For example, Michela Craveri and Rogelio Valencia found chiasms in both the Dresden Codex and the Madrid Codex. Truly these became the names of the people:Ĭhiasmus has also been found in definitively pre-Columbian texts. There is not yet anything that might exist. Only the expanse of the water, only the tranquil sea lies alone. There is not yet anything standing erect. There was not yet anything gathered together. The face of the earth has not yet appeared.Īlone lies the expanse of the sea, along with the womb of all the sky. 9 Jon McGee used chiasmus and parallelisms found in the ritual dramas of the Lacandon Maya to support their pre-Columbian origin. 8 Gretchen Whalen and Charles Hofling noted its presence in Yucatec Maya narratives and Mopan and Itzaj Maya storytelling, respectively. 7 Nicholas Hopkins and Kathryn Josserand found “chiasmic structure” in folktales of the Chol Maya. Kerry Hull and Danny Law have documented chiasms in the writings of Ch’orti’ and Ch’olti Maya, respectively. Since Christenson’s initial discovery of chiasmus in native Maya documents, several other scholars have found chiasms in Mayan writings. 5 Hence, Christenson felt that “chiasmus is an indigenous literary form not employed by Colonial era Spanish writers,” and thus “may be useful in determining the relative antiquity of ancient writings composed by the K’iche’ Maya.” 6 These documents generally lacked Spanish or Christian influence, focused on pre-Columbian history or religion, and often explicitly claimed to be based on earlier written sources. He noticed that writings which utilized chiasmus tended to be those written before 1580 by a member of the ruling lineage. However, not all colonial Mayan documents feature chiasmus and so Christenson compared those that did with those that did not. 3 Christenson found chiasmus present in several colonial-era Maya documents, including some elaborate examples in the Popol Vuh, which is “by far the most important K’iche’ document to have survived.” 4 Other native Maya documents using chiasmus include T ítulo C’oyoi, a native ritual drama called Rabinal Achi, and the Annals of the Cakchiquels (the K’iche’s biggest rivals). Christenson first discovered chiasmus in K’iche’ Maya texts in the 1980s. 1 Since the Book of Mormon was predominately written on ancient American soil, however, the question may naturally arise: is there evidence that any ancient American authors knew about and used chiasmus? Several experts in pre-Columbian American poetics have concluded: yes, ancient American writers did use chiasmus in a variety of ways. Many scholars have long recognized chiasmus as a characteristic literary feature of ancient Israelite and Near Eastern writing.
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