hari ini, Freemason telah mengawal dunia dari segala aspek ekonomi, saintifik, ketenteraan dan banyak lagi. Pertubuhan rahsia ini berselindung di sebalik Pertubuhan Persaudaraan dan ahlinya terdapat di seluruh dunia, termasuklah di Malaysia sendiri. Sila rujuk post-post saya sebelum ini untuk maklumat Freemason di Malaysia.

Di sinilah para Mason bebas mengamalkan sihir Kabbalah tanpa tentangan dan dibina Rosslyn Chapel yang terkenal di kalangan ahli-ahli Mason dan Rosicrusian. Rosslyn Chapel telah dibina Willian Sinclair. Di seluruh Rosslyn Chapel, terdapat unsur-unsur Masonic yang jelas kelihatan di dinding-dinding. Penulis buku Rosslyn And The Grail iaitu Mark Oxbrow dan Ian Robertson berpendapat ukiran di dinding Rosslyn Chapel adalah diambil dari ukiran dinding Temple Solomon. Rosslyn itu sendiri berasal dari bahasa Gaelic yang bermaksud pengetahuan kuno yang diwarisi generasi ke generasi.

Rosslyn Chapel

Kata Kunci Kedua- University Of Exeter

JK Rowling pernah menuntut di sini selama 4 tahun. Jika kita lihat moto universiti ini sendiri Lucem Sequimur yang bermaksud We Follow The Light. Mungkin rata-rata kita menganggap Light itu adalah ilmu tetapi dalam paganism-codex light itu adalah Lucifer/ Iblis.

Universiti ini juga menawarkan pengajian Olkutisme dan Paganisme kepada mahasiswanya. Dan semasa menuntut di sini, JK Rowling tidak hanya mempelajari bahasa Perancis malah turut sama menuntut dalam bidang ini. Program ini dinamakan ‘Western Esotericism’ di bawah HuSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences).
Antara modul-modul pembelajaran di bawah program ini ialah:
1. Alexandrian Hermetism
2. The Hermatic Art Of Alchemy
3. Kabbalah
4. Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry
5. Theosophy and Esotericism
6. The Esoteric Body
7. Sufism And Islamic Devotional Study
8. Heretics And Mystics Language
9. Withcraft In History
10.The Disenchangement Of The World Society And The Supernatural In Early Modern Europe

Jadi jelaslah di sini JK Rowling bukanlah ibu tunggal yang berbakat menulis cerita kura-kura dan arnab, tetapi jauh lebih hebat dari itu. Dengan pengetahuan yang ditimba semasa di universiti beliau telah memasukkan unsur-unsur Masonic dan Kabbalah dalam cerita fantasi rekaannya itu. Karyanya boleh diibaratkan seperti ‘The Handbook Of Occult’ tetapi dalam versinya sendiri dengan lebih 400 juta naskhah terjual di seluruh dunia. Novelnya begitu banyak istilah sihir, simbol, binatang dan ritual okultisme sihir seperti Minerva McGoganall, Mirror Of Erised, Quidditch dan banyak lagi. Secara tidak langsung mendedahkan kepada kita tentang sihir-sihir yang dilarang oleh Allah.

Tentang jalan cerita Harry Potter rasanya tidak perlu saya ulaskan di sini kerana jalan ceritanya terlalu panjang untuk diulas. Rasanya elok juga jika didedahkan asal nama watak-watak dalam cerita ini yang saya yakin ada kaitan dengan okultisme dan paganisme.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter adalah watak utama dalam cerita fantai ini. Harry bermaksud ‘Panglima Perang’ dan Potter diambil konon-kononnya bekas jiran JK Rowling

Ron Weasley

Ron Weasley adalah kawan baik Harry Potter dan Hermione. Ron juga boleh diterjemahkan sebagai Running Weasel yang berkaitan dengan jaguh catur pada kurun ke 6. Ron juga bermaksud Penasihat Raja.

Hermione Granger

Hermione adalah kawan baik Harry Potter bersama Ron. Namanya bermaksud Pembawa Pesan dan dalam mitos Yunani adalah Messenger Of Gods yang juga dikenali sebagai Hermes.

Albus Dumbledore

Albus membawa makna Putih dan Dumbledore adalah dari bahasa Inggeris Kuno yang bermaksud lebah besar yang berbulu.

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva adalah nama Dewi Kebijaksanaan, Kesenian, Sihir, Perdagangan dan Seni Perang bagi masyarakat Rom. Manakala McGonagall bermaksud berani.

Sirius Black

Sirius adalah bintang berbentuk anjing yang paling terang di angkasa. Hampir semua ahli keluarga Sirius Black dinamakan sempena nama bintang, Bellatrix, Regulus, Andromeda dan Draco. Bintang-bintang memainkan peranan penting dalam ritual Kabbalah dan Mesir Kuno.

Lucius Malfoy

Lucius juga adalah nama lain bagi Lucifer/Iblis. Namun bagi penyembahnya, Lucifer bermaksud Sang Cahaya, begitu juga dengan Illuminati.

Secara tidak sedar cerita sebegini akan mencemari minda kita dengan sihir-sihir tanpa kita sedari. Tidak cukup dengan novel, filemnya juga terus mendapat sambutan hebat dari seluruh dunia. Mereka telah men’program’ minda kita tanpa kita sedari, dengan sihir kita akan dapat apa yang kita ingini. Inilah hakikat sebenar yang sedang terjadi. Sedangkan kita sedia tahu sihir itu adalah haram dan ditegah oleh Allah untuk mengamalkannya atau mempelajarinya, Secara tidak langsung dengan cerita sebegini kita telah mempelajari sedikit sebanyak tentang sihir atau magic ini.

