Ancient Civilization And The Mayan People

​Many of the cultures that we have today have evolved from past events. Such as language it was something that became known throughout the years. Some of the languages that came from that were English, Spanish, German, and Latin to name a few. These languages were derived more past civilizations. One important civilization that is known for having great success is the Mayan civilization. The Mayan civilization is known for many things like they fully developed written language, art, architecture, math and some other factors. Historians have said that they don’t know an exact date of when this civilization rose up but they do mention that it flourished for about 2000 years. Although staring in 250 AD it is said that it was the start of their high point and it continued until the arrival of the Spanish in 1524. The Maya area covers southern Mexico and northwestern Central America. According to Sharer the area is divided into three regions: the Pacific coastal plain to the south, the highlands in the center, and the lowlands to the north. Even though these three regions were under the same civilization they all practiced different religious rituals. Religion plays a big role in every civilization. Some civilizations tend to praise more than one god and they always mention that what they have is thanks to their god. When they see things going wrong they often say that their god is punishing them because they did something that the god/s did not like. This tends to be the same

The Incas , Aztecs, and mayans were both similar and different in their own unique ways and in different beliefs and practises of everyday life. The first main topic we are going to be discussing is the topic of religion in every culture and the ways their beliefs of gods change. Then we will discuss further information about these groups and how they lived , functioned and ruled their lives.                To start it off the Incan religion which involved human sacrifice which during the time period a culture were relatively common, they had also attributed sacredness to a rock formation. The incan religion also required ancestor worship which is a ritual practice that was started on the belief that deceased family members have a continued existence, and also that the dead ancestors take an interest in the problems of the world, and have the power and the ability to influence the fortune of the living.At its start, Incan religious beliefs  connected with nature. The incan people also believed that the Inca rulers were descendants of the sun god, Inti.                                            Next up is the Mayan religion which was characterized by the worship of nature gods which include but are not limited to the gods of sun, rain and corn . The Mayans believed  importance of astronomy and astrology which they also incorporated in their religions since their temples were usually taller than most buildings in the villages so they believed that they had a spiritual

The Olmec had a big influence on the Maya civilization because they had about the same beliefs and portrayal of gods. The Maya people of were found in the Mexico and Central America who have inhabited in modern-day Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. The Maya believed in the cyclical nature of life, where nothing was ever `born’ and nothing ever `died’. Since nothing was ever born nor did it die then there was no heaven or a hell where the soul went but, rather, embarked on a journey toward a paradise

The Maya were a people from Middle America, which includes modern Guatemala, Southern Mexico, and Northern Belize (Editors). The Maya civilization was considered to be “one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica,” (Maya). “The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork,” (Maya). They also gave mankind the modern calendar (Jarus, Maya). The Mayans were a very advanced people, but one of the most important things in the Mayan culture was their religion/god worshipping rituals.

The ancient Maya once occupied a vast geographic area in Central America. Their civilization inhabited an area that encompasses Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and parts of the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, as well as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. "From the third to the ninth century, Maya civilization produced awe-inspiring temples and pyramids, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphics, and a complex social and political order" ("Collapse..." 1). Urban centers were important to the Maya during the Classic period; they offered the Mayans a central place to practice religion.

Credited as one of the first ideas of civilization, including their precisely designed lunar calendar, the Maya considered the world as an ordered home. Maya believed the cosmos to be in cycles, which humans are part of, with the rest of the cosmos continuing with its functioning. The ideology of order was the foundation of the Maya world, stemming from movements of the sun, planets, moon, as well as stars, marking time passage. Even when catastrophes occurred, they held on to their belief that the earth functioned in a logical order. In the astronomical studies, the Mayans could not only give explanations to occurring events, but could also explain the restoration of the order alongside the premonition of change.

The Maya believed that when people died, they entered the Underworld through a cave. When kings died, they followed the path linked to the cosmic movement of the sun and fell into the Underworld, but because they possessed supernatural powers, they were reborn into the Sky World and became gods. Some Maya still believe that their village is the ceremonial centre of a world supported at its four corners by gods. When one of these gods shifts his burden, they believe, it causes an earthquake. The sky above them is the domain of the Sun, the Moon and the stars; however, the Sun is clearly associated with God the Father or Jesus Christ. The Moon is associated with the Virgin Mary.

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

The Olmec religion developed in MesoAmerica around 1200-900 B.C.E. The Olmec had an advanced writing system of hieroglyphics. Some scholars have suggested that the Olmec was the mother culture of Mesoamerica, but they lack solid evidence to back up these claims. Instead, it has been found that there was considerable intercultural interaction between the Olmec and other MesoAmerican societies, but nothing that would lead us to believe that they were the founding society Evidence suggests that the Olmec highly regarded the Tuxtla Mountains. These mountains are believed to be the site of the Olmec creation story.

The Mayan Civilization was a very involute Archaic Native American civilization that grew to be one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas. The civilization development CA 1500 B.C -250 A.D. The people kenned as the Maya lived in the region that is now eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. Mayans built massive stone pyramids, temples, and sculptures and accomplished involute achievements in mathematics and astronomy, which were recorded in hieroglyphs. After researching the Mayan civilization, the paramount aspects of the Mayan worldview are: everything is sacred, corn is the substructure of life and the very religious group who were very devoted to their religion.

The Mayans did not have cities nor a capital. Instead they had small individual civilizations. The Mayans and Inca are similar in one way because they both framed. When the Inca farmed they had different types of farming for example, Milpa, Terrace Fields, Bajos and Aguadas, Raised Fields, and Rejollades. The Inca farmed and grew food such as corn, squash, and beans. Another thing that the Inca and Mayans had in common was that they both believed in multiple gods. One god that the Mayans had was “Tepeu the Maker” and “Gucumatz the feathered spirit”. The Inca also respected their gods.One of the Incas most known god is the “Sapa Inca”. The Mayans and Inca both had calendars. The Inca calendar had 12 months just like now. The Mayans also had a calendar and every 20th day of the month, they had “Mayan Empire day”. They didn’t have cities because they believed that they shouldn’t have a unfair ruler for their empire.

Where the Mayans come from astronomy was extremely important to them because it represented order in the universe and the gods place in it. They believed that will and action of the gods could be read in

Mayans they worshipped many gods. Many gods were related to nature such as god of sun, rain, and crops. Mayans had one main god Itamna the god of creation. They also made sacrifices. The Mayans happened to be influenced strongly by the Olmecs. The Mayan indians still practice the same religion the ancient people did. The mayans had two calendars one was called Tzolk’n and the other one is Haab’. Tzolk’n is a religious calendar that last 260 days. Haab’ was a solar calendar.

The Classical Maya was lost to the archaeological records until the last 200 years due to it’s abandonment. When the Mayans left there great cities, thick vines and jungles overtook the great monuments they once built. But in the last 200 years, in depth research has lead to breakthroughs into what the Classic Maya was like. The earliest Mayans were agriculturalist, growing crops such as corn (maize), beans, squash and cassava. The Mayans also invented a very accurate calendar, a math code using 0’s, constructed buildings still intact today, and a writing system that took decades to decode. The Mayans were situated in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), modern-day Guatemala, Belize, parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. Due to their location on the

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