o/eCHAPTER SIX

The Maya

For many centuries the rajnforests of&uatemala hid »a mystery as the thick vegetation hid enormous^stone palaces and temples. Then in 1773. explorersstumbled across the ruins of a great building.When they cleared the bush they found theremnants of a large stone city. Other explorersand archaeologists followed, and little by littlemore temples and other stone buildings werediscovered beneath the vegetation. These wereremnants of a great Maya civilisation.•''The earliest Maya lived as long ago as 2000 B. c. in ̂

a forest region known as El Petenfor nearly threethousand years^/rom 2000 B.C. until about A.D. 900,they slowly developed the arts of their civilisation.They became farmers. They learnt to make and fireclay pots. They constructed great stone buildingslike the ones the explorers found, and on the wallsof some of these buildings they painted muralswhich tell us a good deal about their livesyTheyhad, for example, developed a calendar as accurate

as the Egyptians'. As we saw in Chapter 1,when men became farmers, the priest-astrono-mers who could foretell the changes of weatherand season became persons of importance andpower. This was true of the Maya priests, and, aswe shall see later, it was also true for the Aztec andthe Inca. Similarly, the Maya and the AztecIndians, like the Egyptians, built tremendous stonepyramids, although the Indian pyramid had a flattop, while those of Egypt were pointed.

In about A.D. 900 however, these cities wereabandoned for some unknown reason. The in-habitants migrated to the flat, riverless limestoneYucatan peninsula .\fhere they built new cities likeUxmal, Mayapan, and Chichen Itza, and there theywere living when the Spaniards came^Ve know agreat deal about the Maya since A.D. 900, for manyof their buildings and statues still stand, and the,Spaniards wrote about what they saw-apd learrufrom these people whom they conquereo>

>, The Pyramid of Kukulcanat Chichen Itza. Thetemple is at the top ofthe pyramid.

•

27

The influence of religion

We know, for example, that religion played avery great part in the life of the Maya people..Thej£_gngs£3_4jlayed an important part in manyactivities, and many of their great buildings weredevoted to religious purposes. For this reason wecall Maya cities 'temple cities', for their outstand-ing buildings were the temples they built on top ofthe high flat-topped pyramids.

VfThese pyramids were made with a core of earthand rubble, covered with cut stone, and thencemented with mortar made by burning lime-stone rockiNarrow steps led up the steep sides to adark windowless temple. Vrhe entrance to thetemple was through a cjuhellfd archif Qnly^the

rethese_teaipjes, The worshippers remained outside,in the plazas or courtyards surrounding the sacredpyramids. From here they watched the rites, andtook part by singing and dancing.

These gigantic stone buildings were made withthe simplest tools, for the Maya, like all AmericanIndians, knew nothing of metal tools. Fortunately,jimestone is fairly soft, and can be cut and shapedwith stone tools and with sand^The usual methodof quarrying_stone was to drive wooden wedgesinto cracks in the rock and then wet the wood. Asthe wood swelled, the crack widened. Then thesplit stone was laboriously cut out with stonehammers and chisels. It has been estimated that itwould have taken about 25,000 hours of work toquarry enough stone to build just one of the greatMaya pyramids! i •

What type of religious beliefs inspired the Mayato build such impressive monumentsJ'Like all theIndians of the Americasrrney worshipped manygodgt«They believed that ah1 of life was a strugglebetween good and evil, and that there were goodand evil gods. The good gods lived in thirteenheavens, and the evil ones lived in nine hells. Greatwarriors, and those who were killed in sacrifice,

• is inside me Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Irza. What can we learn about the1 Ms? Try and find out what everybody is doing in the picture.

_

Th(

on

for

28

A corbelled arch. Notice how the arch is constructed usingoverlapping layers of stones.

were sure of going to heaven. They believed inimmortality, and to make sure that the deadwould be able to enjoy the afterlife, they buriedthem with a maize drink, and the tools of theirtrade.

