History Of The Maya Civilization
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History Of The Maya Civilization
The history of Maya civilization is divided into three principal periods: the Preclassic, Classic and Postclassic periods; these were preceded by the Archaic Period, which saw the first settled villages and early developments in agriculture. Modern scholars regard these periods as arbitrary divisions of chronology of the Maya civilization, rather than indicative of cultural evolution or decadence. Definitions of the start and end dates of period spans can vary by as much as a century, depending on the author. The Preclassic lasted from approximately 3000 BC to approximately 250 AD; this was followed by the Classic, from 250 AD to roughly 950 AD, then by the Postclassic, from 950 AD to the middle of the 16th century.Estrada-Belli 2011, p. 3. Each period is further subdivided: Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC – 250 AD) The Maya developed their first civilization in the Preclassic period. Scholars continue to discuss when this era of Maya civilization began. Discoveries of Maya occ ...
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Maya Civilization
The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system. The Maya civilization developed in the Maya Region, an area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. It includes the northern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. Today, their descendants, known collectively as the Maya, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages, and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors. The Archaic period, before 2000 BC, saw the first developments ...
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Takalik Abaj
Tak'alik Ab'aj (; ; ) is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in Guatemala. It was formerly known as Abaj Takalik; its ancient name may have been Kooja. It is one of several Mesoamerican sites with both Olmec and Maya features. The site flourished in the Preclassic and Classic periods, from the 9th century BC through to at least the 10th century AD, and was an important centre of commerce, trading with Kaminaljuyu and Chocolá. Investigations have revealed that it is one of the largest sites with sculptured monuments on the Pacific coastal plain. Olmec-style sculptures include a possible colossal head, petroglyphs and others.Love 2007, p. 288. The site has one of the greatest concentrations of Olmec-style sculpture outside of the Gulf of Mexico. Takalik Abaj is representative of the first blossoming of Maya culture that had occurred by about 400 BC. The site includes a Maya royal tomb and examples of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions that are among the earliest from the Maya r ...
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Tikal
Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 900. During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the d ...
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Spearthrower Owl
"Spearthrower Owl" is the name commonly given to a Mesoamerican personage from the Early Classic period, who is identified in Maya inscriptions and iconography. Mayanist David Stuart has suggested that Spearthrower Owl was a ruler of Teotihuacan at the start of the height of its influence across Mesoamerica in the 4th and 5th century, and that he was responsible for an intense period of Teotihuacan presence in the Maya area, including the conquest of Tikal in 378 CE. Name "Spearthrower Owl" is a name invented by archaeologists to describe the Teotihuacan-originated spear-holding owl symbol, stylised as one or two Maya glyphs usually used to represent his name. One version of the ruler's name glyph shows a weapon (an atlatl or other type) combined with an owl sign. At Tikal, the name appears written once with phonetic elements, suggesting the Mayan version of the name is ''Jatz'om Kuy'', "striker owl," or "owl that will strike". The weapon-owl version is therefore probably the lo ...
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Yax Nuun Ayiin I
Yax Nuun Ahiin I, also known as Curl Snout and Curl Nose (died 17 June 404?), was a 4th-century ruler of the Maya city of Tikal. His name when transcribed is YAX-?-AH:N, translated "First ? Crocodile". He took the throne on 12 September 379, and reigned until his death.These are the dates indicated on the Maya inscriptions in Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, Accession: 8.17.2.16.17 5 Kaban 10 Yaxk'jn and Death: 8.18.8.1.2 2 Ik' 10 Sip, Martin & Grube 2008, p. 32 He is referred to by the Mayan title ''ajaw'', meaning ''lord''. Biography Yax Nuun Ayiin I was a son of Spearthrower Owl, a lord of Teotihuacan (probably that city's king) in central Mexico. The installation of a Teotihuacano noble on the throne of Tikal marks a high point of Teotihuacan influence in the central Maya lowlands. Yax Nuun Ahiin I may have been a child or youth at the time of his coronation, and the early years of his reign seems to have been dominated by one of his father's generals, Sihyaj K'ahk', in a so ...
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Chak Tok Ichʼaak I
Chak Tok Ichʼaak IThe ruler's name, when transcribed, is CHAK-TOK-ICHʼA꞉K, translated "Great Misty? Claw", Martin & Grube 2008, p.28. also known as Great Paw, Great Jaguar Paw, and Toh Chak Ichʼak (died 14 January 378) was an ''ajaw'' of the Maya city of Tikal. He took the throne on 7 August 360? and reigned until his death in 378, apparently at the hands of invaders from central Mexico.These are the dates indicated on the Maya inscriptions in Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, Accession: 8.16.3.10.2 11 Ikʼ 10 Sek and Death: 8.17.1.4.12 11 Eb 15 Mak, Martin & Grube 2008, p.28.Martin & Grube 2008, p.28. Born to Kʼinich Muwaan Jol and Lady Bahlam Way, Chak Tok Ichʼaak I is one of Tikal's best known kings. His name is recorded on a number of ceramic pieces and stelae. Stela 39, which was discovered by archaeologists in the Mundo Perdido complex, was produced to commemorate the Kʼatun ending in 376. It depicts the king standing upon a bound captive while holding an ax decorated ...
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Siyaj Kʼakʼ
Siyaj Kʼakʼ (alternative spelling: Siyah Kʼakʼ), also known as Fire is Born (formerly nicknamed "''Smoking Frog''"), was a prominent political figure mentioned in the glyphs of Classic Period () Maya civilization monuments, principally Tikal (which he conquered in January 378), as well as Uaxactun and the city of Copan. Epigraphers originally identified him by the nickname "Smoking Frog", a description of his name glyph, but later deciphered it as ''Siyaj Kʼakʼ'', meaning "Fire is born". He is believed by some to have been the general of the Teotihuacano ruler Spearthrower Owl. Overview Originally from Teotihuacan or very closely allied with that city, Siyaj Kʼakʼ was a warlord in the Maya heartland of the Petén (modern Guatemala) during the fourth century. In 378 and 379 he oversaw the replacing of the kings of important Maya states such as Tikal, Uaxactun and Copan with new rulers who claimed descent from Spearthrower Owl, possibly the ruler of Teotihuacan. As Fire i ...
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Valley Of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including Teotihuacan, the Toltec, and the Aztec. The ancient Aztec term ('Land Between the Waters') and the phrase Basin of Mexico are both used at times to refer to the Valley of Mexico. The Basin of Mexico became a well known site that epitomized the scene of early Classic Mesoamerican cultural development as well. The Valley of Mexico is located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The valley contains most of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, as well as parts of the State of Mexico, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, and Puebla. The Basin of Mexico covers approximately in the NNE-SSW direction with length to width dimensions of approximately to The Valley of Mexico can be subdivided into f ...
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Classical Greece
Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in Ancient Greece,The "Classical Age" is "the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C." ( Thomas R. Martin, ''Ancient Greece'', Yale University Press, 1996, p. 94). marked by much of the eastern Aegean and northern regions of Greek culture (such as Ionia and Macedonia) gaining increased autonomy from the Persian Empire; the peak flourishing of democratic Athens; the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars; the Spartan and then Theban hegemonies; and the expansion of Macedonia under Philip II. Much of the early defining politics, artistic thought (architecture, sculpture), scientific thought, theatre, literature and philosophy of Western civilization derives from this period of Greek history, which had a powerful influence on the later Roman Empire. The Classical era ended after Philip II's unification of most of the Greek world again ...
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Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. Proponents of a "long Renaissance" argue that it started around the year 1300 and lasted until about 1600. In some fields, a Proto-Renaissance, beginning around 1250, is typically accepted. The French word ''renaissance'' (corresponding to ''rinascimento'' in Italian) means 'rebirth', and defines the period as one of cultural revival and renewed interest in classical antiquity after the centuries during what Renaissance humanists labelled as the "Dark Ages". The Renaissance author Giorgio Vasari used the term ''rinascita'' 'rebirth' in his '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' in 1550, but the concept became widespread only in the 19th century, after the work of sch ...
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Urbanism
Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and management of urban structures and urban sociology which is the academic field the study of urban life and culture. Many architects, planners, geographers, and sociologists investigate the way people live in densely populated urban areas. There is a wide variety of different theories and approaches to the study of urbanism. However, in some contexts internationally, ''urbanism'' is synonymous with urban planning, and ''urbanist'' refers to an urban planner. The term ''urbanism'' originated in the late nineteenth century with the Spanish engineer-architect Ildefons Cerda, whose intent was to create an autonomous activity focused on the spatial organization of the city. Urbanism's emergence in the early 20th century was associated with t ...
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