Mayan- a civilization of Central America, famous for its writing, art, architecture, mathematical and astronomical systems. It began to take shape in the pre-classical era (2000 BC - 250 AD), most of its cities reached the peak of their development in the classical period (250-900 AD). The Mayans built stone cities, many of which were abandoned long before the arrival of Europeans, others were inhabited even after. The calendar developed by the Mayans was also used by other peoples of Central America. A hieroglyphic writing system was used, partially deciphered. Numerous inscriptions on the monuments have been preserved. They created an effective farming system and had deep knowledge of astronomy. The descendants of the ancient Mayans are not only modern peoples Mayans, who preserved the language of their ancestors, but also part of the Spanish-speaking population southern states Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras. Some Mayan cities are included in the UNESCO list of sites World Heritage: Palenque, Chichen Itza, Uxmal in Mexico, Tikal and Quirigua in Guatemala, Copan in Honduras, Hoya de Ceren in El Salvador - a small Mayan village that was buried under volcanic ash and has now been excavated.

Territory
The territory where the Mayan civilization developed is part of the states: Mexico (states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan, Quintana Roo), Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras (western part). About 1,000 Mayan sites have been found, but not all of them have been excavated or explored by archaeologists, as well as 3,000 villages.

Story
In ancient times, the Maya represented various groups that had a common historical tradition. As a result of research carried out in relation to the Mayan language, it was concluded that approximately around 2500-2000. BC e., in the area of ​​modern Huehuetenango (Guatemala), there was a group of Proto-Mayans, whose members spoke the same language, also called Proto-Maya by researchers. Over time, this language was divided into different languages Mayan. Subsequently, speakers of these languages ​​emigrated and settled in different areas, where the Mayan zone was later formed and a high culture arose. Population migrations have led to both distance various groups, and to bring them closer to representatives of other cultures. The periodization of Mayan culture is similar to the chronology of all of Mesoamerica, although it is more accurate due to the deciphering of time hieroglyphs and their comparison with the modern calendar. The history and culture of the Mayan people are usually divided into three main periods, the boundaries between which are very fluid:
- period of formation (1500 BC - 250 AD);
- Ancient Kingdom (250 - 900 AD);
- New Kingdom (900 AD - XVI century).
The Mayan civilization developed on the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and mountainous Guatemala. In the Maya region there were three major language groups: Yucatecan, Tzeltan and Quiché. At the beginning of 1000 The Quiches were the most powerful group of Mayan tribes. The Mayan tribes began their cultural development around the 2nd millennium BC. During this period, in Yucatan and surrounding areas, two cultures replaced each other - "Ocos" and "Quadros", at that time beautiful ceramic products appeared, the surface of clay vessels was covered with a stamped pattern of stripes, which was created using agave fibers. Mayan history begins from 500 BC. by 300
AD Mayan culture begins its formation. This is especially noticeable on humanoid clay figurines, where the physical characteristics of the population of that era are present. The patterns that decorate the first Mayan buildings are also examples. It was then that large cult centers began to appear in the southern regions of Guatemala. Izapa on the Pacific coast and the mountainous regions of Guatemala are rapidly developing. In the late archaic period Kaminalhuyu appears - ancient center Mayan culture, near the present Ciudad de Guatemala. At this time, the Miraflores culture was emerging in Guatemala, and, apparently, Kaminaljuyu became Izapa's military enemy. To the north, at the same time, the Olmec and Mayan cultures came into contact. By the 1st century. n. e. All traces of the Olmec culture, the decline of which began three centuries earlier, completely disappear. In the early Preclassic period, Maya society was composed of groups of families united by the same language, customs and territory. They banded together to cultivate the soil and fish, hunt and gather to obtain food for survival. Later, with the development of agriculture, irrigation systems were built and the range of crops grown expanded, some of which were already sold. Population growth accelerated, the construction of cities and large ceremonial centers began, around which the people settled. As a result of the division of labor, classes emerged. From the Preclassic period, the Mayans began to build individual structures in which the influence of other cultures can be discerned. Later, Mayan architecture began to express mystical and religious ideas; therefore, temples and palaces, ball fields were erected in the central part of the cities, and residential buildings were located in the surrounding areas. 250 Beginning of the Early Classic period. This year, Teotihuacan and Kaminalhuyu form a trade alliance with Tikal. In 400 AD Kaminalhuaju completely falls under the rule of the Teotihuacan Pochteca merchants - the Teotihuacans come to the city and in its place build a miniature copy of their capital, which becomes the southeastern outpost of the empire. During the Esperanza stage, the Maya mountain region was under the protectorate of the Teotihuacan dynasties and, of course, under the influence of Teotihuacan artistic styles. Then, to the north of Kaminalhuyu, the first cyclopean structures of the Maya began to be built, which at first served as mausoleums for the Teotihuacan “governors” - the pochteca. Distinctive feature this stage is a thin "orange" ceramic. It is covered with geometric patterns, clearly of Teotihuacan origin. Tripod vessels appear. Similar products were also common in Central Mexico. Subsequently, when the hegemony of Teotihuacan in the Mayan lands ends, the “Esperanza” stage passes into an equally noticeable stage in the history of the Maya - “tsacol”. During the Tsacol stage, the influence of the Teotihuacan culture on the Petén and highland Maya region is still strong.
Classic period:
From 325 to 925 AD e. It is divided into the Early Classic (325-625 AD), when outside influence ceased and its own characteristics appeared. The Period of Heyday (625-800 AD), when mathematics, astronomy, ceramics, sculpture and architecture reached their maximum brilliance, and the Period of Crisis (800-925 AD) - the time when culture came to decline and ceremonial centers were abandoned.
The Classical era is the time of the true heyday of the Maya, both in mountainous Guatemala, both in Peten and in the North of Yucatan. The classical Mayan culture emerged, hieroglyphic writing developed, and cyclopean limestone structures were erected. There is a flourishing of sciences - astronomy, mathematics, healing. During the Classic period, the Mayans developed their own elements in architecture, such as, for example, a false vault, built-on terraces, stucco decorations, and ridges on the roof ridges, which, when mixed, led to the emergence of what is called the Peten style in architecture. It is characterized by structures on stepped terrace foundations, thick walls, staircases outside the facade, high ridges above the rear wall and plaster decorations in the form of grotesque masks. In Guatemala, powerful dynasties of native Mayan rulers succeed each other - at the beginning of the late period of the classical era, the rise of Tikal occurs. Not far from Copan, in eastern Guatemala, is the “city” of Quirigua. It is no less remarkable than Copan and is quite similar to it in its architectural style. Quirigua's most magnificent monument is undoubtedly the Stela "E", reaching an impressive height and covered with exquisite reliefs of baroque excess. Apparently Quirigua was the main city of the region, and Copan was its protectorate. Copan is a unique city. But the Mayans achieved the true greatness of the “city” in the 8th-9th centuries. Tikal defeats Calakmul and begins to rule all of Peten. At the same time, Palenque, Bonampak, Yaxchilan, and Piedras Negros flourish in the Usamancita River basin. In these places, Mayan art reached its peak. In Bonampak, magnificent wall paintings are created that tell the story of the victory of the local ruler over the army of Yaxchilan.

