The Maya What does it mean to be powerful?

Geography The Maya occupied the Yucatan Peninsula, Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador from 450 B.C.to A.D The built cities in the jungles of Meso- America Moved to the desert edge in Yucatan

City States Each city had a royal family they considered deities Although each city and the land around it(city- state) had their own dynasty, they traded on white roads and built alliances or attacked one another

Writing, Numbers and Calendars 1 st MesoAmerican civilization to have a full system of writing Wrote laws and histories onto Stelae, columns of stone placed in the market place Developed the concept of zero and could count using dots and lines and had complex math problems that helped them construct perfectly laid out cities Famous for their calendars, 365 days, 1 st civilization to have that many days, 18 months to match the moon, 24 cycles before rebirth, in 2012 some said Mayan calendars predicted end of world but was beginning of a new cycle

Religion Hunab Ku- the almighty god, sole god, chief god Ixchel- Jaguar goddess of life Kinich Ahau- Sun god Chaac- Rain god Lacandon-god of under world Itzamna – Creator god, god of healing Blood letting of humans and animals key to appeasing gods, often ripped the heart of a human out their chest while they were alive, used a straight knife, often sacrificed baby jaguars like Olmec and then would sacrifice the servants of the king to their gods

Weapons Atlatl- extended throwing arm for spear Spear-wood tip, obsidian inserted in Club- more important to captured enemies for sacrifice Battle Paddle- Large paddle with razor sharp obsidian in the edges, sharper than any swordcould cut a man in two with two swings

Leadership Kings seen as deity, would make offerings with High priest to gods and would be expected to communicate with the gods Put on displays of power, and pageantry Would never lead an army into war

The Ball Game Mayan invented a ball game played in leagues In league play the losers would be whipped with”jungle cord” Could not use hands, but could battle for position and use hips, heads and legs to get ball about the size of a basketball and almost as heavy as a bowling ball up and through a hoop Games would last all day and in the championship the winning captain and sometimes whole team would offer themselves to be sacrificed