Mereka (membelakangkan Kitab Allah) dan mengikut ajaran-ajaran sihir yang dibacakan oleh puak-puak Syaitan dalam masa pemerintahan Nabi Sulaiman, padahal Nabi Sulaiman tidak mengamalkan sihir yang menyebabkan kekufuran itu, akan tetapi puak-puak Syaitan itulah yang kafir (dengan amalan sihirnya); kerana merekalah yang mengajarkan manusia ilmu sihir dan apa yang diturunkan kepada dua malaikat: Harut dan Marut, di negeri Babil (Babylon), sedang mereka berdua tidak mengajar seseorang pun melainkan setelah mereka menasihatinya dengan berkata:

“Sesungguhnya kami ini hanyalah cubaan (untuk menguji imanmu), oleh itu janganlah engkau menjadi kafir (dengan mempelajarinya)”. Dalam pada itu ada juga orang-orang mempelajari dari mereka berdua: ilmu sihir yang boleh menceraikan antara seorang suami dengan isterinya, padahal mereka tidak akan dapat sama sekali memberi mudarat (atau membahayakan) dengan sihir itu seseorang pun melainkan dengan izin Allah.

Dan sebenarnya mereka mempelajari perkara yang hanya membahayakan mereka dan tidak memberi manfaat kepada mereka. Dan demi sesungguhnya mereka (kaum Yahudi itu) telahpun mengetahui bahawa sesiapa yang memilih ilmu sihir itu tidaklah lagi mendapat bahagian yang baik di akhirat. Demi sesungguhnya amat buruknya apa yang mereka pilih untuk diri mereka, kalaulah mereka mengetahui.
Al-Baqarah 102

Sesungguhnya Allah tidak akan mengampunkan dosa syirik mempersekutukanNya (dengan sesuatu apajua), dan akan mengampunkan dosa yang lain dari itu bagi sesiapa yang dikehendakiNya (menurut aturan SyariatNya). Dan sesiapa yang mempersekutukan Allah (dengan sesuatu yang lain), maka sesungguhnya ia telah melakukan dosa yang besar.
An-Nisa 48

Sesungguhnya Allah tidak akan mengampunkan dosa orang yang mempersekutukanNya dengan sesuatu (apa jua), dan akan mengampunkan yang lain daripada kesalahan (syirik) itu bagi sesiapa yang dikehendakiNya (menurut peraturan hukum-hukumNya); dan sesiapa yang mempersekutukan Allah dengan sesuatu (apa jua), maka sesungguhnya ia telah sesat dengan kesesatan yang amat jauh.
An-Nisa 116

“Kami pada zaman jahiliah dahulu mengamalkan jampi, lalu kami bertanya: “Wahai Rasulullah! Bagaimana pendapatmu mengenai hal itu?” Maka Rasulullah Shallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam menjawab: “Perlihatkan kepada ku jampi-jampi kamu itu, tidak menjadi apa-apa mengamalkan jampi selama mana tidak mengandungi di dalamnya syirik.”
(Hadis riwayat Muslim dan Abu Daud)

Aztec and Mayan Calendars

The photograph below is the Aztec Calendar, on display at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, Mexico.

The original object is a 12 feet, massive stone slab, carved in the middle of the 15th century. Many renditions of it exist and have existed through the years and throughout Mexico.

Aztec Calendar

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Historically, the Aztec name for the huge basaltic monolith is Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl, but it is universally known as the Aztec Calendar or Sun Stone.

It was during the reign of the 6th Aztec monarch in 1479 that this stone was carved and dedicated to the principal Aztec deity: the sun. The stone has both mythological and astronomical significance. It weighs almost 25 tons, has a diameter of just under 12 feet, and a thickness of 3 feet.

On December 17th, 1760 the stone was discovered, buried in the “Zocalo” (the main square) of Mexico City. The viceroy of New Spain at the time was don Joaquin de Monserrat, Marquis of Cruillas. Afterwards it was embedded in the wall of the Western tower of the metropolitan Cathedral, where it remained until 1885. At that time it was transferred to the national Museum of Archaeology and History by order of the then President of the Republic, General Porfirio Diaz.

AZTEC VS. MAYAN CALEDARS

The Aztec Calendar was basically similar to that of the Maya. The ritual day cycle was called Tonalpohualli and was formed, as was the Mayan Tzolkin, by the concurrence of a cycle of numerals 1 through 13 with a cycle of 20 day names, many of them similar to the day names of the Maya.

Where the Aztec differed most significantly from the Maya was in their more primitive number system and in their less precise way of recording dates. Normally, they noted only the day on which an event occurred and the name of the current year. This is ambiguous, since the same day, as designated in the way mentioned above, can occur twice in a year. Moreover, years of the same name recur at 52-year intervals, and Spanish colonial annals often disagree as to the length of time between two events. Other discrepancies in the records are only partially explained by the fact that different towns started their year with different months. The most widely accepted correlation of the calendar of Tenochtitlan with the Christian Julian calendar is based on the entrance of Cortez into that city on November 8, 1519, and on the surrender of Cuauhtzmoc on August 13, 1521. According to this correlation, the first date was a day 8 Wind, the ninth day of the month Quecholli, in a year 1 Reed, the 13th year of a cycle.

The Mexicans, as all other Meso-Americans, believed in the periodic destruction and re-creation of the world. The “Calendar Stone” in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia (National Museum of Anthropology) in Mexico City depicts in its central panel the date 4 Ollin (movement), on which they anticipated that their current world would be destroyed by earthquake, and within it the dates of previous holocausts: 4 Tiger, 4 Wind, 4 Rain, and 4 Water.

The Aztec calendar kept two different aspects of time; tonalpohualli and xiuhpohualli. Each of these systems had a different purpose.

