Dictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: maize god, sak jun, relationship glyph, Maya Tzolk'in, Palenque Classic Period, Pakal the Great (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This authoritative work is the first visual dictionary of Maya glyphs published since the script's complete decipherment, offering a much-needed, comprehensive catalogue of 1100 secured glyphs. Each entry includes the illustrated glyph, it's phonetic transcription, Mayan equivalent, part of speech and meaning.

About the Author

John Montgomery is an illustrator, epigrapher, writer, and PhD candidate in the field of Pre-Columbian Art at the University of New Mexico. He also teaches art history at the South-western Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque. A long and varied experience in Central America first inspired his interest in the ancient Maya. His glyphic illustrations based on a lifetime of involvement with Maya glyph decipherment. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Product Details

• Paperback: 425 pages
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0781808626
• ISBN-13: 978-0781808620
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #281,032 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great content - poor publishing, January 21, 2009

By	beikokunotora "beikokunotora" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

The Great:
This is one of the best books (I have most of them) in terms of representing the Maya glyphs in an easy to reference format (it is a dictionary after all). It includes a Spanish and English index, and the pronounciation for each glyph is included with meaning, alternate forms, etc. I was planning on using the book for doing some replica Maya pottery and the large glyph images are exactly what I needed. Had the book been published well, I would have given 5 stars.

The Bad:
When the first copy arrived I was awestruck by the quality of the drawings and the orgnaization. But I soon discovered that pages 161-192 had been duplicated and that pages 193-224 were missing! I returned the book to Amazon for a replacement and made a clear message that I did not want a second defective book and that the missing pages be checked for. Unfortunately the second book arrived with exactly the same extra and missing pages. I am returning the second book as well and hope that the publisher can get it right. This is a great book but it looks like the publisher had a binding defect and either did not catch it or chose to ship anyway in the hopes buyers would not notice. Minus two stars and beware potential buyers - check your copy.

To Amazon:
While your return/refund policy is streamlined and efficient, there should be some quality control and checking of the messages - at least in cases where the product may have a defect that effects more than a single unit - that way you can protect the customer from wasted time and effort and can more rapidly get good product to your customers.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good start, but not too complete., June 16, 2007

By	Jia Gu Wen "Jia Gu Wen" (Florida, MO USA) - See all my reviews

There's very few entries in this dictionary. I've seen word lists in films that contain thousands of entries. This maybe contains a hundred or two.

One benefit to this is that the glyphs are very big- one inch by one inch- huge, really, and you can see all the details necessary for drawing them yourself.

But it's not too terribly scholarly. If a guy wants to be fluent in this language as a careers (as I), very soon (5 years) I'll outgrow this dictionary and need another of greater depth.

Here's the big-picture low-down: ancient languages (Archaic Sumerian, Oracle Bone Script Chinese, even Middle Egyptian!) like this are poorly represented in public-accessable books, despite the number of interested scholars we have devoted to these these languages. This is something I see historically in anthro-archaeological academia: No one pubishes to get the information to the pubic, even in their own country.

I would like to become an expert in all of these languages and others and write many books for the English-speaking market. Until then, we'll have to settle for a limited selection by a labotomized group of knowledge-hogs.

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, November 29, 2008

By	Louis P. Simone (Ravenna, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a nice book for someone interested in Mayan symbols. It is illustrated wonderfully, and organized in such a way to learn lots relatively fast.