View source for Baktun

{{Short description|Unit of time in the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar}}
{{About||the telenovela|Baktun (telenovela)|the 13th bʼakʼtun|2012 phenomenon}}[[File:Baktun.svg|thumb|90px|Baktun glyph]]
A '''baktun''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɑ:|k|t|u:|n}}<ref>{{MerriamWebsterDictionary|baktun}}</ref> (properly '''bʼakʼtun''' {{IPA|myn|ɓakʼtun|}}) is 20 ''[[kʼatun]]'' cycles of the ancient [[Maya calendar#Long Count|Maya Long Count Calendar]]. It contains 144,000 days, equal to 394.26 [[tropical year]]s. The [[Mesoamerican chronology#Classic period|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 [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar#Correlations between Western calendars and the Long Count|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 '''2'''09 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.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Thompson|1971|p=149}}</ref> 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|date=January 2020}}

==Note==
Today, {{CURRENTDATE}}, in the Long Count is {{Maya date}} (based on [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar#Correlations between Western calendars and the Long Count|the GMT correlation]]).

==See also==
{{Wiktionary|bʼakʼtun}}
* [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar#Piktuns and higher orders|Piktuns and higher orders]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}<!--BEGIN biblio format. -->
* {{cite web|author=Finley, Michael |year=2002 |title=Note on the Maya Calendar |work=The Real Maya Prophecies: Astronomy in the Inscriptions and Codices |url=http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/calnote.htm |publisher=Maya Astronomy |access-date=2007-06-18 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090523125754/http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/calnote.htm |archive-date=2009-05-23 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |author=Miller, Mary |author-link=Mary Miller (art historian) |author2=Karl Taube |author2-link=Karl Taube |year=1993 |title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |location=London |isbn=0-500-05068-6 |oclc=27667317 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill }}
* {{cite book |last=Thompson |first=J. Eric S.  |author-link=J. Eric S. Thompson |year=1971 | title=Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: An Introduction |series=Civilization of the American Indian sderies, no. 56 |edition=3rd |location=Norman | publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] | isbn=0-8061-0447-3 |oclc=275252 }}
* {{cite book |author=Voss, Alexander  |year=2006 |chapter=Astronomy and Mathematics |editor=Nikolai Grube|editor-link=Nikolai Grube |others=Eva Eggebrecht and Matthias Seidel (assistant eds.) |title=Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest |location=Cologne, Germany |publisher=[[Könemann]] |pages=130–143 |isbn=978-3-8331-1957-6 |oclc=71165439}}
{{refend}}<!-- END biblio format style -->

{{Maya}}

[[Category:Maya calendars]]


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