The tonalpohualli was the ‘counting of days.’ It originated by ancient peoples observing that the sun, crossed a certain zenith point near the Mayan city of Copan, every 260 days. So this first system is arranged in a 260-day cycle. These 260 days were then broken up into 20 periods, with each period containing 13 days, called trecenas. Each period was given the name of something that was then shown by a hieroglyphic sign, and each trecena was given a number 1-13. Each trecena is also thought to have a god or deity presiding over each of the trecena. They kept these counts in tonalamatls, screenfold books made from bark paper.

The Aztecs used this as a religious calendar. Priests used the calendar to determine luck days for such activities as sowing crops, building houses, and going to war.

The xiuhpohualli was the ‘counting of the years.’ This calendar was kept on a 365-day solar count. This was also the agricultural and ceremonial calendar of the Aztec state. It was divided into 18 periods, with each period containing 20 days, called veintenas. This left five days that were not represented. These were called “nemontemi.” These were the five transition days between the old and the new year, and were considered days of nothing. This was a time of festivals. People came to the festivals with their best clothes on, and took part in singing and dancing. This is also when the priest would preform sacrifices, most of these sacrifices were human, but others were preformed on animals and fruit.

The solar year was the basis for the civil calendar by which the Mexicas (Aztecs) determined the myriad ceremonies and rituals linked to agricultural cycles. The calendar was made up of 18 months, each lasting 20 days. The months were divided into four five-day weeks. The year was rounded out to 365 days by the addition of the five-day nemontemi (empty days), an omnious period marked by the cessation of normal activities and general abstinence. The correlation of dates in the Gregorian calendar is uncertain, although most authors on the subject affix the beginning of the Aztec year to early Febuary. A variety of sources were consulted in developing the following chart of some of the ritualistic activities associated with each month.

Many of the Aztecs’ religious ceremonies, including frequent human sacrifices, were performed at the Great Temple, located in the center of their capital city of Tenochtitlan.

Every 52 years the tonalpohualli and the xiuhpohualli calendars would align. This marked what was known as a mesoamerican “century.” Every one of these centuries was marked by xiuhmolpilli – Binding Up of the Years or the New Fire Ceremony.

This was a festival that lasted 12 days and included fasting as a symbol of penitence. At the beginning of this festival all the lights in the city were extinguished – people let their hearth fires go out.

Then on midnight of the 12th day of the festival, a prisoner was taken to the priest. The priest would watch in the night sky for the star of fire to reach the zenith. Once it did, the priest would remove the heart of this man, and replace it with a piece of wood, that was laid on a piece of turquoise. This is where the priest would start the new fire that would once again light the city.

The tonalpohualli (count of days) was the sacred almanac of the Mexicas. This ritual calendar was registered in the tonalamatl (book of days), a green-fold bark paper or deerskin codex from which a priest (called tonalpouque) cast horoscopes and predicated favorable and unfavorable days of the cycle. The almanac year comprised of 260 days, each of which was assigned a date by intermeshing one of 20 day-signs, represented graphically with a gylph, and a number from 1 to13, represented by dots so that no two days in the cycle could be confused. The almanac year was thus made up of 20 13-day weeks, with the first week beginning on 1-Crocodile and ending on 13-Reed, the second week running from 1-Ocelot to 13-Deaths’ Head and so on. A god or goddess was believed to preside over each day-sign.

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THE MAYAN CALENDAR

The Classic Mayan civilization was unique and left us a way to incorporate higher dimensional knowledge of time and creation. By tracking the movements of the Moon, Venus, and other heavenly bodies, the Mayans realized that there were cycles in the Cosmos. From this came their reckoning of time, and a calendar that accurately measures the solar year to within minutes.

For the Maya there was a time for everything and everything had it’s place in time. The priests could interpret the heavens and calendar. As the result they could control the daily activities of the populace. Knowing when to plant, when to harvest, the rainy and dry seasons, etc. gave them total power and control. Their comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles was immense.

The Maya understood 17 different Calendars based on the Cosmos. Some of these calendars go back as far as ten million years and are so difficult that you would need an astronomer, astrologer, geologist, and a mathematician just to work out the calculations. They also made tables predicting eclipses and the orbit of the planet Venus.

The calendars that are most important to beings of earth are the Haab, the Tun-Uc and the Tzolk’in. The Tzolk’in is the most important and the one with the most influence.

• The Haab is based in the cycles of earth. It has 360 + 5 days, totalling 365 days. The Haab uses 18 months with 20 days in each month. There is a 19th month called a Vayeb and uses the 5 extra days. Each month has it’s own name/glyph. Each day uses a sacred sun/glyph.
• The Tun-Uc is the moon calendar. It uses 28 day cycles that mirrors the women’s moon cycle. This cycle of the moon is broken down into 4 smaller cycles, of 7 day each. These smaller cycles are the four phases of moon cycle.
• The Tzolk’in is the Sacred calendar of the Maya and is based on the cycles of the Pleiadies. The cycle of the Pleiadies uses 26,000 years, but is reflected in the calendar we are using by encompassing 260 days. It uses the sacred numbers 13 and 20. The 13 represents the numbers and 20 represents the sun/glyphs. The Tzolk’in has four smaller cycles called seasons of 65 days each guarded by the four suns of Chicchan, Oc, Men and Ahau. There are also Portal days within the Tzolkin that create a double helix pattern using 52 days and the mathematics of 28. This sacred calendar is still being used for divination by the traditional Maya all over the Yucatan, Guatemala, and Belize, and Honduras.
  The Tzolkin calendar was meshed with a 365-day solar cycle called the “Haab”. The calendar consisted of 18 months with 20 days (numbered 0-19) and a short “month” of only 5 days that was called the Wayeb and was considered to be a dangerous time. It took 52 years for the Tzolkin and Haab calendars to move through a complete cycle.

