MAYAS -I-
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MAYAS -I-
Important contemporary milestones in the world's history during that period when the Ancient Mayan Empire reached its very peak. Origin of the Mayas. Mayan scriptures and calendar. Their independent discovery of the concept of mathematical "zero". The mysterious end of the Ancient Mayan Empire.
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INTRODUCTION
Many historical changes took place between the 4th. and 9th. centuries a. D that profoundly affected civilization’s progress in large areas of the world.
The inhabitants in Samoa: Colonization of the Marquises Islands
Asian Steppes: invention of the stirrup.
Declaration of Christianity as the official state religion of the Roman Empěre.
Emperor Theodosius Ist. ends the Olympic Games.
The great Library in Alexandria is set ablaze
Attila rules over a great empire which menaces the Mediterranean civilizations
Fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Middle Ages.
Justinian orders the closing of the Academy in Athens
Mohammed is born in Mecca.
China and Buddhism
Europe is invaded by the Moslims.
Charlemagne is crowned emperor and tries to restore the Roman Empire.
The Norwegian vikings invade Iceland and reach the south of Europe.
During this period of time in history, the extraordinary Mayan civilization lived its golden years.
ORIGIN OF THE MAYA
More than four thousand years ago, in Central America, the Maya started to develop an extraordinary civilization inland tropical rain forests.
They expanded through Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Belize.
The Maya did not import neither any outside culture not any foreign way of living. They went about developing their own values themselves.
The culture of maize
The Maya were the only American people who possessed real writing.
Copán and Tikal: during 600 years developed one of the most important civilizations ever.
Political organization: City-state; every religious and urban centre, together with its surrounding area, constituted an independent entity.
THE MAYAN SCIENCE
The culture of maize: 80% of their diet
Their priests were expert astronomers and sophisticated mathematicians
Duration of the lunar month
The Calendar used in rituals and the solar calendar
Jade fillings
The glyphs
Mayan numbering: vigesimal
Mayan Temples
The Maya people had an obssessive interest in the passage of time since they thought, before carrying out any activity whatsoever, they had to choose the most favourable days when their gods seemed most propitious
Their stone steles, covered with glyphs representing dates, are the hugest momuments that man has ever erected to the passage and measuring of time.
THEIR WRITING
Their hieroglyphic writing contains more than 400 glyphs.
The glyphs have two meanings: one represents an object, and at the same time the other one becomes a symbol of something else not directly related to the object in question. So far, this complexity renders us incapable of interpreting entirely the Mayan writing.
They did not only write on stone; and they also wrote on books, which were made from the bark from trees and which they covered with whitewash. The pages were folded, rather like a folden screen.
Due to the massive burning of their books, the Maya passed on secretly from generation to generation the stories contained in their most sacred book, the “Popal Vol”
FALL OF THE ANCIENT EMPIRE
In the 9th. century, the Mayan towns located in the South were mysteriously abandoned: Piedras Negras, Palenque, Copán, Caracol y Tikal.
The rain forest has kept their secrets along the centuries. |
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