The Dresden Codex was composed between 1200 and 1250 A.D., possibly at Chechzén Itzá. It was 3 meters long, has 78 pages written in Mayan hieroglyphs by as many as 8 scribes, and contains astronomical information along with historical annotations, predictions, and prophecies.
     The codex is preserved in the Sachsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden. The design on the stamp from Mexico is based on the top picture on page 50 of the codex. It pictures God E, the Maize-God, wearing a headdress of a leafy ear of corn and carrying a cup. He stands before God A, the Death-God whose skull-like head wears a snail symbol of birth. His body shows marks of putrefaction.

     The design on the German stamp below is from the bottom three rows on page 20 of the Codex. The central figure in the bottom row may be the moon goddess. The row above is a series of numbers, from left to right 11, 7, 10, 4, 9, 13 (a horizontal bar is 5 and each dot is one).