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Book Star Gods of the Maya

Download or read book Star Gods of the Maya written by Susan Milbrath and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “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

Book Astronaut Gods of the Maya

Download or read book Astronaut Gods of the Maya written by Erich von Däniken and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-05-25 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.”

Book Gods of the Maya  Aztecs  and Incas

Download or read book Gods of the Maya Aztecs and Incas written by Timothy Roland Roberts and published by MetroBooks (NY). This book was released on 1996 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a brief overview of these cultures, their customs, religion, gods, heroes, and legends.

Book Maya Gods of War

    Book Details:
  • Author : Karen Bassie-Sweet
  • Publisher : University Press of Colorado
  • Release : 2021-06
  • ISBN : 1646421310
  • Pages : 341 pages

Download or read book Maya Gods of War written by Karen Bassie-Sweet and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2021-06 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Book The Popol Vuh

    Book Details:
  • Author : Lewis Spence
  • Publisher : New York : AMS Press
  • Release : 1908
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 80 pages

Download or read book The Popol Vuh written by Lewis Spence and published by New York : AMS Press. This book was released on 1908 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya

Download or read book Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya written by Mary Ellen Miller and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 1997-04-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Book Gods   Goddesses of the Inca  Maya  and Aztec Civilizations

Download or read book Gods Goddesses of the Inca Maya and Aztec Civilizations written by John Murphy and published by Encyclopaedia Britannica. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Book Popol Vuh

Download or read book Popol Vuh written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mayan civilization once flourished in what is today Guatemala and the Yucatan. The Mayan sacred book the Popol Vuh tells of the creation of the universe, the world of gods and demi-gods and the creation of mankind.

Book Maya Cosmos

    Book Details:
  • Author : David Freidel
  • Publisher : William Morrow Paperbacks
  • Release : 1995-02-27
  • ISBN : 9780688140694
  • Pages : 544 pages

Download or read book Maya Cosmos written by David Freidel and published by William Morrow Paperbacks. This book was released on 1995-02-27 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Masterful blend of archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, and lively personal reportage, Maya Comos tells a constellation of stories, from the historical to the mythological, and envokes the awesome power of one of the richest civilizations ever to grace the earth.

Book Gods of Sun and Sacrifice

Download or read book Gods of Sun and Sacrifice written by Tony Allan and published by Time Life Medical. This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Book Mayan Gods

    Book Details:
  • Author : Paul Schellhas
  • Publisher : CreateSpace
  • Release : 2013-12
  • ISBN : 9781494853242
  • Pages : 50 pages

Download or read book Mayan Gods written by Paul Schellhas and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mayan gods had affinities and aspects that caused them to merge with one another in ways that seem unbounded. There is a massive array of supernatural characters in the Maya religious tradition, only some of which recur with regularity. Good and evil traits are not permanent characteristics of Maya gods, nor is only "good" admirable. What is inappropriate during one season might come to pass in another since much of the Maya religious tradition is based on cycles and not permanence. Schellhas explains the Mayan gods that represent the natural elements, such as life and death, the sun and moon, giving technical and anthropological evaluation of each god image. He explains the gods worshipped by the Mayans and how they interplay into the daily lives of these spiritual, yet fierce, people. The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to AD 250), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state of development during the Classic period (c. AD 250 to 900), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish.

Book Maya Mythology  Myths and Folklore of the Mayan Civilization

Download or read book Maya Mythology Myths and Folklore of the Mayan Civilization written by Sebastian Berg and published by Creek Ridge Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mayan people were natural storytellers, and their imagination knew no bounds. They took the traditional Mesoamerican versions of creation and the gods of the universe and molded them into their own, adding and shaping their unique version of mythology and folktales. This left us with a significant pantheon of gods and goddesses, each with a memorable and captivating story. The Mayans had an image of the universe and their place in it, and they told stories of gods and heroes that rival Greek Mythology.

Book Fossil Gods and Forgotten Worlds

Download or read book Fossil Gods and Forgotten Worlds written by Ev Cochrane and published by Ev Cochrane. This book was released on 2017-09-13 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fossil Gods offers a comparative analysis of some of the greatest gods of antiquity, including Inanna, Horus, and Thor. The basic thesis holds that many mythological traditions surrounding these gods can only be understood by reference to extraordinary planetary events.

