Download or read book The Iconography of the Teotihuacan Tlaloc written by Esther Pasztory and published by Dumbarton Oaks. This book was released on 1974 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Masks of the Spirit written by Peter T. Markman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on secondary works in archaeology, art history, folklore, ethnohistory, ethnography, and literature, the authors maintain that the mask is the central metaphor for the Mesoamerican concept of spiritual reality. Covers the long history of the use of the ritual mask by the peoples who created and developed the mythological tradition of Mesoamerica. Chapters: (1) the metaphor of the mask in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica: the mask as the God, in ritual, and as metaphor; (II) metaphoric reflections of the cosmic order; and (III) the metaphor of the mask after the conquest: syncretism; the Pre-Columbian survivals; the syncretic compromise; and today's masks. Over 100 color and black-&-white photos.
Download or read book The Aztec Templo Mayor written by Elizabeth Hill Boone and published by Dumbarton Oaks. This book was released on 1987 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Teotihuacan written by Esther Pasztory and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first comprehensive study and reinterpretation of the unique arts of Teotihuacan, including architecture, sculpture, mural painting, and ceramics. Comparing the arts of Teotihuacan - not previously judged "artistic" - with those of other ancient civilizations, Ester Pasztory demonstrates how they created and reflected the community’s ideals. Most people associate the pyramids of central Mexico with the Aztecs, but these colossal constructions antedate the Aztecs by more than a thousand years. The people of Teotihuacan, who built the pyramids as part of a city of unprecedented size, remain a mystery.
Download or read book Tlaloc written by and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands written by Brigitte Faugère and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2020-02-15 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands, Latin American, North American, and European researchers explore the meanings and functions of two- and three-dimensional human representations in the Precolumbian communities of the Mexican highlands. Reading these anthropomorphic representations from an ontological perspective, the contributors demonstrate the rich potential of anthropomorphic imagery to elucidate personhood, conceptions of the body, and the relationship of human beings to other entities, nature, and the cosmos. Using case studies covering a broad span of highlands prehistory—Classic Teotihuacan divine iconography, ceramic figures in Late Formative West Mexico, Epiclassic Puebla-Tlaxcala costumed figurines, earth sculptures in Prehispanic Oaxaca, Early Postclassic Tula symbolic burials, Late Postclassic representations of Aztec Kings, and more—contributors examine both Mesoamerican representations of the body in changing social, political, and economic conditions and the multivalent emic meanings of these representations. They explore the technology of artifact production, the body’s place in social structures and rituals, the language of the body as expressed in postures and gestures, hybrid and transformative combinations of human and animal bodies, bodily representations of social categories, body modification, and the significance of portable and fixed representations. Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands provides a wide range of insights into Mesoamerican concepts of personhood and identity, the constitution of the human body, and human relationships with gods and ancestors. It will be of great value to students and scholars of the archaeology and art history of Mexico. Contributors: Claire Billard, Danièle Dehouve, Cynthia Kristan-Graham, Melissa Logan, Sylvie Peperstraete, Patricia Plunket, Mari Carmen Serra Puche, Juliette Testard, Andrew Turner, Gabriela Uruñuela, Marcus Winter
Download or read book Mesoamerican Mythology written by Kay Almere Read and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2002-06-13 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrated with scores of drawings and halftone photos, this guidebook to the mythology of Mexico and Central America focuses mainly on Mexican Highland and Maya areas, due to their importance in Mesoamerican history.
Download or read book World Mythology written by Roy G. Willis and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1993 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The great myths of the world create meaning out of the fundamental events of human existence: birth, death, conflict, loss, reconciliation, the cycle of the seasons. They speak to us of life itself in voices still intelligible, yet compellingly strange and distant. World Mythology offers readers an authoritative and wide-ranging guide to these enduring mythological traditions, combining the pure narrative of the myths themselves with the background necessary for more complete understanding. Here, noted mythology expert Roy Willis, brings together a team of nineteen leading scholars navigate a clear path through the complexities of myth as they distill the essence of each regional tradition and focus on the most significant figures and the most enthralling stories. All aspects of the world's key mythologies are covered, from tales of warring deities and demons to stories of revenge and metamorphosis; from accounts of lustful gods and star-crossed human lovers to journeys in the underworld. All are told at length and are accompanied by illuminating and readable introductory text. Also included are summaries of important theories about the origins and meaning of myth, and an examination of themes that recur across a range of civilizations. Beautifully illustrated with more than 500 color photographs, works of art, charts, and maps, World Mythology offers readers the most accessible guide yet to the heritage of the world's imagination.