Archaeologists claim that the Maya began counting time as of year 3114 B.C.
This is called the zero year and is likened to January 1, 1 AD. All dates in the Long Count begin there, so the date of the beginning of this time cycle is written 0-0-0-0-0. 13 cycles of 394 years will have passed before the next cycle begins, which is in year 2012 A.D. (13-0-0-0-0).

Mayan Calendar Basics

The Mayas used three different calendar systems (and some variations within the systems). The three systems are known as the tzolkin (the sacred calendar), the haab (the civil calendar) and the long count system.

The tzolkin is a cycle of 260 days and the haab is a cycle of 365 days.
The tzolkin cycle and the haab cycle were combined to produce a cycle of 18,980 days, known as the calendar round. 18,980 days is a little less than 52 solar years.

The “Calendar Round” is like two gears that inter-mesh, one smaller than the other. One of the ‘gears’ is called the tzolkin, or Sacred Round. The other is the haab, or Calendar Round. The smaller wheels together represent the 260-day Sacred Round; the inner wheel, with the numbers one to thirteen, meshes with the glyphs for the 20 day names on the outer wheel. A section of a large wheel represents part of the 365-day year – 18 months of 20 days each (numbered 0-19). The five days remaining at year’s end were considered evil. In the diagram, the day shown is read 4 Ahua 8 Cumka. As the wheels turn in the direction of the arrows, in four days it will read 8 Kan 12 Cumku. Any day calculated on these cycles would not repeat for 18,980 days – 52 years.

Thus the Mayas could not simply use a tzolkin/haab date to identify a day within a period of several hundred years because there would be several days within this period with the same tzolkin/haab date.

The Mayas overcame this problem by using a third dating system which enabled them to identify a day uniquely within a period of 1,872,000 days – approximately 5,125.36 solar years. To do this they used a vigesimal (i.e. based on 20) place-value number system, analogous to our decimal place-value number system.

The Mayas used a pure vigesimal system for counting objects but modified this when counting days. In a pure vigesimal system each place in a number is occupied by a number from 0 to 19, and that number is understood as being multiplied by a power of 20. Thus in such a system:

2.3.4 = 2*20*20 + 3*20 + 4*1 = 864
11.12.13 = 11*20*20 + 12*20 + 13*1 = 4653 and
1.3.5.7 = 1*20*20*20 + 3*20*20 + 5*20 + 7*1 = 9307

When counting days, however, the Mayas used a system in which the first place (as usual) had a value of 1, the second place had a value of 20, but the third place had a value not of 400 (20*20) but of 360 (18*20). (This may have been due to the fact that 360 is close to the length of the year in days.) The value of higher places continued regularly with 7,200 (20*18*20), 144,000 (20*20*18*20), etc. In such a system:

1.3.5.7 = 1*20*18*20 + 3*18*20 + 5*20 + 7*1 = 8,387
and 11.12.13.14.15 = 11*20*20*18*20 + 12*20*18*20 + 13*18*20 + 14*20 + 15*1
= 11*144,000 + 12*7,200 + 13*360 + 14*20 + 15
= 1,675,375.

A Maya long count date is a modified vigesimal number (as described above) composed of five places, e.g. 9.11.16.0.0, and interpreted as a count of days from some base date. There are many long count dates inscribed in the stellae and written in the codices. Calculation of the decimal equivalent of a long count yields a number of days. This is regarded as a number of days counted forward from a certain day in the past. It is the number of days since the day 0.0.0.0.0. The obvious question is: What day was used as the base date? This question has two aspects: (1) What day was used by the Mayas as the base date? (2)  What day was that in terms of the Western calendar? We shall return to these questions below.

Just as we have names (such as week) for certain periods of time, the Mayas had names for periods consisting of 20 days, 360 days, 7,200 days, etc., in accord with their modified vigesimal system of counting days. A day is known as a kin. Twenty kins make a uinal, 18 uinals a tun, 20 tuns a katunand 20 katuns a baktun. Thus we have:

1 kin    =  1 day
1 uinal  = 20 kins   = 20 days
1 tun    = 18 uinals = 360 days
1 katun  = 20 tuns   = 7,200 days
1 baktun = 20 katuns = 144,000 days

The numbers at the five places in the long count are thus counts of baktuns, etc., as follows:

baktuns . katuns . tuns . uninals . kin

Thus, for example, 9.15.9.0.1 denotes a count of 9 baktuns, 15 katuns, 9 tuns, no uinals and 1 kin, or in other words, 9*144,000 + 15*7,200 + 9*360 + 0*20 + 1*1 days, or 1,407,201 days. It is a count of days from the Maya base date of 0.0.0.0.0.

Most of the long count dates which occur in the stone inscriptions have a baktun count of 9. The period 9.0.0.0.0 through 10.0.0.0.0, the period of the Classic Maya, is now thought by scholars to coincide with the period (approximately) 436 A.D. through 829 A.D. There are, however, some strange anomalies. Morley  deciphers two long count dates (found at Palenque) as 1.18.5.4.0 and 1.18.5.3.6 (14 days apart) which are some 2,794 solar years prior to 9.0.0.0.0. Since there is no evidence that the Mayas existed before about 500 B.C., what could these early long count dates possibly be referring to?

We would expect that the next higher unit after the baktun would consist of 20 baktuns, and it appears there was such a unit, called a pictun. However, no long count date occurs with a baktun count of more than 12, except that 13.0.0.0.0 occurs. A widely-accepted school of thought holds that in the Maya long count system 13.0.0.0.0 marks the beginning of a new cycle, and so is equivalent to 0.0.0.0.0. In this view, 13 baktuns make up a great cycle or, Maya era, of 13*144,000 = 1,872,000 days (approximately 5125.37 solar years).