Postclassic period:
In the postclassic period, the high Mayan culture was preserved only in the North of Yucatan, but in synthesis with a completely different civilization - the Toltec. The cities of Petén and mountainous Guatemala fell into disrepair, many were abandoned by their inhabitants, others turned into tiny villages. The north of Yucatan flourished even in the classical era - several large regions formed there: Chenes, Rio Bec, Puuc. The center of the first was the “city” of Chikanna, the second - Calakmul, El Mirador, Saros, in the third Uxmal, Coba, Sayil, and the “necropolis” of the island of Haina flourished. In the classical era, these were the richest cities in Yucatan, as they were able to trade with the Toltecs. But by the end of the classical era, these cities were destroyed by the invasion of the Maya-Chontal people, who were at a lower stage of development than the Yucatecs and Quiches. They were influenced by Toltec culture more than by Mayan culture. Soon after the Chontal invasion, a cult center was founded Chichen Itza. The city is believed to have been founded in the 5th-6th centuries and was one of the largest Mayan cities. By the end of the 10th century, however, for unknown reasons, life here had practically ceased. Structures dating from this period are located mainly in the southern part of modern Chichen Itza. The city was then occupied by the Toltecs, who came to Yucatan from central Mexico. The arrival of the Toltec leader, obviously, was not a peaceful event: in the inscriptions from Chichen we're talking about about the invasion of invaders who overthrew the Mayan dynasty. The most famous religious buildings of Chichen are a huge ball court, the Well of Victims - a karst gap and, of course, the famous El Castillo, the Temple of Kukulkan. Period from 1200 to 1540 AD. e. An era of conflict, when intertribal alliances are broken and a series of armed clashes occur that divide the people and further impoverish the culture. Yucatan is entering a period of fragmentation and decline. On its territory the states of Vaymil, Campeche, Champutun, Chiquinchel, Ekab, Mani-Tutuk-Shiu, Chetumal, etc. are formed. These states are continuously at war with each other, and when the Spaniards arrived in the Mayan zone, large ceremonial centers had already been abandoned, and culture was in complete decline.

Art
The art of the ancient Mayans reached its peak during the Classic period (circa 250 - 900 AD). The wall frescoes in Palenque, Copan and Bonampak are considered some of the most beautiful. The beauty of the images of people on the frescoes allows us to compare these cultural monuments with cultural monuments of the ancient world. Therefore, this period of development of the Mayan civilization is considered classical. Unfortunately, many of the cultural monuments have not survived to this day, as they were destroyed either by the Inquisition or by time.

Cloth
The main attire for men was the loincloth, which was a palm-wide strip of fabric that was wrapped several times around the waist, then passed between the legs so that the ends hung in front and behind. The loincloths of eminent persons were decorated “with great care and beauty” with feathers or embroidery. A patti was thrown over the shoulders - a cape made of a rectangular piece of fabric, also decorated in accordance with the social status of its owner. Noble people added to this outfit a long shirt and a second loincloth, similar to a wrap-around skirt. Their clothes were richly decorated and probably looked very colorful, as far as one can judge from surviving images. Rulers and military leaders sometimes wore a jaguar skin instead of a cape or attached it to their belt. Women's clothing consisted of two main items: a long dress, which either began above the chest, leaving the shoulders bare, or was a rectangular piece of material with slits for the arms and head, and an underskirt. The outerwear, like for men, was a cape, but longer. All items of clothing were decorated with multicolor patterns.

Architecture
Mayan art, which found expression in stone sculpture and bas-reliefs, works of small sculpture, wall paintings and ceramics, is characterized by religious and mythological themes, embodied in stylized grotesque images. The main motifs of Mayan art are anthropomorphic deities, snakes and masks; it is characterized by stylistic grace and sophistication of lines. The main building material for the Mayans was stone, primarily limestone. Typical of Mayan architecture were false vaults, upward-facing facades, and ridged roofs. These massive facades and roofs, crowning palaces and temples, created an impression of height and majesty.

Mayan writing and timekeeping
The exceptional intellectual achievements of the pre-Columbian New World were the writing and timekeeping systems created by the Maya people. Mayan hieroglyphs served both ideographic and phonetic writing. They were carved on stone, painted on ceramics, and used to write folding books on local paper called codices. These codices are the most important source for the study of Mayan writing. The Mayans used Tzolk'in or Tonalamatl, counting systems based on the numbers 20 and 13. The Tzolk'in system, common in Central America, is very ancient and was not necessarily invented by the Maya people. The Olmecs and the Zapotec culture of the formative era developed similar and fairly developed time systems even earlier than the Mayans. However, the Mayans advanced much further in improving the numerical system and astronomical observations than any other indigenous people of Central America. The Mayans had a complex and quite accurate calendar system for their time.
Writing
The first Mayan monument with hieroglyphs carved on it, discovered by archaeologists on the territory of the modern Mexican state of Oaxaca, dates back to approximately 700 AD. e. Immediately after the Spanish conquest, attempts were made to decipher the Mayan writing system. The first researchers of Mayan writing were Spanish monks who tried to convert the Mayans into Christian faith. The most famous of these was Diego de Landa, the third bishop of Yucatan, who in 1566 wrote a work entitled Reports of Affairs in Yucatan. According to de Landa, Mayan hieroglyphs were akin to Indo-European alphabets. He believed that each hieroglyph represented a specific letter. Best of luck The Soviet scientist Yuri Knorozov from the Leningrad Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, who made his discoveries in the 1950s, achieved decoding of Mayan texts. Knorozov became convinced that de Landa's list was not an alphabet, but he did not reject it entirely for this reason. The scientist suggested that de Landa's "alphabet" was actually a list of syllables. Each sign in it corresponded to a certain combination of one consonant and one vowel. The signs joined together were the phonetic notation of words.
As a result of the discoveries of the 20th century, it became possible to systematize knowledge about the Mayan writing. The main elements of the writing system were signs, of which about 800 are known. Usually the signs look like a square or an oblong oval; one or more characters can be placed together, forming a so-called hieroglyphic block. Many such blocks are arranged in a specific order in a rectilinear grid, which determined the spatial framework for most known inscriptions.
The ancient Mayan counting system
The Mayan counting system was not based on the usual decimal system, and in the 20th number common in Mesoamerican cultures. The origins lie in the method of counting, which used not only ten fingers, but also ten toes. At the same time, there was a structure in the form of four blocks of five numbers, which corresponded to the five fingers and toes. Also interesting is the fact that the Mayans had a designation for zero, which was schematically represented as an empty shell from an oyster or snail. The notation zero has also been used to denote infinity.