Download or read book Myths of Pre Columbian America written by Donald Alexander Mackenzie and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book In the Shadow of Tlaloc written by Gregory G. Reck and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The remote Mexican village of Jonotla lies in the shadow of the rock of Tlaloc, named for the ancient god of rain whose spirit has dwelt among its inhabitants for centuries. In the mid-1960s the twentieth century finally came to the fifteen hundred villagers of Jonotla -- in the form of roads, cars, buses, electricity, and a more competitive form of life. In this moving account Reck sets out to document what effect these changes have had on the villagers. This study is part of the universal drama that is inevitably played out wherever and whenever the past and the future meet in sudden conflict. -- Publisher description.
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 1999-01-01 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 Precolumbian 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 Precolumbian 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 [painted books], 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.
Download or read book Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica written by Shawn G. Morton and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2019-11-29 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica focuses on the conflicts of the ancient Maya, providing a holistic history of Maya hostilities and comparing them with those of neighboring Mesoamerican villages and towns. Contributors to the volume explore the varied stories of past Maya conflicts through artifacts, architecture, texts, and images left to posterity. Many studies have focused on the degree to which the prevalence, nature, and conduct of conflict has varied across time and space. This volume focuses not only on such operational considerations but on cognitive and experiential issues, analyzing how the Maya understood and explained conflict, what they recognized as conflict, how conflict was experienced by various groups, and the circumstances surrounding conflict. By offering an emic (internal and subjective) understanding alongside the more commonly researched etic (external and objective) perspective, contributors clarify insufficiencies and address lapses in data and analysis. They explore how the Maya defined themselves within the realm of warfare and examine the root causes and effects of intergroup conflict. Using case studies from a wide range of time periods, Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica provides a basis for understanding hostilities and broadens the archaeological record for the “seeking” of conflict in a way that has been largely untouched by previous scholars. With broad theoretical reach beyond Mesoamerican archaeology, the book will have wide interdisciplinary appeal and will be important to ethnohistorians, art historians, ethnographers, epigraphers, and those interested in human conflict more broadly. Contributors: Matthew Abtosway, Karen Bassie-Sweet, George J. Bey III, M. Kathryn Brown, Allen J. Christenson, Tomás Gallareta Negrón, Elizabeth Graham, Helen R. Haines, Christopher L. Hernandez, Harri Kettunen, Rex Koontz, Geoffrey McCafferty, Jesper Nielsen, Joel W. Palka, Kerry L. Sagebiel, Travis W. Stanton, Alexandre Tokovinine
Download or read book Tlaloc written by Ernest Novato and published by . This book was released on 2019-09-14 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading Gilgamesh, Hercules, Aeneas, and Lancelot are instantly recognized as mythological heroes in the West, evoking visions of Persian monsters, ghastly labors, and the founding and glorification of cities, but the name Quetzalcoatl is as mysterious as its spelling. Even those who have come across his name when learning about the history of Mesoamerica - particularly the Aztec and the god's role in the Spanish conquest of their empire - are often unaware that the Mesoamerican deity has tales that equal any of those in the repertoire of the mythological figures mentioned above, and the tale of his transmission into modern times is no less fascinating. As archaeologists quickly learned, there are numerous temples dedicated to gods all across Mesoamerica, from the Olmec and Toltec to the Aztec and Maya. Furthermore, thousands of people still gather in the ruins of Mesoamerican cities, even as researchers learn more about the civilizations that continue to generate interest among modern societies. Gods and myths reflect the societies that created them. The lustrous Garden of Eden was dreamed up by those for whom such verdant plenty could only be magical when compared with their usually arid environment. Peoples who endured harsh winters sang of eternal hearth fires and those who were threatened by dangerous animals told stories of humans who could tame them. Of course, these deities also often reflected the nuanced difficulties their creators experienced in their daily lives, and this is the case with the Aztec god Tlaloc. As the great scholar of Mesoamerican history and religion Kay Almere Read put it, "Rain and water deities constitute perhaps the largest, one of the oldest, most pervasive and complex group of gods and goddesses in Mesoamerica." The Valley of Mexico is the central elevated basin that contains Mexico City at its heart today. