Several studies over the past 20 years have argued for an explicit
connection between a hieroglyphic record of war, the so-called star war,
and the observation of Venus. To the last, these studies have relied on
statistical treatments or simple numerical coincidence to substantiate
their claims. In this paper I challenge the results of these studies on
two levels. First, I demonstrate that the iconographic evidence that
inspired the association between Venus and the “star war” verb
is itself unstable; then I appeal to the historical contexts of the rulers
engaged in this warfare to see if, as individuals, there is evidence that
they held such a belief. In both cases, I show that the evidence does not
support a ritual timing of Classic Maya warfare by the phases of Venus. At
end, I turn to philological consideration to propose a new reading for the
“star war” verb.