Book Decoding Astronomy in Maya Art and Architecture

Download or read book Decoding Astronomy in Maya Art and Architecture written by Marion Dolan and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Star Stories

    Book Details:
  • Author : Anthony Aveni
  • Publisher : Yale University Press
  • Release : 2019-10-22
  • ISBN : 0300241283
  • Pages : 207 pages

Download or read book Star Stories written by Anthony Aveni and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follow an epic animal race, a quest for a disembodied hand, and an emu egg hunt in constellation stories from diverse cultures We can see love, betrayal, and friendship in the heavens, if we know where to look. A world expert on cultural understandings of cosmology, Anthony Aveni provides an unconventional atlas of the night sky, introducing readers to tales beloved for generations. The constellations included are not only your typical Greek and Roman myths, but star patterns conceived by a host of cultures, non-Western and indigenous, ancient and contemporary. The sky has long served as a template for telling stories about the meaning of life. People have looked for likenesses between the domains of heaven and earth to help marry the unfamiliar above to the quotidian below. Perfect reading for all sky watchers and storytellers, this book is an essential complement to Western mythologies, showing how the confluence of the natural world and culture of heavenly observers can produce a variety of tales about the shapes in the sky.

Book Animal Medicine

Download or read book Animal Medicine written by Erika Buenaflor and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: • Includes an alphabetical guide to 76 animals, explaining each animal’s spiritual gifts, shapeshifting medicine, the realm they are associated with, and their symbolic meaning when they appear in a dream or vision • Details the trance journeying techniques and shapeshifting practices of ancient Mesoamerican shamanic traditions and modern-day curanderismo • Explores how to strengthen our connections with our spirit animal guides In this guide, Erika Buena or explores the animal mythologies, spirit journeying techniques, and shapeshifting practices of ancient shamanic traditions and modern-day curanderismo. She examines how indigenous Mesoamerican peoples used animals in their ceremonial healing and divination rites and explains the innate gifts and powers that different animals embody. She explores why certain animals are associated with and provide access to the nonordinary realms--the Underworld, Middleworld, and Upperworld--wherein deities, ancestors, supernatural beings, and medicine can be connected with or obtained. The author explores shapeshifting practices in detail and the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits we can gain by engaging in shapeshifting practices. She also explores how to strengthen our connections with our spirit animal guides. Offering an alphabetical guide to 76 animals most prevalent in ancient Mesoamericanlegends, ceremonies, and medicinal rites, the author details each animal’s spiritual gifts, shapeshifting medicine, the realm they are associated with, and their symbolic meaning when they appear in a dream or vision. Providing multiple methods to connect with animals for spiritual guidance, self-empowerment, and healing, Buena or reveals how each of us can enrich our lives with ancient Mesoamerican wisdom for working with animal guides.

Book Cosmology  Calendars  and Horizon Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica

Download or read book Cosmology Calendars and Horizon Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica written by Anne S. Dowd and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2015-05-01 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica is an interdisciplinary tour de force that establishes the critical role astronomy played in the religious and civic lives of the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica. Providing extraordinary examples of how Precolumbian peoples merged ideas about the cosmos with those concerning calendar and astronomy, the volume showcases the value of detailed examinations of astronomical data for understanding ancient cultures. The volume is divided into three sections: investigations into Mesoamerican horizon-based astronomy, the cosmological principles expressed in Mesoamerican religious imagery and rituals related to astronomy, and the aspects of Mesoamerican calendars related to archaeoastronomy. It also provides cutting-edge research on diverse topics such as records of calendar and horizon-based astronomical observation (like the Dresden and Borgia codices), iconography of burial assemblages, architectural alignment studies, urban planning, and counting or measuring devices. Contributors—who are among the most respected in their fields— explore new dimensions in Mesoamerican timekeeping and skywatching in the Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacano, Zapotec, and Aztec cultures. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of anthropology, archaeology, art history, and astronomy.