One of the most important Maya gods was theGod of Corn, Yum Kax, Other gods were alsoconnected with agriculture: for instance, Choc, theGod of Rain, and PigO? the God of the Sun,Mzgmria>jhe Giver of Food and Light. Anotherimportant god was one who was brought to themby the Toltecs. The Toltecs were a highly civilisedpeople who lived in Mexico before the Aztecs. Inabout A.D. 987 they arrived in the Yucatan, whereby this time the Maya had settled. Toltec religiousideas became mixed with those of the Maya, andthe Toltec godQuetzalcoatl became for the MayaKukulcan, OT God of the Winds. He was pictured asa feathered serpent, with fangs bared in hissnarling open mouth. But above all their gods, theMaya felt that there was one who was the invisiblesupreme creator. They called him Kimgb—Ku^There are no pictures of Kunab Ku because he-was,as already said, invisible. But many of the othergods, especially Kjukulcan (and Chac, who waspictured with a long, curved, snout-like nose),were carved on their temples.

The Maya as mathematicians

The Maya also built round observatories frawhich their priests could observe the moveriMof the stars and planets. Here they developedcalendars we have read about.

Let us now take a closer look at the Mcalendar. This calendar was as accurate as the iwe use today, but it was divided differently. Lius, the Maya had a 365-day year. This was called

\haab, and consisted of eighteen months or uimI—J9***

each of twenty days, orjeins. This gave 360The five days left over at the end were calledand were considered an unlucky period. Hovever, in addition to tms calendar, the Maya hatwo others'. One, which they called the tzolki]was the sacred calendar by which they reckonethe special feasts of the gods. It had 260 days. Tbother, which was peculiar to the Maya, was callethe long count. This was a method of reckonintime by counting every single day from tt

ifKukulcan, the God of the Winds. The Maya basedKukulcan on the Toltec god, Quetzalcoatl.

30

beginning of Maya history, and when theywanted to refer to a date in the long distant past,they simply counted back one day at a time to thebeginning, which for them was around 3111 B.C.

Unlike us, the Maya did not reckon their timein centuries. They believed that time was a cycle,and that what happened once would be repeatedagain. They counted time in two kinds of cycle:the featutt~(a period of 7,200 days —just short oftwenty years); and a longer Jjft^rtwo_y.ear_cycle.

Obviously the Maya had to have an accuratesystem of numbering to work out such a compli-cated and exact calendar. Their number systemwas based on the figure 20, and they called it 'TheWhole Man' because it used all the fingers andtoes. They also discovered the importance of zero,

The observatory at Chichen Itza. The observationchamber is at the top.

• THE EIGHTEEN>* Moxrti

XUL CfH

THE ONWCKX

FIVE OA/S

The very complicated cofendor invented by the Mayas. The wheel on the left shows the sacred year of 260 days; the wheelon the right shows part of the calendar year of 365 days. The Maya calendar year contained eighteen months of twentydays each, and an unlucky period of five days.

31 L

Thonfor

28

CHICCHAM

"ritten by the MW " o°k in 'he A m e n ,

met e

AH*U

governmentnumbers. Can you see how the large numbers

the righf are made up?

they live? (They lived in independent city-states.Their society was strictly divided into rigid classes,each of which had its own rights and duties, evenin such matters as clothing and personal adorn-ment. The ruler of each city-state was the halachuinich — the 'true man' or 'real man*} Unlike theruler of the Aztec u ho \vas elected, and the LordInca who was selected, the halach uinich was ahereditary ruler. The office descended from fatherto son, as in European monarchies. However, ifthe sons of the dead ruler were not fit to rule, oneof his brothers became head of state. Failing this,some other suitable person from the ruler's familywas elected by a council of nobles.

After the ruler and the nobles came the majorityof the people who were farmers or artisans. Butthere also existed a curious group known as theppolms, or merchants. These merchants played aspecial and important role. They had their owngod, and lived according to their own laws.Moreover, they did not have to pay taxes or giveany personal service in agricultural labour or roadbuilding as the other commoners did. On theother hand, they performed a very important rolein foreign affairs, and especially in war, for theyfrequently acted as spies.

In addition to this, the ppolms made possible theexchange of goods between the various Mayacities.fThe Maya were the only American Indians iwho carried on trade by sea as well as by land, and jthere is evidence that their forty-foot long canoeshad some contact with Cuba and Jamaica. KvTiaT

kinds of goods were traded? Salt was an importantcommodity and certain tribes had a monopoly ofits trade. Brightly coloured feathers, used inwarriors' head-dresses and as a mark of honour,

Some pages from the earliest known book in the

Americas. Can you see examples of Maya glyphs and

numbers? Invent your own system of writing and counting

and write a message in your new language to your

friends and see if they understand it!

•C,i=C)-4D .yt- xCKO'.OtOijCMkyJtJ $*-fjfT^- 90aC3|Ol0!0:t0--<3 ffi'/. il&Oi&iQ

:i*''*3*to* -toit^aaio''^f-fJ'ff lOIGt&'-O

t?&, oadl&ta

. -•.ooLSmeBk;

10 0-M3:O m

a r c o

m^mm^ ...**•••? aibgilaBi' rS*J^?lzas-̂ 'S^J. • _ GcZJ&Js&ssmiipf

— as..—i— • • =

33

T1

CM

fo

were carried from the jungle cities to the sea-coastand highland peoples. Cotton for weaving Mayagarments; cocoa, which formed the favouritedrink; honey, wax, fish, flint, maize, preciousstones for ornaments, shells, gold-gods of alldescriptions were carried by theppolms. They usedno money, but instead used cocoa beans as a meansof exchange. A rabbit, for example, was sold forten beans, a slave for a hundred. Sometimes smallcopper bells, or red shells or strings, were also usedas a medium of exchange.

The life of the people

The Maya also built great roadways calledsacbeobs, to encourage trade between their variouscities. Some of these roads were almost a hundredkilometres long. Where necessary the sacbeobswere crossed by bridges made of logs and beams.In each village were people whose duty it was tokeep up a 'travellers' house' in which wood,maize, and other provisions were always available.

Maya men wore a simple cotton garment calledan ex (pronounced eesh). This was a loinclothwound several times around the waist and passedbetween the legs. Over this they wore a mantlewithout sleeves. Sandals were tied to the feet withtwo thongs, and were called keuelt Women worethe kub — a .simple dress with a square neck.Beneath this they wore a light petticoat. Theywent barefoot. However, in addition to thesesimple garments the nobles wore a great deal ofjewelry — ear and nose rings, bracelets. Moreover,their garments and sandals were dyed in manycolours, and on ceremonial occasions the noble-men would decorate themselves with featheredhead-dresses made on wicker frames sometimesnearly as large as themselves. But only the rulerand outstanding warriors were permitted to usethe gorgeously coloured feathers of the quetzalbird in their head-dresses.

Around the year A.D. 800, there were more thanthree million Mayas. They were short people, notmuch above five feet, but they were robust andstrong. They were broad-headed, and as soon as^ababy was born, its head was flattened still more bysqueezing it gently between two boards. This, saidthe Maya, 'gives us a noble air ... and besides, our

heads are then better adapted to carry load> ,Many Maya, whose features were (and still are!very much like those of Mongolians, were alsdcross-eyed. -This was regarded as a special mark oflbeauty and distinction, and mothers would hang;ball in front of their children so that they wouldfocus on it and so develop cross-eyes.,_/

Maya houses were simple. Most were wattled!and thatched, although the wealthier nobles migh:have built theirs of stone. Almost all homeshowever, consisted of one room; with neither Iwindows nor doors. Instead, across the doorway |was hung a curtain and small copper bells.Furniture was verv sparse, usually just sleepingracks made of saplings laced with springy branchesand covered with a grass mattress and cottonblankets. ..Cooking was done outside by thewomen. Like women in most cultures Mayawomen were responsible for caring for the homeand children. However, as happens in agriculturalsocieties even today, they also performed a gooddeal of the agricultural labour, mainly sowing,weeding and reaping of crops*