Mayan religion
Among the ruins of Mayan cities, buildings of a religious nature dominate. It is assumed that religion, together with the servants of the temples, played a key role in the life of the Mayans. In the period from 250 to 900 AD. e. at the head of the city-states of the region were rulers who contained, if not the highest, then at least at least very important religious function. Archaeological excavations suggest that representatives of the upper strata of society also took part in religious rituals. Like other peoples who inhabited Central America at that time, the Mayans believed in the cyclical nature of time and astrology. For example, their calculations of the movement of Venus differed from modern astronomical data by only a few seconds per year. They imagined the Universe divided into three levels - the underworld, earth and sky. Religious rituals and ceremonies were closely related to natural and astronomical cycles.
According to astrology and the Mayan calendar, the “time of the fifth Sun” will end on December 21-25, 2012 (winter solstice). The “Fifth Sun” is known as the “Sun of Movement” because, according to the Indians, during this era there will be a movement of the Earth, from which many will die.
Gods and sacrifices
Like other peoples of Central America, human blood played a special role among the Mayans. Judging by the various household items that have survived to this day - vessels, small plastic and ritual instruments - we can talk about a specific ritual of bloodletting. The main type of ritual bloodletting in the classical period was a ritual in which the tongue was pierced, and this was done by both men and women. After piercing the organs (tongue, lips, palms), a lace or rope was threaded through the holes. According to the Mayans, the blood contained the soul and vital energy. The Mayan religion was polytheistic. At the same time, the gods were mortal creatures similar to people. In this regard, human sacrifice was considered by the ancient Mayans as an act that would, to a certain extent, prolong the life of the gods. Human sacrifice was common among the Mayans. People were sacrificed by hanging, drowning, poisoning, beating, and also by being buried alive. The most cruel type of sacrifice was, like the Aztecs, ripping open the stomach and tearing out the still beating heart from the chest. Both captives from other tribes captured during wars and representatives of own people, including members of the upper strata of society. It is well established that representatives of other tribes captured during wars, including members of the upper strata of the enemy, were sacrificed on a huge scale. However, it is still unclear whether the Mayans waged bloody wars to obtain more prisoners of war for the purpose of sacrificing them in the future, as the Aztecs did.
Political and social structure of society
The Mayans were primarily foreign policy oriented. This was due to the fact that individual city-states competed with each other, but at the same time had to control trade routes to obtain the necessary goods. Political structures varied depending on the region, time and people living in the cities. Along with hereditary kings under the leadership of the "ayawa" (ruler), oligarchic and aristocratic forms of government also took place. The Quiche also had noble families who performed various tasks in the state. Also, democratic institutions took place at least in the lower layer of society: the procedure that exists to this day for electing a burgomaster, a “Mayan burgomaster,” every three years, has presumably existed for quite a long time. IN social structure society, any member of Mayan society who had reached the age of 25 could challenge the leader of the tribe. In case of victory, the tribe had a new leader. This usually happened in small settlements.

The Mayans are an Indian people who, before Central America was conquered by the Spaniards, lived in a cultural-geographical region called Mesoamerica.

Mayan civilization - city-states that appeared in the 1st millennium AD. e. in southeastern Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Hieroglyphic writing, palace and temple architecture, fine arts, etc. were created. After the conquest by the Toltecs in the 9th - 10th centuries. The center of the state becomes the city, from the end of the 12th century - the city of Mayapan. The Mayan civilization was destroyed in the 16th century by the Spanish conquerors. The ruins of more than 100 cities have been preserved, the largest being Chichen Itza, Copan, Mayapan, Uxmal, and Tikal.

Disputes about the origin of the Mayan civilization, their culture and history continue. Mysterious ghost towns, built only with the use of muscle power in the jungles of Southern Mexico, attract archaeologists and various adventurers.

What do we know? Mysteries of the Mayans

Mayan settlements occupied vast territories in the south of what is now South America and adjacent countries in Central America. The spaces that they inhabit modern descendants Maya include the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, British Honduras, the western regions of Honduras and El Salvador, and certain areas of the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco.

The Mayan civilization was the most developed and longest existing in South America. The Yucatan Peninsula was its center. This people has been of genuine interest to historians and researchers for a century and a half.

The culture of this great civilization gave rise to many questions, many of which remain unanswered to this day, for example, the jungle of Southern Mexico is not a very suitable place for life, but the Mayans decided to settle there. Why? Mystery.

The Mayan civilization used the concept of zero much earlier than the Arabs and Hindus, created a complex hieroglyphic writing system, surpassed contemporary civilizations in the accuracy of astrological calculations, had a complex system of calendars, erected amazing temples, pyramids and palaces, reached its unprecedented heyday, living practically in the Stone Age .

Until the 10th century AD e. The Mayans did not know such achievements as metal smelting (except iron), breeding pack and draft animals, plow farming, and the wheel.

Associated with the Mayan civilization is another one of the most mysterious secrets. For unknown reasons, these people left their inhabited lands and suddenly moved to the distant, undeveloped north. The cities were deserted, they were swallowed up by the jungle, the magnificent palaces began to collapse due to time and the trees that grew in their cracks. The riddle is all the more unclear because at the time of the resettlement this empire was at the peak of its heyday.

The territory occupied by the Mayan civilization is highlighted in red.

So who are they, the Mayans?

What the Mayans looked like

The average height of the Mayan Indians was approximately 150 cm. Immediately after birth, the head of a Yucatan baby was pressed between two planks so that over time the cranial bones became flat due to deformation. Flat skull, long hair, arranged in a hairstyle, the front part of the head was hairless, amber was inserted into the nostrils pierced through the cartilage, bracelets made from sea oyster shells - this is what the Mayan Indian looked like. To this can be added painted bodies and faces, while the color of the paint had great value. Red was worn by warriors, black by unmarried youths, yellow by prisoners, blue by priests. To the unique idea of ​​beauty were added teeth filed in a triangle, sometimes decorated with inlaid stones. Surprisingly, the Mayans considered squinting to be a sign of beauty. That is why a thread with a resin or wax ball was attached to the baby’s hair so that he would squint his eyes at him. Another distinctive Mayan feature is tattooing. Her absence was considered indecent.

The emergence of the Mayan civilization

There is an opinion that the ancestors of the Mayans appeared in the Mexican highlands (zones of Chiapas and Guatemala) in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. e., to which the first shoots of the Mayan culture are related. This can be evidenced by ceramics discovered by archaeologists, stone tips for throwing weapons, rough utensils in the form of baked clay vessels and massive clay figurines.

From the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Large settlements appeared in Mayan territory, and agriculture began to develop. The Mayans build huts out of wood and clay in the jungle. The high roofs of their homes were made of palm leaves.

So, from 1500 BC. e. The so-called preclassic period begins, which gave the starting point for the historical existence of the most developed civilization of Ancient America - the Maya. And it lasts from 1500 BC. e. to 250 AD e. During this time, people gained agricultural experience and began to build rural-type settlements.

Story

There are several periods of this ancient civilization:
Early Preclassic period (2000-900 BC)
Middle Preclassic period (899-400 BC)
Late Preclassic period (400 BC - 250 AD)
Early Classical Period (250-600 AD)
Late Classical Period (600-900 AD)
Decline of the Mayan civilization
Postclassical period (900-1521)
Colonial period (1521-1821)
Post-colonial period
Maya today

Astrology

Mayan astrology, using the zodiac circle as its main reference, was a way to predict the future. Also used as tools were knowledge about the movements of celestial bodies, among which a special place was given to the Moon: the waning or waxing satellite of the Earth showed how successful a particular period of time was for a certain kind of undertaking.

Mayan natal astrology, which predicted the child's character, behavior and inclinations in adult life, is closely related to the Tzolkin calendar, each day of which could determine a character. For example, those born on the day of Imish, according to the Maya, led a dissolute life, neglecting social principles, while the babies of the day of Chuen became good craftsmen and artisans. The fate determined by astrology was predetermined, but the priests had the opportunity to change it by connecting the fate of a person with the day of bringing him to the temple.

Mayan culture

It should be noted that the culture of the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica has some similarities. This suggests an exchange between these peoples of certain achievements of their cultures, which led to a certain homogeneity, which, in turn, indicates that there was a mother culture from which the roots of the Mayan culture could come.

The main evidence of this ancestor culture is hieroglyphic writing, accordion-folded books, the use of cocoa beans instead of money, a ritual ball game, a cult hero - the Feathered Serpent, and cult rituals, one of which was. Thus, the culture of the great Mayan civilization, starting from ancient times, was influenced by other cultures.

In the preclassic period, Mayan culture bears the imprint of the Olmec civilization (hence the monumental sculptures, knowledge of mathematics, calendars). It is known that the Olmecs were able to create a calendar that was superior in accuracy to the European one.