The date 0.0.0.0.0 is equal to year 3113 B.C..
The date 13.0.0.0.0 is equal to year 2012 A.D..

Sacred Calendar – Tzolkin dates

The tzolkin, sometimes known as the sacred calendar, is a cycle of 260 days. Each tzolkin day is denoted by a combination of a number from 1 through 13 and a name from the set of twenty (in the order: Imix, Ik, Akbal, Kan ….):

   Imix       Cimi    Chuen  Cib

   Ik         Manik   Eb     Caban

   Akbal      Lamat   Ben    Edznab

   Kan        Muluc   Ix     Cauac

   Chicchan   Oc      Men    Ahau

The days cycle through the numbers and through the names independently. The sequence of tzolkin days thus runs:

            1 Imix

            2 Ik

            3 Akbal

            4 Kan

              . . .

            13 Ben

            1 Ix        (here we repeat the cycle of numbers)

            2 Men

            3 Cib

            4 Caban

            5 Edznab

            6 Cauac

            7 Ahau

            8 Imix      (here we repeat the cycle of names)

            9 Ik

            10 Akbal

              . . .

There are 260 elements in this sequence. That is because 260 is the least common multiple of 13 and 20. Thus the cycle of (13) tzolkin day numbers combined with (20) tzolkin day names repeats each 260 days.

In order to explain this 260-day calendrical cycle some have speculated that the Mayas chose this number of days because their allegedly advanced astronomical knowledge revealed to them that a period of 260 days fits well with certain astronomical periods, such as the eclipse-year. A more prosaic explanation is that there were originally two branches of Maya society, one of which used a 13-day cycle of numbered days and the other a 20-day cycle of named days. (There is a set of thirteen Maya gods, which may be the origin of the 13 numbered days, similar to our week.) Then at some point in early Maya history the two groups merged, combining the two calendars so that neither group would lose their method of day-reckoning, resulting in the 260-day cycle as described above.

Mayan Civil Calendar – Haab dates

The Mayas also maintained a so-called “civil” calendar, called the “haab”. This was similar to our calendar in that it consisted of months, and within months, of days numbered consecutively. However, unlike our calendar, the haab cycle is made up of eighteen months of twenty days each, plus five days at the end of the year. The eighteen names for the months (in the order: Pop, Uo, Zip …) are:

    Pop    Xul     Zac   Pax

    Uo     Yaxkin  Ceh   Kayab

    Zip    Mol     Mac   Cumku

    Zodz   Chen    Kankin

    Zec    Yax     Muan

The five extra days formed the “month” of Uayeb, meaning “nameless”. The five “nameless” days were considered unlucky. One did not get married in Uayeb. The haab cycle thus consisted of 18*20 + 5 = 365 days, the integral number of days closest to the mean solar year of 365.2422 mean solar days.

The sequence of days from the first day of the year to the last thus runs as follows:

    0   Pop

    1   Pop

    ...

    19  Pop

    0   Zip

    1   Zip

    ...

    19  Zip

    0   Zodz

    ...

    19  Cumku

    0   Uayeb

    ...

    4   Uayeb

For most of Maya history the first day of Pop was denoted by 0 Pop and the last by 19 Pop. However, on the eve of the Spanish conquest the first day of Pop began to be numbered 1, and the last day 20 (except for Uayeb), so that the year began with 1 Pop and ended with 5 Uayeb.

There is some uncertainty as to whether (what has usually been taken to be) the first day of each haab month (e.g., 0 Zip) is really the last (i.e., the 20th, or the 5th) day of the preceding month (Pop in this case), or in other words, whether the last day of each month was actually written as “the day before the beginning of (the next) month”, where the glyph translated as “the seating of” was used with the meaning of “the day before the beginning of the next month, namely …”. 0 Zip can be interpreted either as the first day of Zip or as the last day of Pop, but unfortunately the classic Maya are no longer here to tell us how they understood this date.

The Maya calendar round

The tzolkin and the haab are each cycles of days; the former is a cycle of 260 days and the latter is a cycle of 365 days. When specifying a day the Maya usually used both the tzolkin date and the haab date, as in 4 Ahau 3 Kankin. For the Mayas these two cycles ran together and concurrently, as shown by the following sequence of days:

 

Tzolkin date 10 Ben 11 Ix 12 Men 13 Cib 1 Caban 2 Edznab 3 Cauac 4 Ahau 5 Imix 6 Ik 7 Akbal 8 Kan … 12 Imix 13 Ik 1 Akbal 2 Kan 3 Chicchan 4 Cimi 5 Manik 6 Lamat 7 Muluc …

Haab date11 Kayab 12 Kayab 13 Kayab 14 Kayab 15 Kayab 16 Kayab 17 Kayab 18 Kayab 19 Kayab 0 Cumku 1 Cumku 2 Cumku … 19 Cumku 0 Uayeb 1 Uayeb 2 Uayeb 3 Uayeb 4 Uayeb 0 Pop 1 Pop 2 Pop …

Since 260 = 4*5*13 and 365 = 5*73, the earliest that a tzolkin/haab date combination can repeat is after 4*5*13*73 = 18,980 days, or just short of 52 solar years. This cycle of 18,980 days is called the Maya calendar round.

Maya long count dates are often given in association with the corresponding tzolkin/haab date, as in:

8.11.7.13.5     3  Chicchan 8 Kankin
10.1.19.15.17    12  Caban     0 Yax
10.3.8.14.4      6  Kan       0 Pop
10.6.2.0.9      9  Muluc      7 Yax
10.6.10.12.16      3  Cib        9 Uo

A particular tzolkin/haab date recurs every 18,980 days, whereas a long count date (assuming that the long count starts over at 0.0.0.0.0 on reaching 13.0.0.0.0) recurs every 1,872,000 days (once in 5,125.37 years). The combination of a long count date and a tzolkin/haab date occurs only once every 136,656,000 days (approximately 374,152 years or 73 Maya eras).

