Book of Mormon Evidences From Ancient Aztec and Mayan Writings

When the news of Cortés’s exploits in Mexico suddenly burst upon the world in 1519, man inEurope had almost forgotten the very existence of an America. This was understandable.During the years that had passed since its discovery America had provided only false hopes.Europeans dismissed “America” as yet one more instance of Spanishbraggadocio—until there arrived in Seville, on December 9, 1519, the first treasure ship fromMexico.Its arrival caused a tremendous sensation. Cortés had sent four fantastically attiredTotonacs from the Mexican coast to accompany the treasures, and in the golden cache there werebells and jewels, earrings and nose ornaments of exquisite workmanship, and leather ornamentsmounted in jewels, and there were even “books such as the use."The Italian humanist Pietro Martire D’Anghiera could not say enough about “the twobooks such as the Indians use.” He remained “wrapped in astonishment,” for to him thc “books”were a greater index to the quality this new civilization than the gold. “The Indians of the goldenland write in books," he said in his letters to other humanists as he analyzed the technique of thehook and .hieroglyphics“. . . which almost resemble those of the Egyptians. . . among the figuresof men and animals are those of kings and great lords ... so it may be presumed that they madereport of each one’s deeds …"Unfortunately, while the learned debated the Aztec civilization, speculating as to itsorigin, it was already being overwhelmed and destroyed. Thousands more of these golden Aztecobjects, brought to the king as his royal fifth, were melted down and minted into coin to pay offhis immense debts incurred by European wars. As for other Aztec “books,” and exquisitely madegolden ornaments, these as well as other objects of Aztec culture perished in the Conquest.The Aztecs, whose writing was less developed than that of the Mayas, kept precise accountsof tribute and income, maps of property and detailed maps of Tenochtitlan.. We know theCorrect Sucession of their leaders and the names of all the ancient Aztec towns and provinces.(The Aztecs also left behind impressive literature, winch was set down by Aztec-Spanishscribes in the sixteenth century) Among the Mayas, we do not even know the names of theirkings.. Young Bernal Diaz in a Totonac temple at Cempoala, saw many paper booksdoubled together in. folds. No intellectual in Europe ever saw a Maya "book,” and since therewas little or no gold to act as stimulant, the learned of Europe never had any communicationabout those marvelously contrived stone cities which the Mayas had built. This was not the faultof the participators in conquest nor the priests nor the administrators who followed. Theypenned voluminous reports which went unpublished.A Spaniard who saw the Itzás’ hooks in 1697 gave a fully accurate account oftheir size and appearance: "Books of a quarter of a yard high and about five fingers in width,made of the bark of trees, they are folded from side to side to another like screens. These arepainted on both sides.” The physical appearance of the three surviving Maya books, in particularthe Dresden Codex, fits this description. It is made from a single piece of’ bark paper beaten fromthe fibers of the copo..The Dresden Codex has thirty nine leaves painted on both sides, or seventy-eight pages.These pages are the "folds of the katun,” of which the codices speak. The Maya priest—scribesworked with brushes made from bristles of the wil pig. The colors used were dark red, light red,black, blue, yellow, brown, green, and lustrous black.Seventy years after the conquest and the burning of the books, a Spaniard still spoke ofseeing "books" painted in color "giving the count of their years, the wars, epidemics, hurricanes,inundations, famines and other events." And as late as 1697 an isolated Itza chieftain knew allabout the history of Yucatan because "he had read it in his books." It has been stated that "theirhieroglyphic literature seems to have covered nearly every branch of Maya science." But thereare no examples of it. That they regarded their books as most sacred is shown by Landa'sremark, " the most important possession that the nobles who abandoned Mayapan took to theirown province eas the books of their sciences"