Writing

The earliest inscriptions date back to the 3rd century BC. e. The letter was used continuously until the arrival in the 16th century AD. e. Spanish conquistadors, and in some of the more isolated areas, such as Tayasal, for some time after that.

Mayan writing was a system of verbal and syllabic signs. The term “hieroglyphs” in relation to Mayan writing was used by European researchers of the 18th and 19th centuries, who could not understand the signs and found them similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics.

In the early colonial era there were still people who knew the Mayan script. There is information that some Spanish priests who arrived in Yucatan managed to study it. But soon, Bishop of Yucatan Diego de Landa, as part of a campaign to eradicate pagan customs, ordered the collection and destruction of all Mayan texts, as a result of which this led to the loss of a significant part of the manuscripts.

Only 4 Mayan codices survived the conquistadors. More complete texts have been found on pottery in Mayan tombs, as well as on monuments and steles in cities abandoned or destroyed after the Spanish arrived. Knowledge of writing was completely lost towards the end XVI century. Interest in it arose only in the 19th century, after reports of destroyed Mayan cities were published.

Weapon

Mayan weapons were not a special achievement of technical thought. Over the course of many centuries of the existence of the Mayan civilization, it underwent minor changes. Much of the improvement has been in the art of war than in the weapons themselves.

In battles, the Mayans fought with spears of various lengths (the height of a man or more), darts and flat club-swords, the edges of which were lined with dense rows of embedded obsidian blades. By the end of the New Kingdom period (XV - XVI centuries), the Mayans had metal battle axes (made of an alloy of copper and gold) and bows and arrows, borrowed from the Aztecs. For protection, Mayan warrior rank and file wore plump, quilted cotton shells. The nobility used armor woven from flexible branches and defended itself with willow (less commonly, tortoiseshell) large or small round or square shields. A small shield (about the size of a fist) was used not only for defense, but also as a striking weapon.

El Caracol Observatory, Chichen Itza - Mexico

Rise of the Mayan civilization

After the end of the Olmec power, the southern trading cities of the Maya began to flourish. During this period, large centers of the Mayan civilization emerged - El Mirador, Tikal, Nakbe, Vashaktun. The Mayans created a system of calendars (solar, lunar and ritual), with the help of which they recorded important historical moments and also made astrological forecasts.

The southeastern city of Copan attracts special attention. He, starting from the 5th century AD. e., for 400 years it was ruled by one dynasty, the founder of which was the ruler Yash-Kuk-Mo, who came to power in 426 AD. e.

626 - Ruler Dym-Jaguar, who was a royal descendant of Pakal, ascended the throne. He reigned for 67 years and was a long-liver. He was called the Great Instigator. Perhaps, with the help of territorial wars, this ruler greatly expanded the possessions of Copan, which contributed to its prosperity. This era includes the appearance of many steles praising rulers and their merits; the development of hieroglyphic writing, the creation of magnificent temples with sculptural images of gods.

Maya today

Today, about 6.1 million Mayans live on the Yucatan Peninsula, including Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. In Guatemala, about 40% of the population is Mayan, in Belize - about 10%. Today, the Mayan religion is a mixture of Christianity and traditional Mayan beliefs. Each Mayan community today has its own religious patron. Donations can include poultry, spices or candles. Some Maya groups identify themselves through special elements in their traditional dress that distinguish them from other Maya.

The Lecandon Maya group living in Chiapas (Mexico) is known to be faithful to the preserved traditional way of life. Representatives of the group wear cotton clothes that are decorated with traditional Mayan scenes. Christianity was able to exert a superficial influence on representatives of this group. But tourism and, above all, technical and economic progress are gradually beginning to erase the group’s identity. More and more Mayans wear modern clothes, have electricity, radios and televisions in their homes, and often cars. Some of the Mayans, meanwhile, live on income from tourism, as more and more people want to get acquainted with the world and culture of the ancient Mayans.

Temple of the Cross, Temple of the Sun in the ancient city of Palenque

Mayan civilization - interesting facts

There is no evidence that the Mayans could have had flying machines or cars, however complex system They definitely had paved roads. They possessed advanced astronomical knowledge about the movement of celestial bodies. Perhaps the most amazing evidence of this is the building with a domed roof called El Caracol located on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Archaeological excavations may indicate that the Mayans actually practiced human sacrifice, and this was considered a favor for the victims.

They believed that one still had to get to heaven: first one must go through 13 circles of hell, and only then a person will receive eternal bliss. And this path is so difficult that not all souls can reach it. However, there was also a “direct road to heaven”: women who died during childbirth, victims of wars, suicides, those who died while playing ball and ritual victims could receive it.

According to one interpretation of the codes, the Mayans came from a place that is now hidden under water, they were even mistaken for the children of Atlantis. Atlantis is, of course, a strong word. But scientists, relatively recently, managed to discover what may be the remains of ancient Mayan cities on the ocean floor. The age of the cities and the cause of the cataclysm cannot be determined.

The Mayans used three calendars. The civil calendar, or Haab, consisted of 18 months of 20 days each - for a total of 360 days. For ceremonial purposes, Tzolkin was used, which included 20 months of 13 days each, and the entire cycle was thus 260 days. Together they made up a single complex and long calendar, which contained information about the movement of planets and constellations.

There was no beginning or end in the calendar - time for the Mayans went in a circle, everything was repeated again and again. There was no such thing as “the end of the year” for them - only the rhythm of planetary cycles.

The Mayans invented sports. One thing is for sure - the Mayans loved playing ball. Long before the Europeans began to dress in skins, the Mayans had already made a ball court at home and came up with the rules of the game. Their game appeared to be a tough combination of football, basketball and rugby.

About 1,000 Mayan cities have been discovered (as of the early 1980s), but not all of them have yet been excavated or explored by archaeologists. About 3,000 villages were also found.

The Mayans loved saunas. An important cleansing element for the ancient Mayans was the diaphoretic bath: water was poured onto hot stones to create steam. Everyone used such baths, from a woman who had recently given birth to a king.

Disappearance of the Mayan civilization

The reason why the Mayans could have disappeared has been named. Historians from Vienna technical university found out the reason for the decline of the Mayan Empire. As it turned out, irrigation technologies that saved crops from drought could make society more vulnerable to natural disasters. 2014 - geologists from America suggested that the cause of the extinction of the Mayans could have been an extreme drought that lasted about 100 years.

There are other versions called possible reasons disappearance of civilization: the collapse of the local farming system, terrible epidemics of diseases (for example, yellow fever), the arrival of conquerors from Mexico, social cataclysms, the forced capture of people by the Tultek rulers of Yucatan, and even earthquakes and a decline in solar activity.

Rightfully recognized as one of the brightest. A diverse group of Indian peoples numbering about 2.7 million lived in Mexico. There is a hypothesis that people settled America thirty thousand years ago, coming there from Asia.

Despite the fact that the Maya until the 10th century AD. e. they did not know how to cultivate the land with a plow and did not use artiodactyl animals in their activities, did not have wheeled carts and no idea about metals, they were constantly improving.

In particular, they mastered hieroglyphic writing. Using hieroglyphs, the Mayans wrote codices - books on a kind of paper. It is they who currently help scientists in the study of this civilization. The codes were first translated by the German scientist E. Forstemann into late XIX century.

The Mayans understood the movements of the moon and the sun and predicted eclipses. Their calculations regarding the movements of Venus were also close to correct, the difference being only 14 seconds per year. They also began to use the concept of zero earlier than representatives of Arab countries and Indians.

The skillful combination of astronomical knowledge and writing helped the tribes record time. Their counting systems, called Tzolkin and Tonalamatl, were based on the numbers 20 and 13. The roots of the first of them go back much earlier than the Mayans, however, it was they who perfected the system.

