Editing Bacab (section)

==Earlier representations==
Iconographically, the Bacab corresponds to god N in the [[Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube classification]], an aged deity of thunder, mountains, and the interior of the earth (Taube 1992). Often represented fourfold, he can wear the attribute of a conch, a turtle, a snail, a spider web, or a bee 'armour'. In the rain almanacs of the Post-Classic [[Dresden Codex]], the old man with the conch and the turtle is put on a par with Chaac. The Bacabs who carry the sky are represented by forms of God N holding up the sky dragon. Moreover, standing between and separating earth and sky, God N is often identified with both the sky dragon and the earth dragon, thus giving structure to the universe.<ref>Martin 2015: 192-196</ref>

In addition to the above, God N, or the Bacab, occurs in various stereotypical situations: 
*Fourfold, the Bacabs are repeatedly shown carrying the slab of a throne or the roof of a building. In this, young, princely impersonators can substitute for them (see fig.), a fact reminiscent of the drowned ancestors serving as earth-carriers mentioned above. On a damaged relief panel from Pomona, four of these young Bacab impersonators appear to have held the four Classic Year Bearer days in their hands.<ref>Stuart 2004: 3-4</ref>
*A Bacab inhabiting a turtle (perhaps representing the earth) is part of the scenes with the resurrection of the [[Maya maize god]].
*Still unexplained is a recurring scene depicted on [[Chama (Maya site)|Chama]] vases, in which a young man holds a Bacab, half-hidden in his conch, by the wrist, apparently to sacrifice him with a knife.

The Bacab has a peculiar netted element as a distinguishing attribute serving as a headdress, which might conceivably belong to the sphere of the hunt or of beekeeping. It recurs as a superfix in his hieroglyphical names; its reading is uncertain. Hieroglyphically, one finds conflations of Itzamna (god D) and Bacab (god N),<ref>Martin 2015</ref> recalling the mythological filiation of the Bacab mentioned by Francisco Hernández.