Baktun

For the telenovela, see Baktun (telenovela). For the 13th bʼakʼtun, see 2012 phenomenon.

Baktun glyph

A baktun /ˈbɑːktuːn/^[1] (properly bʼakʼtun [ɓakʼtun]) is 20 kʼatun cycles of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar. It contains 144,000 days, equal to 394.26 tropical years. The Classic period of Maya civilization occurred during the 8th and 9th baktuns of the current calendrical cycle. The current baktun started on 13.0.0.0.0 – December 21, 2012 using the GMT correlation.

Archaeologist J. Eric S. Thompson stated that it is erroneous to say that a Long Count date of, for example, 9.15.10.0.0 is in the “9th baktun”, analogous to describing the year 209 AD as in the “2nd century AD”. Even so, the practice is so well established among Maya epigraphers and other students of the Maya, that to change it would cause more harm than its perpetuation.^[2] The current practice of referring to the current baktun as ”baktun 13” or “thirteenth baktun” may stand, even though it is properly the fourteenth baktun. Alternatively, the first baktun could instead be referred to as the 0th or null to avoid this ambiguity.^{[citation needed]}

Note

Today, 00:22, Saturday, January 4, 2025 (UTC), in the Long Count is 13.0.12.3.17 (based on the GMT correlation).

See also

• Piktuns and higher orders

Notes

1. "baktun". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
2. Thompson (1971:149)

References

• Finley, Michael (2002). "Note on the Maya Calendar". The Real Maya Prophecies: Astronomy in the Inscriptions and Codices. Maya Astronomy. Archived from the original on 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
• Miller, Mary; Karl Taube (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6. OCLC 27667317.
• Thompson, J. Eric S. (1971). Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: An Introduction. Civilization of the American Indian sderies, no. 56 (3rd ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-0447-3. OCLC 275252.
• Voss, Alexander (2006). "Astronomy and Mathematics". In Nikolai Grube (ed.). Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest. Eva Eggebrecht and Matthias Seidel (assistant eds.). Cologne, Germany: Könemann. pp. 130–143. ISBN 978-3-8331-1957-6. OCLC 71165439.