Art flourished in this civilization: they created beautiful sculptures, ceramics, erected majestic buildings and painted.

The art of the Mexican Indians reached its highest degree of development in antiquity in the time period from 250 to 900 AD. e., the so-called classical period. The most beautiful frescoes were found by researchers in the cities of Palenque, Copane and Bonampaque. Now they are equated to cultural monuments of antiquity, because the ancient Mayan images are truly not inferior to the latter in beauty. Unfortunately, many of the valuables have not survived to this day, destroyed either by time or by the Inquisition.

Architecture

The main motifs in Mayan architecture are deities, snakes and masks. Religious and mythological themes are reflected both in small ceramics and in sculptures and bas-reliefs. The Mayans created their works of art from stone, mainly using limestone.

The architecture of this people is majestic; it is characterized by massive, soaring facades of palaces and temples, and ridges on the roofs.

Mayan Studies

The Indians created cities using only muscular strength, built temples and palaces under the leadership of kings and priests, and carried out military campaigns. Unfortunately, now most Mayan cities have turned into ruins. They also had their own gods, whom they worshiped, and ritual sacrifices and ceremonies took place.

For a long time, scientists believed that no one lived permanently in the ceremonial centers, and the buildings were used only for performing rituals. But later it was proven that for the most part the palaces of the nobility and priests were built quite close to them.

Thanks to the research of ceremonial centers, quite a lot of information was obtained regarding the life activity of the upper strata of Mayan society. In contrast, little was known about the lower classes. For example, the question of the life of farmers has not been sufficiently studied, but it was they who supported the ruling strata with the help of their labor. It is this side of Mayan life that is currently being studied by archaeologists.

New research has allowed scientists to create a completely different chronology of this civilization. They found that the Maya are at least 1000 years older than previously thought. This was done thanks to radiocarbon dating of wooden products found by archaeologists. It has been proven that they were made in the period 2750 - 2450. BC e. Accordingly, the Mayan culture turned out to be older than the Olmec, which until that moment was considered the ancestor of the Maya and a number of other civilizations. Thus, the factor of influence of the Olmec culture was excluded and a hypothesis was put forward about a possible reverse influence. Thus, further research into the history of the continent will be required. After all, just one season of excavation could add a thousand years to the existence of the Mayans and more than one and a half to the prehistory of all of Mesoamerica.

The discoveries of archaeologists have made it possible to create a more accurate periodization due to a number of reasons, the main two of which are:

1. On the territory in large quantities ceramic products have been found that, when using the most modern methods more accurately date ancient culture.
2. Thanks to the hieroglyphic writing of the ancient Indians, it was possible to translate most of their records, comparing them with chronology, and then with the modern calendar. This helped determine, down to the month, the dates of special events for the Mayan civilization, the reigns of rulers and simply important personalities for history, their names, years of life.

Territory and climate

On the impressive territory (an area of ​​325 thousand square kilometers), which is now occupied by various states of Mexico and where the Mayans previously lived, several natural zones are actually distinguished. Each of them has its own climate, natural conditions, vegetation, relief, etc. That is, each natural area represents a kind of ecological system. The first of the systems extended in a kind of semicircle to the south, capturing the southwest and southeast, the plateaus and mountain ranges of the Central American Cordillera. The second ecological system conventionally includes the valleys and hills around the Peten Basin in Guatemala, as well as the inland basin itself and the southern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. The last zone of Maya dislocation is the plain in the north of Yucatan. Spacious, covered with grass and bushes, it was also inhabited by ancient Indians.

Linguistic features of the Maya

To this day, 24 Mayan languages ​​have survived, the most important of which are united into language families, and these, in turn, into a common linguistic branch.

The Huastec language can still be heard to this day in one of the northern regions of the state of Veracruz, and it remains a mystery why native speakers ended up there. They emigrated to this place around 1200 BC. e. - even before the Mayan civilization arose. In addition to the Huastecs, who were located far beyond the Mayan area, there were other emigrants, but they basically remained in the same territory, as evidenced by the research of modern linguists. In their opinion, 2500 BC. e. in those places there was a community whose members spoke the proto-Mayan language. It gradually divided into dialects, and their speakers were forced to emigrate. This is how the area of ​​life of the Mayan peoples was determined. And it became possible to divide their history directly into specific periods thanks to data from archaeological excavations.

Maya today

Today the number of descendants ancient civilization on the Yucatan Peninsula is approximately 6.1 million, with approximately 40% Maya living in Guatemala and around 10% in Belize. The religious preferences of the Mayans have changed over time and now represent a combination of ancient traditions and Christian ones. Each modern Mayan community has its own patron. The form of donations has also changed, now it is candles, spices or poultry. A number of Mayan groups, wishing to stand out from others, have special motifs in their traditional clothing.

The Lecandon Mayans are known as the most preserved traditions of the group. Christianity has had little influence on this community, their clothing is characterized by a cotton composition and decorated with traditional motifs. But nevertheless, more and more Mayans are exposed to progress: they watch TV, drive cars, and dress in modern things. Moreover, the Mayans make money from tourism by talking about the traditions of their civilization.

Of particular note is the Mexican state of Chiapas. There, a number of villages controlled by the Zapatistas achieved autonomy to govern in the recent past.

The Mayan peoples inhabited the territories:

• in the west - from the Mexican state of Tabasco,
• in the east - to the western outskirts of Honduras and El Salvador.

This area is divided into three areas clearly distinguishable by climatic and cultural-historical characteristics.

1. The northern one - the Yucatan Peninsula, formed by a limestone platform - is characterized by an arid climate, poor soil and the absence of rivers. The only sources of fresh water are karst wells (cenotes).
2. The central region covers the Mexican states of Tabasco, part of Chiapas, Campeche, Quintana Roo, as well as Belize and the Guatemalan department of Petén. This area is made up of lowlands, abounding in natural reservoirs and crossed by the large rivers Usumacinta, Motagua and others. The territory is covered with tropical rainforests with a diverse fauna, a rich selection of edible fruits and plants. Here, as in the north, there are practically no mineral resources.
3. The southern region includes mountain ranges up to 4000 m high in the state of Chiapas and the Guatemalan highlands. The territory is covered with coniferous forests and has a temperate climate. Various minerals are found here - jadeite, jade, obsidian, pyrite, cinnabar, which were valued by the Mayans and served as trade items.

The climate of all regions is characterized by alternating dry and rainy seasons, requiring precision in determining the time of sowing, which is impossible without the development of astronomical knowledge and the calendar. The fauna is represented by ungulates (peccaries, tapirs, deer), feline predators, varieties of raccoons, hares and reptiles.

History of the Mayan civilization

Periodization of Mayan history

• …-1500 BC - Archaic period
• 1500-800 BC - Early formative
• 800-300 BC - Medium formative
• 300 BC - 150 AD - Late formative
• 150-300 - Protoclassical
• 300-600 - Early Classic
• 600-900 - Late Classical
• 900-1200 - Early Postclassic
• 1200-1530 - Late Postclassic

The problem of settling the Maya region is still far from being solved. final decision. Some evidence suggests that the Proto-Maya came from the north, moving along the Gulf Coast, displacing or intermingling with local populations. Between 2000-1500 BC began to settle throughout the zone, breaking up into different language groups.