OTHER CALENDAR SYSTEMS

Julian dates

The Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C., is the basis of our modern calendar. It consists of a system of twelve months, January, February, etc. (although New Year’s Day has not always been January 1st). If the number of the year is divisible by 4 then February has 29 days, otherwise it has 28. A date in the Julian calendar is termed a Julian date.

The Romans identified their years as a number of years supposed to have elapsed since the founding of Rome (which we now date as having occurred in 753 B.C.) Following the merger (under Constantine) of the Christian Church and the Roman Imperium years came to be numbered with reference to the year of the birth of Christ (now regarded as actually having occurred in 4 B.C.) In this system the year immediately before the year 1 A.D. is the year 1 B.C.

Astronomers use a system, which is also used in Mayan Calendrics, in which the year prior to the year 1 is the year 0. Thus 1 B.C. is the year 0, 2 B.C. is the year -1, 3 B.C. is the year -2, and so on. More generally the year n B.C. in common usage is said by astronomers to be the year -(n-1). (See more on this in section 7.)

According to Aveni [5], p.127, “the serial numbering of the years as we know them did not actually begin until the sixth century …” Thus dates prior to 600 are always uncertain. The Emperor Augustus also tinkered with the lengths of the months during his reign, introducing a further element of uncertainty, and it is also possible that the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.) readjusted the calendar by a couple of days.

Gregorian dates

The average length of a year in the Julian calendar is 365.25 days, differing from the value of the mean solar year by about .0078 days. This resulted in a slow shift of the Julian calendrical year with respect to the solar year (i.e. to the solstices and equinoxes). By the 16th Century the Julian calendar was seriously out of synch with the seasons and Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian Calendar. This involved three changes:

(a) The day following October 4, 1582, was declared to be October 15, 1582, thereby excising ten days from the calendar.

(b) A year was declared to be a leap year if (i) it was divisible by 4 but not by 100 or (ii) it was divisible by 400.

(c) New rules for determining the date of Easter were introduced.

The Gregorian Calendar is now commonly used throughout the West and is the de facto international common calendar. There have been numerous suggestions for replacing it with a more “rational” calendar, but old habits die hard and any change would be expensive.

Julian day numbers

Astronomers use a system of dating days known as the Julian day number system, in which a day is identified as that day which is a certain number of days before or after the day -4712-01-01 (January 1st, 4713 B.C.) in the Julian calendar. Thus, for example, the day whose Julian day number is 584,283 is September 6, -3113 in the Julian calendar, 584,283 days after January 1st, -4712 J. This day is also August 11th, -3113 in the Gregorian calendar. By 2001-01-01 G we will have reached the day whose Julian day number is 2,451,991, by which time nearly two-and-a-half million days will have elapsed since -4712-01-01 J.

CALENDAR SPIRALS

Sequences and cycles are readily described as spirals in the Dreamspell and sacred geometries. The numbers of the Pythagorean Lambdoma are 1, 1, 1, 1 an 1, 2, 3, 4. This is an obvious sequencing that can be understood in cycles. The Fibonacci spiral is fundamental to all life forms. The Fibonacci is a simple matrix that starts with 1 then adds 1 to get a sum of 2 the adds the previous number back into itself to get a sum of 3 (I +2=3) then repeats that sequence to get a sum of 5 (3+2=5). Primary numbers of the Fibonacci on the number 1 carried to 13 places are: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233.

Solar systems are designed by nature in Fibonacci spirals as are human hands, sunflowers, and shells. This sequencing is a fundamental design tool of Creation. Spectacular patterns are found by applying the Fibonacci spiral to key numbers of the Mayan calendar: 20, 13 and 18. The sacred calendar (Tzolkin) uses 20 and 13 The civil calendar (Haab) uses 20 and 18. The common denominator of both is 20. If you apply the Fibonacci sequence to the number 20 and carry the sequence out to 26 places, then multiply each number of the sequence by 13, then divided it by 18 you will discover that the results of these factors shifts and starts new internal sequencing at the 13th place in each sequence. The 12th place comples a sequence and the 13th starts a new sequence internally.

The 12th glyph of the Dreamspell is ‘Human’ and the 13th glyph is “Skywalker”. The sacred calendar is 260 days and the civil calendar is 360 days with 5 unlucky days that are not counted. The Maya were well aware that a solar system is 365 days but chose to memorialize the number 360. Their simultaneous use of two calendars with astrology arrayed sets of ratios and sequences yet accounted for each day of the year in a way utterly foreign to the European calendar. The number 360 symbolizes space in a 360-degree circle or sphere. When a 360-day civil calendar symbolizing space is arrayed with a 260-day sacred calendar symbolizing fourth dimensional time, time-space ratios (coordinates) are discovered. The civil and sacred calendars synchronize every 52 years, so 52 is a central fractal of the calendars.

The number 20 used in a Fibonacci matrix and factored with 13 and 18 produces internal sequences and cycles in the 12th and 13th places. With 12 solar months to 13 lunar months, the 12:13 relationship is part of nature’s planetary design.

END DATES

There have been many projected dates for the ending of the Mayan calendar, ranging from 1957 to 2050. The 2012 end-date was defined by the Thompson Projection. Thompson’s projection used a day-by-day count to cross -reference the Mayan to the European calendar rather than a count of years. This bypassed the problem of year names in the Gregorian system. Jose & Lloydine agreed with Thompson’s 2012 date. More importantly, the 2012 date works with the hard facts evidenced by the accuracy of the July 26, 1992 Time Shift. Terence McKenna and Peter Meyer’s Timewave Zero software that graphs time as a fractal demonstrates by graph the accuracy of the winter solstice of 2012 as the correct end-date of the Mayan calendar with graph anomalies appearing in the months of July.

