The Popol Vuh


Book Description




Maya Gods of War


Book Description

Numerous archaeological projects have found substantial evidence of the military nature of Maya society, and warfare is a frequent theme of Maya art. Maya Gods of War investigates the Classic period Maya gods who were associated with weapons of war and the flint and obsidian from which those weapons were made. Author Karen Bassie-Sweet traces the semantic markers used to distinguish flint from other types of stone, surveys various types of Chahk thunderbolt deities and their relationship to flint weapons, and explores the connection between lightning and the ruling elite. Additional chapters review these fire and solar deities and their roles in Maya warfare and examine the nature and manifestations of the Central Mexican thunderbolt god Tlaloc, his incorporation into the Maya pantheon, and his identification with meteors and obsidian weapons. Finally, Bassie-Sweet addresses the characteristics of the deity God L, his role as an obsidian merchant god, and his close association with the ancient land route between the highland Guatemalan obsidian sources and the lowlands. Through analysis of the nature of the Teotihuacán deities and exploration of the ways in which these gods were introduced into the Maya region and incorporated into the Maya worldview, Maya Gods of War offers new insights into the relationship between warfare and religious beliefs in Mesoamerica. This significant work will be of interest to scholars of Maya religion and iconography.




Popol Vuh


Book Description

One of the most extraordinary works of the human imagination and the most important text in the native languages of the Americas, Popul Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life was first made accessible to the public 10 years ago. This new edition retains the quality of the original translation, has been enriched, and includes 20 new illustrations, maps, drawings, and photos.




Star Gods of the Maya


Book Description

“A prodigious work of unmatched interdisciplinary scholarship” on Maya astronomy and religion (Journal of Interdisciplinary History). Observations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars played a central role in ancient Maya lifeways, as they do today among contemporary Maya who maintain the traditional ways. This pathfinding book reconstructs ancient Maya astronomy and cosmology through the astronomical information encoded in Pre-Columbian Maya art and confirmed by the current practices of living Maya peoples. Susan Milbrath opens the book with a discussion of modern Maya beliefs about astronomy, along with essential information on naked-eye observation. She devotes subsequent chapters to Pre-Columbian astronomical imagery, which she traces back through time, starting from the Colonial and Postclassic eras. She delves into many aspects of the Maya astronomical images, including the major astronomical gods and their associated glyphs, astronomical almanacs in the Maya codices and changes in the imagery of the heavens over time. This investigation yields new data and a new synthesis of information about the specific astronomical events and cycles recorded in Maya art and architecture. Indeed, it constitutes the first major study of the relationship between art and astronomy in ancient Maya culture. “Milbrath has given us a comprehensive reference work that facilitates access to a very broad and varied body of literature spanning several disciplines.” ―Isis “Destined to become a standard reference work on Maya archeoastronomy . . . Utterly comprehensive.” —Andrea Stone, Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee




Astronaut Gods of the Maya


Book Description

A visual tour of the evidence for ancient astronauts in Mesoamerica • Includes more than 200 full-color photographs from the author’s personal archives • Details the astronaut technology--helmets, tanks, hoses, keyboards, rockets--clearly illustrated in stone carvings and statues from Mesoamerican sites such as Palenque, Chichén Itzá, and Teotihuacán in Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala • Explores the similarities of Maya pyramids with those at Kanchipuram in South India Sharing more than 200 never-before-published full-color photographs from his personal archives, bestselling author Erich von Däniken provides clear evidence of ancient alien contact and technology among the archaeological sites of the Maya as well as other ancient cultures, such as the Aztecs and the Hindus. He reveals how the “gods” immortalized in Maya sculptures, carved reliefs, and myth were not supernatural beings but technologically advanced visitors, astronauts who gifted the Maya with their sophisticated understanding of calendar time and cosmology. He explains how, with no explanation for their technologies and origins, the Maya interpreted the visitors as divine and, thus, the “gods” were born. Examining stone carvings and statues from many Mesoamerican sites such as Palenque, Chichén Itzá, and Teotihuacán in Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala, von Däniken reveals the astronaut technology--helmets, tanks, hoses, keyboards, rockets--clearly illustrated in these ancient depictions of the gods. He explores the similarities of Plato’s writings with the Chilam Balam books of Mexico and compares “ancient alien” features in myths around the world, paralleling how mercury is mentioned as a fuel ingredient of flying machines in ancient India with the discovery of mercury at Copán, Palenque, and Teotihuacán as well as in the grave of a Chinese emperor and two Egyptian graves on Nabta Playa. Illustrating the similarities of Mayan step pyramids with those of Kanchipuram in South India, the author explains how Mayan pyramids are crowned with a small temple, residence, or landing field of the gods, while the pyramids of South India are topped with a Vimana, a “godly” flying vehicle. Offering visual proof of the ancient world’s contact with advanced alien visitors they recorded as gods and teachers, von Däniken also raises the question of the “heavenly” origins of royal families and dynasties in Mesoamerica, Egypt, and beyond, revealing how the Mayan kings of Palenque and the pharaohs of Egypt may be descendants of the “gods.”







Gods of the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas


Book Description

Presents a brief overview of these cultures, their customs, religion, gods, heroes, and legends.




Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya


Book Description

The myths and beliefs of the great pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica have baffled and fascinated outsiders ever since the Spanish Conquest. Yet, until now, no single-volume introduction has existed to act as a guide to this labyrinthine symbolic world. The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya is the first-ever English-language dictionary of Mesoamerican mythology and religion. Nearly 300 entries, from accession to yoke, describe the main gods and symbols of the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Maya, Teotihuacanos, Mixtecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs. Topics range from jaguar and jester gods to reptile eye and rubber, from creation accounts and sacred places to ritual practices such as bloodletting, confession, dance, and pilgrimage. In addition, two introductory essays provide succinct accounts of Mesoamerican history and religion, while a substantial bibliographical survey directs the reader to original sources and recent discussions. Dictionary entries are illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned line drawings. Mary Miller and Karl Taube draw on their research in the fast-changing field of Maya studies, and on the latest Mexican discoveries, to produce an authoritative work that will serve as a standard reference for students, scholars, and travelers.




Gods of Sun and Sacrifice


Book Description

When Cortes and his battle-weary Spanish soldiers first gazed on the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan in 1519, they viewed the amazing culmination of 3,000 years of continuous cultural development. Aztec and Maya cities, temples, and palaces were in some ways like those found in Mesopotamia and Egypt: civilizations that had developed in isolation, free of outside influences. Here are the legends and stories of these two unique, ancient cultures.




Gods & Goddesses of the Inca, Maya, and Aztec Civilizations


Book Description

Sharing many common beliefs, deities, and rituals, the religion of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca was rooted in both the earth and the sky, the rhythms of the seasons, and the movements of the sun, moon, and stars. Readers will meet rain and sun gods, corn gods and fertility gods, earth mothers who are both creators and destroyers, and even a feathered serpent. Lavish primary-source images of arts and artifacts are paired with text that is both information-packed and enthralling. Readers who enter this pantheon are in for an awe-inspiring cultural journey through the divine mysteries of time and space.