In the VI-IV centuries. BC In the Central region, the first urban centers appear (Nakbe, El Mirador, Tikal, Vashaktun), distinguished by the monumentality of their buildings. During this period, the urban layout took on the appearance characteristic of Mayan cities - an articulation of independent, astronomically oriented acropolises adapted to the relief, representing a rectangular area surrounded by temple and palace buildings on platforms. Early Mayan cities formally continued to maintain a clan-fratric structure.

Classical period - I (III) -X centuries. n. BC - the time of the final formation and flowering of the Mayan culture. Throughout the Maya territory, urban centers with subordinate territories of the city-state appeared. As a rule, the cities in these territories were no further than 30 km from the center, which was apparently due to communication problems due to the lack of draft animals in the region. The population of the largest city-states (Tikal, Calakmul, Caracol) reached 50-70 thousand people. The rulers of large kingdoms bore the title of Ahav, and the centers subordinate to them were ruled by local rulers - Sahals. The latter were not appointed officials, but came from local ruling families. There was also a complex palace hierarchy: scribes, officials, masters of ceremonies, etc.

Despite the changing structure of social relations, power in city-states was transferred according to a tribal pattern, which was expressed in the magnificent cult of deified royal ancestors, in addition, power could also belong to women. Since Mayan acropolises and cities were of a “genetic” nature and were associated only with specific representatives of one or another clan, this was the reason for the periodic abandonment of individual acropolises and the final “abandonment” of Mayan cities in the 10th century, when the invading invaders destroyed members of the elite related by blood relationship with ancestors buried within the acropolises (pyramids). Without such a connection, the acropolis lost its significance as a symbol of power.

Social structure

Evidence of a tendency towards centralization of power in the 3rd-10th centuries. - usurpation by the rulers of the capital centers of the ritual ball game, the emergence of which dates back to the times of intra-tribal rotation of power and collective decision-making. The aristocracy concentrated in its hands the trade in valuable items, cocoa beans and minerals used for making jewelry and handicrafts - obsidian, jadeite, etc. Trade routes ran both over land and along rivers and seas, going far into foreign territories.

Hieroglyphic texts mention priests divided into

• priest-ideologists,
• priest-astronomers,
• "seeing" and
• soothsayers.

Psychedelic practices were used for divination.

Detail of a sacred fresco from San Bartolo (Guatemala). OK. 150 BC The painting depicts the birth of the cosmos and proves the divine right of the ruler.

The basis of the society was made up of free community members who settled in family households, sometimes near cities, and sometimes at a considerable distance from them, which is due to the nature of land use and the need to change (due to a decrease in yield) the sown plots cultivated by the family every 4 years.

In their free time from sowing and harvesting, community members participated in public works and military campaigns. Only in the postclassical period did a special layer of semi-professional Kholkan warriors begin to emerge, who demanded “services and offerings” from the community.

Mayan texts often mention military leaders. Wars were in the nature of short-term raids to ruin the enemy and sometimes capture prisoners. Wars in the region were constant and contributed to the restructuring of political power, strengthening some cities while weakening and subjugating others. There is no data on slavery among the Classic Mayans. If slaves were used, it was as domestic servants.

There is no information about the Mayan legal system.

Crisis of the 10th century - political and cultural restructuring

By the 10th century In the Central region, active migration begins, while the population decreases sharply, by 3-6 times. Urban centers fall into disrepair, political life comes to a standstill. There is almost no construction going on. The guidelines in ideology and art are changing - the cult of the royal ancestors is losing its primary importance, while the justification for the power of the ruler is the origin of the legendary “Toltec conquerors”.

In Yucatan, the crisis of the end of the classical period did not lead to a decline in population and the fall of cities. In a number of cases, hegemony moves from old, classical centers to new ones. The processes of social and political change after the destruction of the traditional Mayan system of urban government by the Toltecs are observed in the postclassic period in the example of such cities as

• Chichen Itza of the Toltecs in the X-XIII centuries;
• Mayapan during the reign of the Cocoms in the 13th-15th centuries;
• postclassical Mani, under whose command in the 16th century. there were 17 towns and villages.

By the time the Spaniards appeared in the southeast of Yucatan, the state of Acalan (Maya-Chontal) was formed, where the capital city of Itzamkanak with 76 subordinate cities and villages had already emerged. It contains an administration, temples, 100 houses made of stone, 4 quarters with their patrons and their temples, a council of quarter heads.

Confederations of cities with their own capital became a new type of political-territorial entities that controlled the political, administrative, religious and scientific sphere life. In the spiritual sphere, the concept of reincarnation goes into the realm of religious abstraction, which allows cities (emerging capitals) to retain their functions even after a change of power. Internecine wars become the norm, the city acquires defensive characteristics. At the same time, the territory is growing and the control and protection system is becoming more complex.

The Yucatan Mayans had slavery and trade in slaves was developed. Slaves were used for carrying loads and domestic work, but were more often acquired for sacrifice.

In mountainous Guatemala, with the onset of the Postclassic period, the “Maya-Toltec style” spread. Obviously, the infiltrated nahuacultural groups were, as in Yucatan, assimilated by the local population. As a result, a confederation of 4 Mayan tribes was formed - Kaqchiquel, Quiche, Tzutihil and Rabinal, which subjugated in the XIII-XIV centuries. various Mayan and Nahua-speaking tribes of highland Guatemala. As a result of civil strife, the confederation soon disintegrated, almost simultaneously with the invasion of the Aztecs and the appearance at the beginning of the 16th century. Spaniards.

Economic activity

The Mayans practiced extensive slash-and-burn agriculture with regular rotation of plots. The main crops were maize and beans, which formed the basis of the diet. Of particular value were cocoa beans, which were also used as a unit of exchange. They grew cotton. The Mayans had no domestic animals, with the exception of a special breed of dogs, which were sometimes used as food, poultry - turkeys. The function of the cat was performed by the nose, a type of raccoon.

In the classical period, the Mayans actively used irrigation and other methods of intensive agriculture, in particular “raised fields” similar to the famous Aztec chinampas: artificial embankments were created in river valleys, which rose above the water during floods and retained silt, which significantly increased fertility. To increase productivity, the plot was simultaneously sown with maize and legumes, which created the effect of fertilizing the soil. Fruit trees and chile peppers, which are an important component Indian diet.

Land ownership continued to remain communal. The institution of the dependent population was underdeveloped. The main area of ​​its application could be plantations of perennial crops - cocoa, fruit trees, which were privately owned.

Mayan civilization culture

Scientific knowledge and writing

The Mayans developed a complex picture of the world, which was based on ideas about reincarnation and the endless alternation of cycles of the universe. For their constructions, they used precise mathematical and astronomical knowledge, combining the cycles of the Moon, Sun, planets and the time of the precessional revolution of the Earth.

The complication of the scientific picture of the world required the development of a writing system based on the Olmec. The Mayan writing was phonetic, morphemic-syllabic, involving the simultaneous use of about 400 characters. One of the earliest inscriptions is from 292 AD. BC - discovered on a stela from Tikal (No. 29). The bulk of the texts were written on monumental monuments or small plastic items. A special source is represented by texts on ceramic vessels.

Mayan books

Only 4 Mayan manuscripts have survived - “codes”, representing long strips of paper folded like an accordion (pages) from ficus bark (“Indian paper”), dating back to the Postclassic period, obviously copied from more ancient samples. Regular copying of books was probably practiced in the region from ancient times and was associated with the difficulties of storing manuscripts in a humid, hot climate.

The Dresden manuscript is a strip of “Indian paper” 3.5 m long, 20.5 cm high, folded into 39 pages. It was created earlier than the 13th century. in Yucatan, from where it was taken to Spain as a gift to Emperor Charles V, from whom it came to Vienna, where in 1739 the librarian Johann Christian Götze acquired it from an unknown private person for the Dresden Royal Library.

