HUM 2461Humanities of Latin

America

SFC Fall 2013Week 4

Today’s AgendaDay 6

Week 4

• Attendance• CANVAS & HUM2461.wordpress.com• POPOL VUH

1. Notes and Interpretation • 1st Assignment Week 4: HW#1 &

HW#3 due on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013• Pop Quiz

Attendance

CANVAS

hum2461.wordpress.com

hum2461Humanities of Latin America

Home Announcements Fall 2013 Lessons Papers and Essay

Videos WHE Work Schedule

TIKAL

CHICHEN ITZA

TEOTIHUACAN

AZTEC

Pre-Classic: 3500 BCE – 353

Classic: 353 – 900

Post-Classic: 900 – 1523 (1697)

Reminder: Maya Periods

Mayas

* Mayan art

Terminology

religio

mythic stylization / realism

admiratio

horror vacui

Syncretism depending on period:

Early: noneLate: lots

TIMELINE Maya

Civilization

Notes on Popol Vuh

The MayaSacred Book is the book of the Quiché People

Writers of the Popol Vuh

What did the Mayas write on?

"writing" (tz’ib’) +

"he who writes" (ah tz’ib’) _____________________________________

It is a description of the act of writing

Notes on Popol Vuh (1)

• 2500 BCE – 1550 CE: oral text• Myth: "gift of Quetzalcóatl to humans"• 353 CE: Mayas invent 365-day calendar• ca. 1550: Maya Quiché

– Diego Reynoso, town councilman– Santa Cruz Quiché, Guatemala

• ca. 1700: Fr. Francisco Ximénez – Spanish translation– Newberry Library, Chicago

Notes on Popol Vuh (1a)

• Three parts:• Part 1 9 chapters

• Part 2 14 chapters

• Part 3 5 chapters

• The oldest literary/religious printed work in Latin America (16th Century edition).

• Oral text (between 2500 B.C.E. and 1550 C.E.)

Notes on Popol Vuh

• Three parts:• Part 1 9 chapters

• Part 2 14 chapters

• Part 3 5 chapters

PART I CHAPTERS 1-9

Chapter 1 Just water. Creation of FLORA begins. Heart of Heaven are 3 gods: 1. Caculhá Huracán 2. Chipi Caculhá 3. Raxa-Caculhá.

Chapter 2 Creation of FAUNA begins. -- Forefathers give ROLES and MISSIONS to animals.

1st DESTRUCTION: FAUNA. THEN IT COMES 1st creation of man: made of mud.

2nd DESTRUCTION: mud man.THEN IT COMES 2nd creation of man: made of wood (tzité)

Chapter 3 3rd DESTRUCTION: wooden man.Chapter 4 VUCUB-CAQUIX reigned. Not face of SUN or MOON, JUST HIM.

Part 1:

Chapter 5 Hunahpú and Xbalanqué (the twin brothers) appeared. What learned VUCUB-CAQUIX is superficial, ambitious and egocentric. “not become vain”

Chapter 6 Description of the DESTRUCTION of Vucub-Caquix and his two sons: Zipacná and Cabracán. VUCUB-CAQUIX was injured by a discharge from Hun-Hunahpú's blowgun which struck him squarely in the jaw.

Chapter 7 Story about Zipacná and the four hundred boys.Chapter 8 Death of Zipacná.Chapter 9 Death of Cabracán “Lure him to where the sun rises”Birth of Hunahpú and Xbalanqué (the twin brothers).

Part 1:

Notes on Popol Vuh (1b)

• Religious (creation and gods).

• 4 Codex (books) found

1. The Paris Codex (1930s)

2. The Grolier Codex (1970s)

3. The Dresden Codex (1810, Alexander von Humbolt)

4. The Madrid Codex (Under possession of Juan de Tro y Ortolano in Madrid in 1866)

The Peresianus Codex (France)

The Grolier Codex (Mexico,1970s)

The Codex Dresdensis (Germany)

The Tro-Cortesianus Codex (Spain)

Notes on Popol Vuh (2)

•Retranslation into Maya Quiché• Opening 2 lines:

– Are, u xe 'oher tzih.– Varal K'iche, u bi.

• This is the root of the former word.• Here is Quiché by name.