Childbearing sorted at a very early age. Awoman v - --jje many children.If she were barren k was considered a disgrace.This meant that from her ear-. :eens a girl marriedand took on adult responsibilities. As a home-maker she supplied aincst all of her family'sneeds. For example, she wove the cloth and thensewed the garments. Moreover, she also sharedresponsibility with other women for making themagnificent leathered head-dresses worn by thenobility.yA major part ot we r ;s spent in the

preparation of ibod for her large family^. Thistime-consuming task involved grinding corn on agrinding stone or mtuu. dien forming the mealinto flat c -vhich were bakedon clay sh nsisted of three stonesplaced on the ground behind the house. Since aworking man could eat twenty such tortillas a daywe can imagine how much of a woman's time andenergy was devoted to this one task. If her husbandtravelled much in his work, such as a soldier orppotm might do she had the additional task ofpreparing a special tood which could be carried forlong distances without danger of spoiling. Suchfood, called pinole, consisted of corncake made of

34

roasted cornflour mixed with honey. Unfortu-nately for the Mayan woman, her life was not onlyhard, but was often also unpleasant. She wasconsidered an inferior person, and girls weretrained from childhood to accept a subordinate

: letyt A girl would notice, for example.- rr.other and other women always turned

their backs and stepped asidefif they met a man ondie road, and that when in the presence of a man,women always looked down to the ground. Tolook directly at a man, or worse, to laugh at him,was considered serious misconduct and was se-verely punished. A mother might pinch herdaughter, or rub her eyes with red pepper, or beather if the girl refused to act 'properly' towardmen.

Even fully-grown women were accorded littlerespect. No woman might inherit a man's proper-ty — not even his mother. If a man died, his son (or,if the -boy were too young, his brothers or othermale relatives) inherited everything. It was thentheir responsibility to look after the female rela-tives — mother, wife and daughters.

All this and more the Spaniards saw andmarvelled at when they first encountered theMaya. They described a sacred Ball Court atChichen Itza which was 165 metres long and 70metres wide. There the Maya played a ball game,called pok-a-tok{ in which the players had to butt asolid rubber ball through hoops set 10 metresabove the ground. They marvelled at a countrywhich provided no prisons and jn which anyonewho stole was punished by having to work off thevalue of his theft. They noticed with respect theskill with which the Maya provided themselveswith water in their dry peninsula, by dammingand cementing ravines. They marvelled, but theyalso conquered.

Fhings to do and think about

JIl you could make any changes in the life: woman,fi>which are the most

important changes you would make?n your choices(^There are places

today where one group in society is

considered inferior. Find out where someof these places are, and the ways in which

ple are discriminated against(;|Whatreasons might be given for consideringany group as inferior^,;Explain why youdo, or do not, accept these reasons.

2jLook at the picture on page 29. Whatdoes it tell us about life in a Maya village?

3 The Maya burnt trees to make lime forcement; this eventually contributed to thedisappearance of forest in the Yucatan.Find out all you can about afforestation inyour country and why it is undertaken.

4 Find out what you can about the makingof roads in the Maya Empire. How didthe Roman roads compare with theMayan sacbeobs?

5 Like the Maya, the Greek peoples alsoorganised themselves into city-states. Findout what you can about the Greek city-states, and see how they compared withthe Maya.

6 Maya civilisation is also similar to that ofthe ancient Egyptians. Find out what youcan about ancient Egypt, so that you cancompare the two civilisations.

7l/Vhar did the May>-le'arn from theTpltecs??Iri^featways do people learnfrom other nations, and why do they doso? Discuss this statement: 'Influence fromoutside is not always good.' How does thestatement apply to outside influences inyour country?

8 Try to do a simple sum using Mayanumbers. Is it easier or more difficult thanusing our Arabic numbers?

9 Find out all you can about life in• Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula

today, and paste this information intoyour scrapbook.

35