SIMILARITY OF WORLD CALENDARS

Beyond the stargates of this planet and solar system lies a cosmic scheme of underlying order in which the earth’s flow of history unfolds in patterns of time. Galactic travelers have long traversed the corridors of time and space, and
periodically visited this solar system. The evidence of archaeological ruins are mute testimony to the presence of intelligent builders in now ancient history. The evidence is clear. Someone with advanced knowledge of astronomy has visited peoples of this planet and left calendars as a signature note. This is discovered in correspondences of world calendars: Mayan, Tibetan, African, Vedic, and Hebraic. Similar calendar schemes are found in each of these cultures.

The European calendar mandated by Pope Gregory in 1583 is the only world calendar that did not intercalate at least two celestial cycles. The Hebraic calendar acquired by Enoch after he was translated in a beam of light intercalated solar and lunar cycles in a fashion similar to the Maya. The Dogon in Africa were given four calendars by visitors from Sirius B: Solar, lunar, Venusian, and civil. The Tibetan calendar is so similar to the Mayan that traditional scholars now speculate that they share a common origin. The Vedic calendar is based on cosmic cycles, or Yugas. An ancient Hindu astrology used 27 houses of 13 degrees 20 minutes, which are key numbers in the Mayan calendar.

These calendars provided a time management tool that synchronized planetary cycles with visits from the stars. The Dogon calendar identified the 12 or 13th Century as the date of last visit; the Mayan calendar identified July 11, 1991, as an upcoming date of visit. Both of these dates coincided with significant planetary cycles.

The cultures visited by the Galactic Maya were shamanic. Ancient Hebraic instructions for building altars and using precious and semiprecious stones are identical to those used by Native Americans. The ancient Tibetans were shamanic. The Dogon and Maya are shamanic. The Galactic Maya were shamanic.

Ancient Hebraic instructions for building altars and using precious and semiprecious stones are identical to those used by Native Americans. The ancient Tibetans were shamanic. The Galactic Maya were shamans of planetary sciences, Cosmic Shamans who understood and utilized the cosmic flow of events. Their secrets were left with shaman in cultures who held the keys of their sciences. Until now the shaman’s craft has appeared as superstition that scattered before the power of European-based science. But that same science has now brought planet to her knees in destruction of the biosphere.

The Best Astronomy Software

If looking up at the sky on a clear night has always held more than a bit of curious fascination for you, Starry Night Pro is the perfect tool for you to explore your intergalactic interests. The application is packed full of information to delight the backyard stargazer, while being powerful enough for the serious student.

View the stars from your exact location on Earth (or any other location on the planet), or travel throughout the solar system to see views not possible until now. If that’s still too close to home, Starry Night can produce views from anywhere within 20,000 light-years of the solar system. With a database of over 19 million celestial objects, there is almost no limit to where you can travel. View satellites, asteroids, and comets, or continuously track their paths in orbit.

Basic information about each star, planet, or galaxy is available within the program. If you desire more in-depth reading, Starry Night Pro will link you directly to the Internet for more detailed information.

The software can also be customized to the individual tastes of each user, with the ability to add labels, guides, and constellations, as well as create your own personal settings. Keep it current by adding your own database of newly discovered celestial objects. You can even throw in customized images and Internet links.

Curious about the way the universe looked in the past or how it will look in the future? This software allows you to travel through 200,000 years of time in a matter of minutes. You can also create QuickTime movies of your adventures and send them to friends.

With almost too many features to mention, Starry Night Pro is an amazing tool for anyone with a fascination for space. It’s as close as you will probably ever get to owning your own planetarium.

 

The Catalan Atlas

The Catalan Atlas, is the finest work to come from the Majorcan cartographic school of the fourteenth century. Most probably produced in 1375 (the date that appears on the perpetual calendar accompanying the maps) and attributed, though without certainty, toCresques Abraham , the atlas was already recorded in Charles V’s library, in the inventory drawn up by Gilles Malet and copied by Jean Blanchet in 1380 (” une quarte de mer en tabliaux faicte par manière de unes tables, painte et ystoriee, figuree et escripte et fermant a iiii fermoers “).

Cosmographical diagram: perpetual calendar.
(BNF, Esp 30), The Catalan Atlas, Spain, Majorca 14th century.

 

The Catalan Atlas was originally composed of 6 vellum leaves folded down the middle ; the leaves are now cut in half. They are painted in various colors, gold, and silver ; each half-leaf is mounted on one side of five wooden panels, the first half of the first leaf and the second half of the last leaf are mounted on the inner boards of a brown leather binding. Each leaf measures approximately 65 x 50 cm, for an overall size of 65 x 300 cm.

The first two leaves contain a compilation of cosmographical, astronomical, and astrological texts translated into Catalan. These texts emphasize the earth’s spherical shape and the state of the known world ; they also provide useful information to sailors on tides and how to reckon time at night. The texts are accompanied by several illustrations : a tide table, a perpetual calendar, the figure of a man marked with the signs of the zodiac, and a large, circular chart framed by the four seasons which gives information on the zodiac, the seven known planets, and a diagram of the constellations:

Cosmographical diagram: the Earth, personified by an astronomer holding an astrolabe, is situated in the center of the Universe. It is surrounded by concentric circles representing the four elements, the seven planets (the spheres and their personifications), the signs of the zodiac, the positions and phases of the moon. The diagram is framed by the personifications of the four seasons.

(BNF, Esp 30), The Catalan Atlas, Spain, Majorca 14th century.