The Parisian manuscript is a strip of paper with a total length of 1.45 m and 12 cm in height, folded into 11 pages, from which the initial pages have been completely erased. The manuscript dates back to the period of the Cocom dynasty in Yucatan (XIII-XV centuries). In 1832 it was acquired by the Paris National Library (kept here today).

The Madrid manuscript was written no earlier than the 15th century. It consists of two fragments without beginning and end of “Indian paper”, 13 cm high, with a total length of 7.15 m, folded into 56 pages. The first part was acquired in Extremadura by José Ignacio Miró in 1875. Since it was suggested that it once belonged to the conqueror of Mexico, Cortez, hence its name - “Code of Cortez”, or Cortesian. The second fragment was acquired by Brasseur de Bourbourg from Don Juan Tro y Ortolano in 1869 and was called Ortolan. The pieces joined together became known as the Madrid Manuscript, and it has since been kept in Madrid in the Museum of the Americas.

Grolier's manuscript was in a private collection in New York. These are rather fragments of 11 pages without beginning or end, dating back to the 13th century. Apparently this Mayan manuscript, the origin of which is unknown, was composed under strong Mixtec influence. This is evidenced by the specific recording of numbers and features of the images.

Texts on Mayan ceramic vessels are called “clay books.” The texts reflect almost all aspects of the life of ancient society, from everyday life to complex religious ideas.

The Mayan script was deciphered in the 50s of the 20th century. Yu.V. Knorozov based on the method of positional statistics he developed.

Architecture

Mayan architecture reached its peak during the classical period: ceremonial complexes, conventionally called acropolises, with pyramids, palace buildings and stadiums for ball games were actively erected. The buildings were grouped around a central rectangular square. The buildings were erected on massive platforms. During construction, a “false vault” was used - the space between the roof masonry gradually narrowed upward until the walls of the vault closed. The roof was often crowned with massive ridges decorated with stucco. Construction techniques could vary from stone masonry to concrete-like masses and even bricks. The buildings were painted, often red.

There are two main types of buildings - palaces and temples on pyramids. Palaces were long, usually one-story buildings that stood on platforms, sometimes multi-tiered. At the same time, the passage through the enfilades of rooms resembled a labyrinth. There were no windows and light came in only through doorways and special ventilation holes. Perhaps the palace buildings were identified with long cave passages. Almost the only example of buildings with several floors is the palace complex in Palenque, where a tower was also erected.

The temples were built on pyramids, the height of which sometimes reached 50-60 m. Multi-stage staircases led to the temple. The pyramid embodied the mountain in which the legendary cave of our ancestors was located. Therefore, an elite burial could occur here - sometimes under the pyramid, sometimes in its thickness, and more often immediately under the floor of the temple. In some cases, the pyramid was built directly over a natural cave. The structure on top of the pyramid, conventionally called a temple, did not have the aesthetics of an internal very limited space. The doorway and the bench placed against the wall opposite this opening had functional significance. The temple served only to mark the exit from the cave of the ancestors, as evidenced by its external decoration and sometimes its connection with the intra-pyramidal burial chambers.

Appears in the Postclassic new type areas and buildings. The ensemble is formed around the pyramid. Covered galleries with columns are being built on the sides of the square. In the center there is a small ceremonial platform. Platforms for risers appear with poles studded with skulls. The structures themselves are significantly reduced in size, sometimes not corresponding to human growth.

Sculpture

The friezes of buildings and massive roof ridges were covered with stucco made of lime mortar - a piece. The lintels of temples and the steles and altars erected at the foot of the pyramids were covered with carvings and inscriptions. In most areas they were limited to relief techniques; only in Copan did round sculpture become widespread. Palace and battle scenes, rituals, faces of deities, etc. were depicted. Like buildings, inscriptions and monuments were usually painted.

Monumental sculpture also includes Mayan steles - flat, about 2 m high monoliths, covered with carvings or paintings. The highest steles reach 10 m. Steles are usually associated with altars - round or rectangular stones installed in front of the steles. Steles with altars were an improvement on Olmec monuments and served to convey the three-level space of the universe: the altar symbolized the lower level - the transition between worlds, the middle level was occupied by the image of events occurring with a specific character, and the upper level symbolized the rebirth of a new life. In the absence of an altar, the subject depicted on it was compensated by the appearance on the stele of a lower, “cave” level, or a relief niche, inside which the main image was placed. In some cities, roughly rounded flat altars placed on the ground in front of the stele, or stone figured images of reptiles, as for example in Copan, became widespread.

The texts on the steles could be dedicated to historical events, but most often they were of a calendar nature, marking the periods of the reign of one or another ruler.

Painting

Works of monumental painting were created on the interior walls of buildings and burial chambers. The paint was applied either over wet plaster (fresco) or over dry ground. The main theme of the paintings is mass scenes of battles, celebrations, etc. The most famous are the Bonampak paintings - buildings of three rooms, the walls and ceilings of which are entirely covered with paintings dedicated to victory in military operations. Mayan fine art includes polychrome painting on ceramics, which is distinguished by its great variety of subjects, as well as drawings in “codes.”

Dramatic art

The dramatic art of the Maya came directly from religious ceremonies. The only work that has come down to us is the drama of Rabinal-Achi, recorded in the 19th century. The plot is based on the capture of a Quiché warrior by warriors of the Rabinal community. The action develops in the form of a kind of dialogue between the prisoner and other main characters. Basic poetic device-rhythmic repetition, traditional for oral Indian folklore: the participant in the dialogue repeats the phrase spoken by his opponent, and then pronounces his own. Historical events- Rabinal's wars with the Quiché - are superimposed on a mythological basis - the legend of the abduction of the goddess of waters, the wife of the old god of rain. The drama ended with the real sacrifice of the main character. Information has been received about the existence of others dramatic works, as well as comedies.

Mayan civilization- one of the most mysterious civilizations on our planet. It existed in Central America on the territory of the modern southern states of Mexico, as well as such states as Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Mayan calendar
five eras

The first mentions of this Indian people go back to the 1st millennium BC. e. During this period, the Mayan tribes began to inhabit the Petén plateau, where a hot and humid climate prevailed. Then they began to spread west along the Pasion and Usumacinta rivers. In the east they reached the shores of the Caribbean Sea. In the north, they chose the Yucatecan plains, covered with tropical rainforests. In the absence of rivers, they settled along the banks of karst lakes.

The Mayans quickly settled in the new lands: they began to build stone cities and engaged in agriculture. They grew maize, pumpkin, cotton, cocoa, fruits, and beans. Salt was mined in the north of the Yucatan Peninsula.

They had perfect writing in the form of hieroglyphs. Particularly noteworthy is his deep knowledge of astronomy. Based on them, they created calendars that still amaze with the accuracy of their calculations.

The Mayan tribes were never united into a single administrative entity. They lived in city-states. By 750 there were many of them: Tikal, Copan, Palenque, Camakmul, Uxmal, Vamaktuna and many others. Each had a population of more than 10,000 people, which was quite a lot at that time. All these, at first glance, isolated islands of life in the complex are designated as the Mayan civilization.

The culture, management system, and customs were similar in these mini-states and were practically no different from each other. Each city was headed by its own royal dynasty. At the next rung of the social ladder were the priesthood and the nobility. Next came the merchants and warriors. At the very bottom were peasants, artisans and other ordinary people.

