AGENCY AND THE “STAR WAR” GLYPH: A historical reassessment of Classic Maya astrology and warfare

Abstract

Several studies over the past 20 years have argued for an explicit connection between a hieroglyphic record of war, the so-called star war, and the observation of Venus. To the last, these studies have relied on statistical treatments or simple numerical coincidence to substantiate their claims. In this paper I challenge the results of these studies on two levels. First, I demonstrate that the iconographic evidence that inspired the association between Venus and the “star war” verb is itself unstable; then I appeal to the historical contexts of the rulers engaged in this warfare to see if, as individuals, there is evidence that they held such a belief. In both cases, I show that the evidence does not support a ritual timing of Classic Maya warfare by the phases of Venus. At end, I turn to philological consideration to propose a new reading for the “star war” verb.