 

The four remaining leaves make up the actual map, which is divided into two principal parts. The map shows many illustrations of cities, whose political allegiances are symbolized by a flag. Christian cities are marked with a cross, other cities with a dome. Seas and oceans are symbolized by wavy blue vertical lines. And as is usual for nautical charts, place names of important ports are transcribed in red, while others are indicated in black.

Unlike many other nautical charts, the Catalan Atlas is meant to be read with the north at the bottom ; thus the maps are oriented from left to right, from the Far East to the Atlantic. The assemblage of plates giving an overall view of the document is presented as it is meant to be read, in other words with the south uppermost ; but to facilitate consultation, excerpts from the Atlas are shown with the north uppermost.

The two last leaves form a fairly standard portolan chart of the same type as Angelino Dulcert’s 1339 map. However, at the westernmost point, near the first wind rose (compass card) ever drawn on a portolan chart, is a commentary concerning the mythical ” Iles Beneventurades, ” the Fortunate Islands described by Pliny the Elder and Isidore of Seville, as well as an illustration of the no less mythical” Insula de Brazil “. Also worthy of note is the repetition of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia on two successive leaves creating an area of ‘overlap’ in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, (this feature does not occur in the oriental portion of the Atlas). In Africa several sovereigns are portrayed (including the king of Mali, ” Musse Melly, ” Mansa Musa, who wields a scepter ornamented with a fleur-de-lys, and the king of Organa, an armed Saracen). ” Tenbuch ” (Timbuktu) is also represented, as is the ship of Jaume Ferrer who set sail in 1346 for the ” Riu del Or ” (River of Gold) in quest of a sea route around the Atlas mountains, which impeded travel to the African interior where the Genoese and Catalans hoped to find gold and ivory.

The first two leaves, which form the oriental portion of the Catalan Atlas, illustrate numerous religious references as well as a synthesis of medieval mappae mundi (Jerusalem is situated virtually at the document’s center) and the travel literature of the time, notably Marco Polo’s Book of Marvels and the Travels and Voyage of Sir John Mandeville. For example in the land of ‘Catayo’ (China), the map shows the city of ‘Chambaleth’ (Beijing) where the Great Khan resides, Sumatra (” Illa Trapobana “), and a coastline edged with a multitude of many-colored islands that recalls the circumfluent ocean of the Orbis Terrarum. To the east of the Caspian Sea, the map is based on biblical and mythological references, as well as on borrowings from travelers’ narratives : Moses’ passage of the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, Mount Ararat, the Tower of Babel, the Magi following the star, Christ the King, Mecca, Babylon, the Queen of Sheba, ” Illa Jana, ” home of the mythical realm of the Amazons (” Regio Femarum ” (sic)), Sirens, the kingdom of Gog and Magog, Alexander the Great, Pygmies battling storks (whose presence in the mountains of Asia was attested by Pliny the Elder, but refuted by Marco Polo), etc.

Despite the map’s rather approximate cartographical design, many Indian and Chinese cities can be identified. The explanatory texts report customs described by Marco Poloand catalogue local economic resources, real ones or supposed ones. This, indeed, is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Catalan Atlas : to the east of the well-defined Mediterranean world lie immense regions whose economic importance is clearly understood, but which remain mysterious and unexplored. This world of spices, silks, and fabulous riches described by Marco Polo is the one that Christopher Columbus would attempt to reach by a western route 117 years later.

The Majorcan Cartographic School

The oldest sea charts in existence, linked to the emergence of the compass, are of Genoese or Venetian origin ; the earliest examples date from the late thirteenth century. They generally show the Mediterranean basin (” Mare nostrum ” ) drafted with astonishing cartographic precision, considering the technical means available to the mapmakers of that time.

In 1137 the kingdom of Aragon incorporated Catalonia, a trading partner of North Africa where mapmaking was a strong tradition, and later annexed the Balearic Islands in 1229. These circumstances fostered the rise of a highly important and flourishing cartographic school, owing in particular to the contributions of Arab and Jewish scholars. What characterized this school was its lavish, vividly colored illustrations (of cities, significant geographical features, portraits of foreign rulers, rich toponymy, etc.). Even before the first map was produced in Majorca, the Catalan scholar Ramon Llull included the sea chart among navigational instruments, on a par with the compass. In 1354 King Peter of Aragon decreed that two charts should be carried on all the ships of the realm.

The portolan chart drafted in 1339 by Angelino Dulcert (BNF, Res Ge B 696), was the first map known for certain to have been produced in Palma, on Majorca. It is thus one of the ” prototypes ” of Catalan maps drawn in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. All of the typical features are present : colors, place names, drawings of topographical details (mountains, rivers, lakes, major cities, ports or inland towns, personalities, etc.), as well as keys and explanatory notes written in Latin, all features not usually found on Genoese or Venetian portolans. Moreover, this document marks a departure from the strictly ” Mediterranean ” frame of reference of earlier portolans, for it attempts to represent northern Europe and include more information concerning Africa.

The Catalan Atlas, dated 1375 and attributed to Cresques Abraham, presents important similarities with Dulcert’s portolan chart in the drawing of its occidental portion, augmented with a great number of explanatory legends. Its originality lies in the addition of an oriental half which is not based on the experience of Mediterranean sailors, as was the case with portolan charts, but makes use of all manner of sources, including the account of Marco Polo’s voyage in the late thirteenth century.

The portolan drafted in 1413 by Mecia de Viladestes (BNF, Res. Ge AA 566) is another interesting example of the Majorcan school. It reproduces the geographical framework of Dulcert’s portolan chart, the rich array of paintings and explanatory legends of the Catalan Atlas, and it reflects the same fascination with African gold and knowledge of the overland routes leading to it.

The Majorcan cartographic school significantly changed the way nautical charts and land maps were produced : Catalan cartographers skillfully incorporated the most up-to-date information into their maps, thus altering the traditional framework of nautical charts. In this critical