The Mayans were a strong empire located roughly around the Yucatan Peninsula, lasting for approximately 700 years, from 900 to 200 B.C.E. They were an intelligent society, with a culture rich with great architecture, science, mathematics, and technology; paired with a bustling economy, strong religious beliefs, and a strict hierarchy, the Mayans were a powerful empire, not to be crossed.
Mayans had a rigid social structure, consisting of three main categories- the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. According to hierachystructure.com, “The top of the ladder was constituted by priests and kings along with royal families who lived in the palaces. Then were the wealthy nobles placed on the second level. Commoners and officers …show more content…
For instance, according to “Blood of the Kings: The World of the Maya”, paragraph 7, “They [the Mayans] measured the length of the solar year to 365.242000 days, very close to the true value of 365.242198.” They were a brilliant and intelligent society in the aspect of mathematics, also inventing the ‘Long Count’, as well as the ability to predict eclipses.This ancient society was also strong in aspects of science and technology. According to “Mayan Scientific Achievements” on history.com, the Mayans remarkably were able to build amazing architectural structures without the use of what we consider today to be essential tools in our building: metal and the wheel. Additionally, historians believe that the process of vulcanization (combining rubber to other materials to make it more durable), was not invented in the 19th century by Charles Goodyear; but was instead used 3,000 years ago by the Mayans. However, as remarkable as this discovery seems, it is believed that it was an accident, only discovered by chance while the Mayans were performing a typical religious ritual involving the rubber tree and the morning …show more content…
Much of their lives were centered on religious rituals and practice. For example, in “Blood of Kings: The World of the Maya”, it states, “For the Maya, the world of ordinary living and the Otherworld populated by gods, ancestors, and monstrous things, were equally real...the Maya built temples and “mystic mountains” or pyramids...In rites performed atop pyramids...kings spilled their own blood...war captives were strapped to altars, their hearts torn from their breasts and offered up as sacrifices” (paragraphs 4-5, “Blood of Kings: The World of the Maya”. During the reign of their empire, there were thousands of citizens or war captives sacrificed to please their gods, lots of bloodshed, and rituals upon rituals performed by wealthy priests whom attained a high status on the Ancient Mayan’s social hierarchy. The economy of the Ancient Mayans was largely based on trade. They developed a series of complicated trade routes, both long and short. According to latinamericahistory.com, a large portion of the traded goods consisted of gold, copper, jade, and obsidian. Other, more basic, items were traded along these routes, including clay pottery, salt, stone tools, and basic agricultural foods (corn, beans, and squash). While research is still being done on Mayan economy, we have enough information to know that it was a bustling and wealthy
Mayans had a rigid social structure, consisting of three main categories- the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. According to hierachystructure.com, “The top of the ladder was constituted by priests and kings along with royal families who lived in the palaces. Then were the wealthy nobles placed on the second level. Commoners and officers …show more content…
For instance, according to “Blood of the Kings: The World of the Maya”, paragraph 7, “They [the Mayans] measured the length of the solar year to 365.242000 days, very close to the true value of 365.242198.” They were a brilliant and intelligent society in the aspect of mathematics, also inventing the ‘Long Count’, as well as the ability to predict eclipses.This ancient society was also strong in aspects of science and technology. According to “Mayan Scientific Achievements” on history.com, the Mayans remarkably were able to build amazing architectural structures without the use of what we consider today to be essential tools in our building: metal and the wheel. Additionally, historians believe that the process of vulcanization (combining rubber to other materials to make it more durable), was not invented in the 19th century by Charles Goodyear; but was instead used 3,000 years ago by the Mayans. However, as remarkable as this discovery seems, it is believed that it was an accident, only discovered by chance while the Mayans were performing a typical religious ritual involving the rubber tree and the morning …show more content…
Much of their lives were centered on religious rituals and practice. For example, in “Blood of Kings: The World of the Maya”, it states, “For the Maya, the world of ordinary living and the Otherworld populated by gods, ancestors, and monstrous things, were equally real...the Maya built temples and “mystic mountains” or pyramids...In rites performed atop pyramids...kings spilled their own blood...war captives were strapped to altars, their hearts torn from their breasts and offered up as sacrifices” (paragraphs 4-5, “Blood of Kings: The World of the Maya”. During the reign of their empire, there were thousands of citizens or war captives sacrificed to please their gods, lots of bloodshed, and rituals upon rituals performed by wealthy priests whom attained a high status on the Ancient Mayan’s social hierarchy. The economy of the Ancient Mayans was largely based on trade. They developed a series of complicated trade routes, both long and short. According to latinamericahistory.com, a large portion of the traded goods consisted of gold, copper, jade, and obsidian. Other, more basic, items were traded along these routes, including clay pottery, salt, stone tools, and basic agricultural foods (corn, beans, and squash). While research is still being done on Mayan economy, we have enough information to know that it was a bustling and wealthy