In the center of each city there was a pyramid 15 to 20 meters high. It served as a tomb for noble people. There were houses around that could not be called spacious: they had narrow corridors and cramped rooms. The main material for construction was limestone.

Religion played an important role in the life of this people. The worship of the gods was a cult, based on sacrifices of both animals and humans. The Mayans considered the gods to be mortal; according to their concepts, human blood extended the life of celestials. By flooding the sacrificial altars with the scarlet and warm blood of the unfortunate, they believed that in this way they preserved youth and strength for those who gave them rich harvests, victories over enemies and other benefits of this vain world.

In the period from 800 to 900, some of the Mayan cities were abandoned by the population. Until now, the true reason for the hasty departure of people from their homes is unclear. Various hypotheses have been put forward trying to explain this behavior of residents, but whether they correspond to the truth is almost impossible to determine these days.

Many researchers see the main and main reason in the slash-and-burn method of farming. The Mayans burned areas of forests and bushes and planted these lands with agricultural crops. After three or four years, when the soil was depleted, they burned the forests again, moving further and further away from the cities.

As a result of such wasteful use of cropland, the cost of producing basic food products steadily increased. In the end, they became unaffordable not only for ordinary citizens, but also for rich people. This forced the residents to leave the city and go to new, fertile lands that had not yet been touched by fire.

There are other theories that try to explain the strange Mayan migration. Among them are: epidemics, conquests, climate changes. All this sounds plausible, but there is no serious evidence for such claims.

There is also a version that the reason for everything was the greed and cruelty of the nobility and priests. Driven to despair, the common people rebelled, destroyed everything and everyone, and having desecrated the temples in which representatives of the ruling class tried to escape from retribution, abandoned their homes and utensils and left for new lands.

The Mayan civilization gradually moved north and eventually concentrated in the Yucatan. This is the period from 900 to the beginning of the 16th century. There are also many cities here. Among them, Chichen Itza stands out, claiming to be the cultural center of the entire peninsula. But in the middle of the 12th century, the inhabitants left it. Mayapan takes the lead. His fate is also unenviable. It was destroyed in 1441 as a result of a revolt.

In the spring of 1517, Spanish conquistadors appeared in Yucatan. They are headed by Hernandez de Cordoba. At first they behave quite friendly, but already in 1528 the systematic conquest of the peninsula began.

Freedom-loving Indian people provides fierce resistance to the invaders. It took the Spaniards 170 long years to completely subjugate these lands. It was not until 1697 that the last independent Mayan city of Tayasal recognized the authority of the King of Spain.

The Mayans were conquered, but not assimilated. They have preserved their identity, culture and language. Currently, six million representatives of this people live in the lands of Central America. In Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, and Belize, they are united in communities, whose members strictly observe the traditions of their distant ancestors.

The conquistadors not only destroyed the Mayan civilization, but also caused irreparable harm to everything unique historical heritage of this people. The Spanish monk Diego de Landa, either falling into ecstasy from religious fervor, or due to dense ignorance, organized an act of vandalism. On his initiative, ancient Mayan books written in hieroglyphs were burned. By chance, only three copies have survived.

Subsequently, with great difficulty, the Mayan priests restored part of the text. Already in the Latin alphabet they rewrote such works as “Popolvukh” and “Books of Chilam-Balash”. These are, of course, far from complete copies of those priceless ancient sources that were lost forever in the fire.

The basis of the entire multifaceted heritage mysterious people are astronomical knowledge, which have survived to this day in the form Mayan calendars. These unique masterpieces of the past reflect both mythology and the most advanced scientific research. It was thanks to them that such a concept as Mayan predictions. Do they have a real basis? Without a doubt. It is not difficult to verify this by reading the information that was available to ancient people.

So Mayan solar calendar had a year of 365.2421 days. This corresponds more closely to the Earth's revolution around the Sun than the Gregorian calendar, which is 365.2425 days long.

Observatory
Karakol

The Mayans observed the celestial bodies from stone observatories. They were tall round towers with square windows. Spiral staircase led to the upper platform, where ancient astronomers studied the picture every day starry sky and painstakingly recorded any changes in the vastness of the Universe. The largest observatory was called Karakol and was located near the city of Chichen Itza.

Mayans claimed - The cosmos exists within great cycles. The first cycle (the first Sun) lasted 4008 years and was destroyed by an earthquake. The Second Sun lasted 4010 years and turned into dust from winds and cyclones. The period of existence of the third Sun was 4081 years, it burned out in fire from volcanic craters. The fourth Sun gave life to everything on earth for 5026 years. Terrible floods flooded it.

There is now a fifth sun(Sun of movement). It lived for a very long time - 5126 years and went out due to the displacement of the soil on Earth. The end of the fifth cycle falls on December 23, 2012. On this day, Tonati Maya, the sun god of the current era, will die. Already on December 26, 2012, a new, sixth cycle will begin - the cycle of renewal and revival of all living things.

In total, the Mayan civilization had three solar calendars. Each of them performed its own strictly defined functions.

Mayan Tzolk'in solar calendar(a year lasted 260 days) contained a purely ritual purpose. Mayan Tun solar calendar reflected the chronology. Here the year lasted 360 days. Mayan Haab Solar Calendar, the length of which was 365 days, was intended for the everyday life of people.

The Mayan month was called Vinal, its duration was 20 days. There were thirteen vinals in the Tzolkin, and 18 vinals in the Tuna and Haab, respectively.

The year Haab actually had the nineteenth month of Vayeb. It consisted of only five days and was a continuous holiday of one of the gods - the patron of the next year.

The week lasted thirteen days. Each day of the week had its own patron god - one of the 13 heavenly gods.

It was still a nine-day week. Here the countdown went on at night. The patrons were the nine gods of the underworld.

Day and night weeks reflected the model of the Universe. According to the Maya, it had a layered hierarchy of worlds. Thirteen heavens shone above the earth, and nine floors of the underworld went down below the earth's surface.

Based on the Tzolkin year, the Mayan civilization built an entire system of predictions. Here the name of the day and the same day of the week were repeated at intervals of 260 days, that is, after thirteen twenty-day months.

The important stages were four-year and fifty-two-year periods of time. The Mayans argued that the complete renewal of any material organism occurs exactly after 52 years, after thirteen four-year cycles.

Legends say - Mayan civilization had a technique for predicting the future. The basis for this was astronomical knowledge. Only by glancing at the position of the heavenly bodies did the initiates tell the person what his future path in life would be, what the fate of an entire nation would be like, what awaited humanity in a few centuries. How did they manage to do this?

By painstakingly observing the stars, daily recording all events over thousands of years, the Mayan priests accumulated huge amount invaluable information. If only they knew the theory of probability and knew the basics of math. analysis and had computer equipment, then, based on the collected data, they could easily calculate an algorithm for the cyclicity of any process occurring both on Earth and in Space.

But even without these modern achievements science, the great ancient people, with their methods unknown to us, determined the sequence of seemingly chaotic natural and social phenomena, identified patterns and saw the future.

As for ominous Mayan predictions about the end of the world in 2012, the start of this was laid by the discovery of 1960. A fragment of a Mayan stone calendar associated with Bolon Yokte Ku, the god of war and rebirth, was found in southern Mexico. The date 2012 stamped on it marks the beginning of a new cycle.

Such predictions cannot be taken literally. In this case, we are talking about those transformations that will take place in the transcendental world, if you like, in another dimension. In that subtle and unknown matter that gradually controls our consciousness.

In physical reality, everything will remain as before. Only after hundreds of years will humanity notice that it has changed - hopefully, in a positive way. After all, you always want to believe in the best.

The article was written by ridar-shakin