Similarities and Differences in the Rise of the Roman and Mayan Civilizations
Between 600 BCE and 600 CE, the Mayan Civilization in Mesoamerica and the Roman Civilization rose to the height of their power. Rome was rapidly growing as a Republic and then Empire, creating a legacy throughout Europe and Asia that would leave a lasting impact for centuries. The Empire conquered land by use of political force, religious unity, and maintaining power through a strong economy. The Mayans were heavily based around religion. It was used as a motivation to expand their civilization, gaining political power and a strong economy. However, they were not considered an Empire due to decentralization of government. The rise of the Mayans and the Romans differed
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The Mayan political system was divided into city-states, where each had their own government, similarly to Ancient Greece. During the rise of the civilization, a social hierarchy was created, with religious figures and priests at the top granting them political power. This allowed for society to be dominated by religion, and for political figures to use religion to monopolize power and support. The Mayans expanded their civilization to gain more human sacrifices, or in the name of their religion, opposed to the Romans who expanded for political power. However, the Romans had very centralized systems of government. During the rise of the Republic, the new ideology of democracy and the defeat of the Persian Empire in the Persian War allowed for a societal belief in a strong government to rise. The Roman people believed that they have a strong centralized government, and people became increasingly greedy for power. Change occurred in Roman political power during the rise of the Empire. When Alexander the Great expanded the Roman Empire to the height of its political control by conquering nations throughout Europe and Asia, the greed for power is evident. The centralization of the Roman government allowed for expansion of the Empire through economic and religious growth, monopolizing control of trade throughout its territory and spreading religious ideology through the enforced religious unity and the Hellenistic
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
Throughout the humanities course, I have been intrigued by a vast amount of information on different cultures. However, there was a particular section that truly caught my attention, and has piqued an interest in me that has caused me to do my own research aside from this paper. The culture of the Mayas, and the Aztecs has been extremely fundamental in understanding my ancestry, being that I am Mexican American. I took an interest in their beautiful architecture, their ritualistic and sacrificial religious practices, as well as their history and how they began. Throughout this paper I will outline the similarities and differences of these two cultures, as well as articulate an understanding of the humanity disciplines outlined above.
The Maya, Inca, and Aztec are very similar, but they are also very different. The Mayan is located in Mesoamerica, Mexico, and Central America. The civilization lasted from 1000 BC to 1542 and the capital is Tikal. The Aztec Civilization is located in Central America and Mexico. The civilization only lasted in the 6th century and the capital is Tenochtitlan. The Inca civilization is located in Andes Mountains, South America, chile through Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Southern Columbia.The Mayan civilization lasted from 1438 AD to 1532 and the capital was Cuzco. The Maya, Aztec, and Inca are similar and different with their’ religion, government, and technology.
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 Aztec and Mayan civilizations were two important, early civilizations that settled in Mesoamerica. The Mayan and Aztecs were two civilizations that lived in two different time periods, but they shared many physical and mental characteristics of one another. The Aztec and Mayan civilizations were different but they were more similar. The Aztecs and Mayans were more similar in their location, religion, writing system, government, social structure, gender roles, technology, and sporting activities.
Looking around too all the different ethnicities that can be found in this world, two of those most interesting cultures would have to be the Greeks and the Maya. The ancient Greek and Mayan civilizations have many similar characteristics but they also have many differences. The Mayan’s are an indigenous Mesoamerican culture found in present day South America. As where the Greeks are an ethnicity group native to Greece.
Though the Inca and Mayan empires existed at different times in history, they have a few things in common. Like other societies throughout history though, they have many things that set them apart from each other. The biggest similarity they share is that they both had control of massive empires that eventually ceased to exist.
The Aztec and Maya were both American Indian people. The Aztec were ruled by a mighty empire in Mexico during the 1400's and early 1500's. The Maya however, developed a magnificent civilization in Central America and Southern Mexico. Both civilizations contributed a great deal to the modern world and invented items that are still used today.
The Maya and Aztec civilizations are two vastly different civilizations, as is to expected, however, despite these differences, they do share a number of similarities.
The mayans were definitely advanced for their time. One way is that they had a society based on classes, the classes were nobles, middles and priests and commoners. The mayans didn't become an empire but they had many cities and traded with each other, but occasionally they fought with each other in small wars. The mayans had a time of peace called the time of prosperity in which they studied the stars, created a developed sophisticated calendar that they lived by, practiced religious rituals, worshiped gods and
The Aztec and Inca peoples lived in militaristic and expansionist societies whose ideals were fueled by their religious convictions. Expansionism was necessary for both societies to support their religious beliefs. The religious zeal of these two civilizations became something that the leaders of the empires could not control. These empires were built through ideologically driven conquests, which became the cornerstones of their societies and something beyond the control of the rulers.
The Mayan Civilization at its height was one of the greatest civilization to ever reign on the planet. Their advances in astronomy and mathematics well in advance has helped present civilizations to prosper. But one of the great questions is what happened to the Mayans? Why did they collapse? What caused them to collapse? It is a question that had gone unanswered for decades until some of the worlds great historians and scientist finally concluded to three reasons why the Mayan Civilization collapsed. The Mayans Collapse was fast and occurred due to Deforestation and Climate Change, Overpopulation, and Internal and Exterior Rivalry.
Jared Diamond (2005) defined the collapse of a society as a “drastic decrease in human population numbers and/or in political, economic, or social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended period of time” (p.3). Civilizations have risen and fallen throughout history, however, few collapses were as spectacular as the those of the three pre-Colombian civilizations of Mesoamerica: the Inca, the Aztec and the Maya. History has been persistent in blaming the Spanish Conquest for the loss of the Mesoamerican civilizations. And while the arrival of the Spanish did cease the development of these cultures in a dramatic and definitive way, in hindsight, each of these civilizations were lost as a result of endemic warfare that occurred
The Aztecs civilization and the Mayan civilization where the most important civilizations from the new world that amazed many of the Europeans that came to conquer this wonderful rich land. The Europeans where amazed with the Aztec and Mayan culture, their ways of life, their geographical surroundings and their technology. The Europeans and historians today find that the Aztecs and the Mayans where similar in some ways of life like their culture, their technology, their religious events and at the same time they had their differences in their cultures.
The Mayans were organized by city states and ran government the same way. The religion was based on polytheism, or multiple Gods of nature and earth. One reason for their rise to a complex civilization was that The Mayans were very advanced people in the area of education. They were well ahead of their time in areas of math, astronomy, and even medicine and other sciences. Society, along with much of the world today, is still influenced by their ways and methods in these areas. The Mayas