Notes on Popol Vuh (3)

• Genre: near-heroic myth and history– no single hero– myth and history of a people (Quiché Maya)– origins to 1550

• Coherent literary work–order, scope, unity, episodes

• Popol Vuh: totality of the Maya Epoch

• Next Epoch: "Holy Cross"

Notes on Popol Vuh (4)

• 4 Mythic Cycles: 1st Cycle: wood "men" puppets (to line 820) 2nd Cycle: destruction of 7 Parrot & sons (l. 1674) 3rd Cycle: Hero twins become Sun & Moon (l. 4708) 4th Cycle: ½ of whole text (men learn to pray)

– first Fathers to present

– Heart of Heaven & Earth

• Quiché people in 4th creation• First Fathers, from corn by creator• Quiché: most powerful Maya in Guatemala in 1550• Modern Quiché call their language Cakchiquel• Quiché society: patriarchal, patrilineal, patrilocal• "God" in Quiché: Dios qahavixel• Public religious drama / private divination

Notes on Popol Vuh (5)

• Quiché (Yucatán, Aztec) calendar: sacred mystery• Quiché "count of days"

– 260 days (13 deified numbers x 20 days)

– Solar calendar: 18 months x 20 days) + 5

– year cycles only begin on 4 days (of 20 days)

– 13-year cycle x 4 beginning days = 52 years

Notes on Popol Vuh (6)

• Toltec / Aztec influence 900 – 1500– military & religious terms

• Place: Utatlán, Guatemala (sacred geography)– Rivers, mountains, highlands, volcanoes, valleys

– Quiché came from Tula (myth)

• Popol Vuh: chronicle of one lineage: Kaveks of Quiché• Pedro de Alvarado conquered Quichés 1524-1525

Notes on Popol Vuh (7)

Quetzalcóatl(968 – 1025)

968 Quetzalcóatl to Tulaarrived from eastlight skinred beard

priest-king became demi-god

monotheismcivilizationpeacedefeated by war priest-god

Quetzalcóatl968 Quetzalcóatl to Tula

defeated by war priest-god

1000 Quetzalcóatl from Tula to Chichén ItzáKukulkán (in Maya language)did same for Mayan capitaldefeated by war priest-god

1025 Quetzalcóatl from Chichén Itzá on boat sailed east promised to return

similar in Popol Vuh

Tezcatlipoca

1st Assigment

Week 4: HW#1 (1-12) & HW#3 (1-13) due today.

Points off if HW is not typed

http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/

Pre-Aztec/Aztec Chronology

By Culture

Olmeca

Teotihuacanos

Tolteca

Azteca

Pre-Aztec/Aztec Chronology

Tabasco

Teotihuacán

Tula

Tenochtitlán

Pre-Aztec/Aztec Chronology

By Town

Pre-Aztec/Aztec Dates1400 – 300 BCE

100 BCE - 750

900 - 1200

1300 - 1521

Pre-Aztecs (English)3 Peoples

Olmecs (1400 BCE – 300 BCE)

teotihuacanos (100 BCE – 750)

Toltecs (900 – 1100)

Cuicuilco

Pre-Azteca (español)3 Pueblos

olmeca (1400 BCE – 300 BCE)

teotihuacanos (100 BCE – 750)

tolteca (900 – 1100)

Cuicuilco

OLMECAS

Tabasco (1400 BCE – 300 BCE)

Olmec civilization is the mother culture of Mesoamerica

Typical Olmeca Artifacts

A. Megalithic statues.

Helmeted heads.

Show a "masculine ideal.”

They have "oriental"-shaped eyes and a "jaguar" mouth, which is turned down at the corners.

B. Stone altars with bas-reliefs; tombs; boxes; jade carvings.

Cuicuilco (600 BCE – 450 BCE)TEOTIHUACANOS

Cuicuilco Xitle

Volcano

Cuicuilco (600 BCE – 100 BCE): 20,000Cuicuilco = “Place of Song / Many Colors”Cuicuilco

Ehécatl (god of wind)Huehuetéotl (old god / god of old age)

Xitle (100 BCE) Teotihuacán

Toltecs

900-1200 CE

Tula (North of Teotihuacan)

968: Topiltzin Quetzalcóatl

Atlantes (knight warriors)