Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya

by Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos

Overview

This nuanced account explores Maya mythology through the lens of art, text, and culture. It offers an important reexamination of the mid-16th-century Popol Vuh, long considered an authoritative text, which is better understood as one among many crucial sources for the interpretation of ancient Maya art and myth. Using materials gathered across Mesoamerica, Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos bridges the gap between written texts and artistic representations, identifying key mythical subjects and uncovering their variations in narratives and visual depictions. Central characters—including a secluded young goddess, a malevolent grandmother, a dead father, and the young gods who became the sun and the moon—are identified in pottery, sculpture, mural painting, and hieroglyphic inscriptions. Highlighting such previously overlooked topics as sexuality and generational struggles, this beautifully illustrated book paves the way for a new understanding of Maya myths and their lavish expression in ancient art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300224672
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	34 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos is assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Yale University.

Editorial Reviews

Impressively comprehensive in scope. . . . Revealing a rich and varied knowledge tradition, Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya is written in a manner that is accessible to undergraduates, and it should be read by every student of Mesoamerica.”— Patricia A. McAnany, American Antiquity

“This is an important book which will have a lasting influence on Mesoamerican scholarship and serve as a model for generations to come. It is a compelling study that will open up new areas for investigation of Maya art and new methods for research.”—Claudia Brittenham, University of Chicago

“Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos has crafted a provocative book that addresses key aspects of Maya mythology, its narratives, variations, and relationships to other mythic traditions across Mesoamerica. It is an important book, both for its content and its methodological approach, which is novel and timely.”—Julia Guernsey, University of Texas at Austin

From the Publisher

“Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos has crafted a provocative book that addresses key aspects of Maya mythology, its narratives, variations, and relationships to other mythic traditions across Mesoamerica. It is an important book, both for its content and its methodological approach, which is novel and timely.”—Julia Guernsey, University of Texas at Austin

Julia Guernsey

“This is an important book which will have a lasting influence on Mesoamerican scholarship and serve as a model for generations to come. It is a compelling study that will open up new areas for investigation of Maya art and new methods for research.”—Claudia Brittenham, University of Chicago

Claudia Brittenham

07/01/2017
In his densely written text, Mazariegos (anthropology, Yale Univ.) conducts a scholarly exploration of broad themes within Maya mythology as illustrated in the culture's art. He compares myths depicted on classic Maya objects and recorded in the Popol Vuh, a postconquest Maya manuscript, with narratives recorded elsewhere in Mesoamerica. Mazariegos also identifies "nodal subjects"—core stories, characters, and imagery—that link Maya beliefs to those held by other Mesoamerican peoples, while acknowledging variations in stories from individual areas. The first three chapters discuss the relationship between image and text, pictorial and textual sources, and Mesoamerican cosmogony. The following sections explore depictions and myths about archetypal figures in Maya myths: the Maiden, the Grandmother, the Father, the Sun, the Sun's opponents, and the Perfect Youth. The author acknowledges that many myths depicted in Maya art may never be completely understood because no texts have survived that would explain them. In addition to an extensive bibliography, the book includes 99 color and 71 black-and-white illustrations. For a general text on Maya art, see Mary Ellen Miller and Megan O'Neill's Maya Art and Architecture, 2d ed. VERDICT This book will be most useful for scholars of Mesoamerican myth and religion.—Martha Smith, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY

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