The Ancient Maya Essay

“In the Western Hemisphere, no early culture was more remarkable than the Mayans” (Background Essay). The Mayans were an adept civilization and accomplished many exceptional things during their time. Their deeds include things such as a number system, immense cities, and a vast trade network but there is no Mayan achievement more remarkable than their calendars. The Mayans created three calendars: a sacred calendar called tzolkin, a solar calendar called haab, and a long cycle calendar.

The Maya were believed to existence in 1800 BC and gone by 1500 AD. They had a lot of big cities but no capital. Many of the people lived in hay huts, some in limestone buildings built on tall pyramids which could actually be used as landmarks. They have a constant reminder the gods are present with the pyramids and first one was built right before Christ birth. Their agriculture was based on the economy, there main crop was corn but also grew cotton, beans, squash and cocao. They hunted deer, duck, turkey, monkeys, iguana, and other things with bow and arrows, blowguns, darts to eat, they did a little fishing. The Mayan art was about politics, the

What happened to the Mayan civilization before it mysteriously collapsed is still a mystery, but heart-stopping achievements were made. Throughout 3000 years the Native tribe of the Maya inhabited México, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras until the Spanish arrived. They were so secluded from anyone else, that they could not learn information from other tribes and they came up with all ideas themselves.(BGE) Trade routes, the creation of beautiful cities, establishing the number system and developing three calendars we all breathtaking achievements accomplished by the Mayan culture. Using scale, effort, genius, and significance four achievements will be argued about which was the most remarkable. Obviously the development

First of, an achievement of the Mayan society was their development of the ritual and civil calendar. They developed the calendar further than any other New World people. In Document D it states that the sacred and civil calendars (based off of the solar year)

They have a well establish governments, headed by a king, ruled territories with clearly defined boundaries. They were organized into independent city creating a confederation. This mean that they have pact of coexistences between them and the general of assembly, with their corresponding representatives from each city. The most importance city were Tikal, Uxmal, Copa, Tula, Palenque, Itza and Chichen etc. The largest Maya cities were Tikal with 60, 000 people and 6 square-mile area, giving a population density greater than city and Europe and what Childe’s giving as a city population. Each city were ruled by an “Alach Uinic” which means “The True Man”, and a huge plaza. The plaza was ringed with temples, pyramids, a ball court and a palace for the city ruler. Among the ruler, they decide the internal and external politics(law), the collection of taxes and the religious rituals. Keep in mind, Mayan society was mainly organized on lineages, it was very important for them to know their lineage, because is greatly influenced the proportion of land each get, the social and governmental position. The Maya made grandiose architectures structure in the middle of the jungle, pyramids and developed mathematics in such a way that they performed calculation not know by other civilization, like the invention of Zero (0). They developed a system of writing using glyptic symbols inscribed on building, ceramics, and book. Books that, Diego de Landa destroyed, according to, the film Cracking the Maya Code. the Hieroglyphics were the most original writing ever invented, by Maya. De Landa, saw the writing and thought they were tools of the devil, and felt he needed it to take a political stance. His main mission was to convert the Maya to Catholicism; when find out the Maya was still making their rituals and offering to their gods he arrested and torture

Almost every aspect of Maya life was centered on religion. These ancient Mesoamerican peoples worshipped many gods and goddesses; this was part of their daily lives, despite class differences in their sophisticated society. Religion served as a basis for the government and social life. Priests and shamans played an important role in their government, conducted religious ceremonies, and made sacrifices to the gods. The Maya believed in the supernatural, and used this belief to explain life and their universe. Every object, whether it is part of nature or man made, was considered sacred and worshipped.

One very interesting thing about the Mayans was that they had a very different view of creation than most common belief systems. The Mayans believed that the earth was just a plain old watery void to start out. Then, animals and plants came into the earth’s wide picture (Jarus). It was just animals and plants on the planet--no humans.

The Aztec and Maya were both American Indian people. The Aztec were ruled by a mighty empire in Mexico during the 1400's and early 1500's. The Maya however, developed a magnificent civilization in Central America and Southern Mexico. Both civilizations contributed a great deal to the modern world and invented items that are still used today.

The ancient Maya believed in recurring cycles of creation and destruction because, The largest cycles were thought to be recurrent cycle of creation and destruction, and the Maya believed that each of the named says within their cycles contained a destiny which was relieved in each of the many eras of a cyclic universe. The Maya believed in many gods. They believed their gods could help or hurt them. They worshiped their gods every day. Religion was at the heart of everything they did. Human sacrifice was performed on prisoners, slaves, and particularly children, with orphans. Before the Toltec era, however, animal sacrifice may have been far more common than human - turkeys, dogs, and squirrels being among the species considered suitable offerings to Mayan gods.

The Mayan way of life revolved their religion. They had a polytheistic religion praising many gods. Each god had a certain thing that they would rule over or take care of. Chac was the god of rain, Kinich Ahau was the sun god, and Yum Cimil was the god of the underworld. There were many gods and goddess for almost every reason one could think of, there is even a goddess of suicide. They would perform human sacrifices, bleeding rituals, and dances to praise and to

What Mayan writing seems to represent is a sacred language used only by the elite, initiated, and known only by them. The language of the Mayan was identical with that of the Yucatan Indians, given the fact that writing was identical. The Maya kept records on large stone monuments called stelae. They used the Steele to record important dates and to take note of great events in the lives of their rulers.(Price 91)They also used the stelae to recount the positions of the “heavenly bodies”_ particularly the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter.(Miller)

Throughout time, there are many instances of early civilizations accomplishing breathtaking feats that we find awe worthy even today. These cultures helped shape humanity as a whole, and paved the way for people everywhere. Of these early cultures, one of the most remarkable was undoubtedly the Mayans. The Mayans lived in Mesoamerica, around Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. They were an isolated group of people that thrived on farming and raised crops such as Maize, Beans, and Chili Peppers. They also Fished often and hunted Deer and other woodland creatures.

When most people think of the Mayans, they think end of the world prediction in 2012. Everyone knows the movie 2012 which portrayed the end of the world predicted by the Mayan calendar. What many do not know is that the Mayans developed three separate calendars; the Long Count, the Tzolk’in, and the Haab, which were represented by glyphs or pictures that were used in their daily lives in many different ways. The Mayans kept time in a very different way than we do today. The Mayans may not have invented the calendar, but they certainly developed it further, and still use their version today.

I came home from school thinking about all the facts about the Maya I learned in history class. When night came I got into my bed and closed my eyes. I awoke to loud noise surrounding me. Once I cleared my foggy eyes I couldn’t believe what I saw. There were beautifully carved red colored limestone pyramids and temples towering over thousands of people. Everywhere I looked, I could see large red limestone structures surrounded by a lush green forest. Many people around me were carving, painting, and making a large temple that could have been ordered from the king. There were men chipping away at the soft limestone with an incredible tool I recognized from history class where there is a long stick attached to a large sharp arrowhead made out of a strong stone.

The Mayans were organized by city states and ran government the same way. The religion was based on polytheism, or multiple Gods of nature and earth. One reason for their rise to a complex civilization was that The Mayans were very advanced people in the area of education. They were well ahead of their time in areas of math, astronomy, and even medicine and other sciences. Society, along with much of the world today, is still influenced by their ways and methods in these areas. The Mayas