The hieroglyphically obtuse wayfinding signage only adds to the effect.
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Hieroglyphically, the sun god is the patron of the day-unit (kʼin 'day, sun'), the month of Yaxkʼin 'dry season', and the number Four (in parallel with the day Ahau).
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The columella is smooth. The interior of the aperture is radiately striate. The shell is mottled and hieroglyphically marked with yellowish brown and white. The markings are often arranged in a few or numerous interrupted revolving bands.
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Itzamna is sometimes dressed as a high priest, and hieroglyphically identified as the god of rulership. Speaking generally, Classic iconography confirms Itzamna's identity as an upper god, seated on his celestial throne while governing, among other things, the affairs of agriculture and the hunt.
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A cosmetic container, cosmetic box, or cosmetic vessel is found in the historical records, both as an artifact, as relief items in some cultures, and are sometimes referenced in historical or archaeological literature. They are sometimes created in specific styles, shapes, or motifs. The named 'cosmetic vessel' in Ancient Greece is the pyxis. In Ancient Egypt artifacts of hieroglyphically inscribed kohl tubes are found; also kohl vessels, and kohl spoons, which were formed in stylized shapes relevant to Egyptian ideology, including specific hieroglyphs.
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From the correspondence between Landa's description of the New Year rituals and the depiction of these rituals in the Dresden Codex, it can be inferred that in 16th-century Yucatán, Kʼawiil was called Bolon Dzacab 'Innumerable (bolon 'nine, innumerable') maternal generations', perhaps a metaphor for fertility. God K's name in the Classic period may have been the same, or similar, since the numeral 'nine' is repeatedly included in the deity's logogram. However, based on epigraphical considerations, the Classical god K is now most often referred to as Kʼawiil. Hieroglyphically, the head of god K can substitute for the syllable kʼa in kʼawiil, a word possibly meaning 'powerful one', and attested as a generic deity title in Yucatec documents.
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It is doubtful that mythological narratives were ever completely rendered hieroglyphically, even though a sort of 'strip books' may once have existed. The surviving Mayan books are mainly of a ritual and also (in the case of the Paris Codex) historical nature, and contain few mythical scenes. As a consequence, depictions on temple walls, stelae, and movable objects (especially the so-called 'ceramic codex') are used to aid reconstruction of pre-Spanish Mayan mythology. A main problem with depictions is defining what constitutes a mythological scene, since any given scene might also represent a moment in a ritual sequence, a visual metaphor stemming from oral literature, a scene from mundane life, or a historical event.
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