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley's lowest point is actually some 2200 meters above sea level and just like the plains of Mesopotamia or the Nile Delta, it is one of humanity's great birthplaces of civilization. Inhabited for over 12,000 years, it was the home to such creative cultures as the Teotihuacan, the Toltec, and the Aztec. These cultures built vast empires and colored them with sophisticated art and architecture, which is invaluable for scholars who study the groups today, and symbols of Tlaloc have been pervasive across their ruins. One of the reasons for the prevalence of Tlaloc in the Valley of Mexico is that in the semi-arid climate, water was a powerful daily symbol. Although there were no naturally occurring water connections to the sea, the high altitude of the mountains and volcanoes that surrounded it caught the rain water well and formed five important lakes: Xochimilco, Xaltocan, Zumpango, Chalco and Texcoco. As the largest, Texcoco was where the Aztecs eventually built their capital city Tenochtitlan. Since this was not a desert culture, their god Tlaloc was not just a reflection of an opposite extreme they desired; instead, he was a complex god that reflected the duality of water as both a boon and a force for destruction. From his home in Tlalocan, Tlaloc was able to send good and bad waters to the people of the Valley of Mexico and beyond. He was the lord of the chthonic powers of Mexico even as far south as the Maya, who called him Chaac and connected him with warfare and agriculture much the same way the Aztec did. The Aztec tell the story of Tlaloc blessing their rise to regional dominance by sending a famine to the Toltec, and his duality of good waters vs. bad waters was a product of the largely two-season system in Mexico. Tlaloc: The History of the Aztec God of Rain and Giver of Life examines the origins of the deity and his place in the pantheon of gods.
Download or read book The Eyes of Tlaloc written by Agnes Emelie Peterson and published by . This book was released on 1936 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 2021-06-01 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.
Download or read book Time History and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico written by Ross Hassig and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2001-04-15 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on their enormously complex calendars that recorded cycles of many kinds, the Aztecs and other ancient Mesoamerican civilizations are generally believed to have had a cyclical, rather than linear, conception of time and history. This boldly revisionist book challenges that understanding. Ross Hassig offers convincing evidence that for the Aztecs time was predominantly linear, that it was manipulated by the state as a means of controlling a dispersed tribute empire, and that the Conquest cut off state control and severed the unity of the calendar, leaving only the lesser cycles. From these, he asserts, we have inadequately reconstructed the pre-Columbian calendar and so misunderstood the Aztec conception of time and history. Hassig first presents the traditional explanation of the Aztec calendrical system and its ideological functions and then marshals contrary evidence to argue that the Aztec elite deliberately used calendars and timekeeping to achieve practical political ends. He further traces how the Conquest played out in the temporal realm as Spanish conceptions of time partially displaced the Aztec ones. His findings promise to revolutionize our understanding of how the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican societies conceived of time and history.
Download or read book Conservation Genetics in Mammals written by Jorge Ortega and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-24 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the use of molecular tools to study small populations of rare and endangered mammals, and presents case studies that apply an evolutionary framework to address innovative questions in the emerging field of mammalian conservation genomics using a highly diverse set of novel molecular tools. Novel and more precise molecular technologies now allow experts in the field of mammology to interpret data in a more contextual and empirical fashion and to better describe the evolutionary and ecological processes that are responsible for the patterns they observe. The book also demonstrates how recent advances in genetic/genomic technologies have been applied to assess the impact of environmental/anthropogenic changes on the health of small populations of mammals. It examines a range of issues in the field of mammalian conservation genomics, such as the role that the genetic diversity of the immune system plays in disease protection and local adaptation; the use of noninvasive techniques and genomic banks as a resource for monitoring and restoring populations; the structuring of population by physical barriers; and genetic diversity. Further, by integrating research from a variety of areas – including population genetics, molecular ecology, systematics, and evolutionary and conservation biology – it enables readers to gain a deeper understanding of the conservation biology of mammals that are at increasing risk of extinction at local, regional and global scales. As such, it offers a unique resource for a broad readership interested in the conservation biology of mammals and conservation management strategies to better preserve biodiversity.
