Week 26: The Maya Civilization
Ancient History Resources for Homeschool and Personal Study. This weeks topics: The Mayan Government, Religious Beliefs, School in the Mayan Civilization, Sports and Games, and Cenotes.
Ancient History is studied through the collection of archeological evidence, written records and oral stories or myths. Just because evidence shows a particular belief or custom was common at a particular time does not mean that everyone in that civilization shared that belief. When you study the topics for this week, you can either go deep on one topic for the week and skip the others or you can do a new topic each day. This outline is just a suggested pace, you can go slower or faster as needed. This outline is intended to provide you with a place to start. You will still need to do your own research.
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| Ball Court Marker at Mixco Viejo |
Homeschool Topics for Week 26
The Mayan Government
Religious beliefs
School in the Mayan Civilization
Cenotes
Discussion Questions
The Mayan Government
The Maya aristocracy co-ruled as heirs of god with the religious priests. This theocracy made up a tiny part of society. Rather than controlling vast territory as in an empire, the Maya were a loose network of individual rulers. Political power was enforced by military prowess. The king with divine right "owned" or controlled all the lesser lords.
Religious Beliefs
The Mayans were polytheistic. They believed in nature gods like the sun and rain. The sun descended into the underworld at the end of a day and became the fierce Jaguar god during the night. They also worshipped their ancestors who had been great leaders.
School in the Mayan Civilization
Mayan Children who were trained as scribes learned to read and write in pictographs. Books were made of animal hide covered with a gesso-like foundation upon which figures were painted. These "accordion" books were then folded so that they could either be stored compactly or opened to reveal all of the pages on one side. Only the priests or noble class could read. Most children were trained for adult roles by their parents.
The Mayans were fascinated with counting and calendars. They used a base 20 system and had a symbol for "zero." With numbers they measured days, months and years. The Maya observed the planets and stars carefully. Their calculations were more accurate than contemporary European ones.
Sports and Games
The Maya played a competitive ball game called Tlachtli. Balls made of natural rubber were aimed at a target ring on the wall. Only the hips or knees could be used to hit the ball. The winning team was the first to get the ball through the target. The Maya also played a board game called Patolli. The game had a gambling element as the loser would forfeit six pieces of property previously agreed upon as collateral.
Cenotes
The Maya built their cities around natural sinkholes of fresh water called cenotes. Because the natural geography is a limestone shelf, the erosion of holes in this soft rock is common. Fresh water flows through the holes out to the sea. Cenotes were considered an entry point to the underworld and as such had high religious value to the society. Just like in modern fountains, there are lots of things found at the bottom of these cenotes.
Books (all links go to Goodreads)
The Encyclopedia of the Ancient Americas (with crafts in the margins)
Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns JUV
Tikal JUV
Amazing Ancients! World of the Maya
The Ancient Maya - Read aloud on YouTube
Tools and Treasures of the Ancient Maya - Read aloud on YouTube
Videos
LORD RATTLESNAKE
LORD PRECIOUS FEATHERED SERPENT
To you,
human,
I come to tell you
that here in this region,
this plain,
here in this land,
back in the era of ancient giants
and hunchbacks
when even no people such as us
had as yet ever arrived,
a very long time ago
Lord Centipede passed here,
and had with him seven jumping heads;
you could see them
quickly crossing the road
to devour you
or put evil
in your life
if you could not understand
the riddle he asked.
But the day arrived
when there was one who answered.
When he heard,
Lord Centipede became furious
because one had understood, responded
and answered his riddle.
So it was Lord Centipede
who was the one who was tricked,
became gravely ill, and died.
Image Credit: Simon Burchell / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain