Classic Maya

by Stephen D. Houston

Overview

In the First Millennium AD, The Classic Maya Created Courtly Societies in and around the Yucatan Peninsula leaving some of the most striking intellectual and aesthetic achievements of the ancient world, at large settlements like Tikal, Copan, and Palenque. This book is the first in-depth synthesis of the Classic Maya. It is richly informed by new decipherments of hieroglyphs and decades of intensive excavation and survey. Structured by categories of the person in society, it reports on kings, queens, nobles, gods, and ancestors, as well as the many millions of farmers and other figures who lived in societies predicated on sacred kingship and varying political programs. The Classic Maya presents a tandem model of societies bound by moral covenants and convulsed by unavoidable tensions between groups, all affected by demographic trends and changing environments. Focusing on the Classic heartland but referring to other zones, it will serve as the basic source for all readers interested in the civilization of the Maya.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900521669725
Publication date:	09/14/2009
Pages:	402
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Stephen Houston is the Dupee Family Professor of Social Sciences at Brown University. The author of numerous books and articles, he is also an archaeologist who has excavated and mapped Classic Maya cities for more than 25 years. A MacArthur Fellow, Houston is also the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation.

Takeshi Inomata is Professor in Anthropology at the University of Arizona. He has conducted archaeological investigation at the Maya Center of Aguateca and at Ceibal in Guatemala. His numerous publications examine Maya political organization, warfare, architecture, households, and social change.

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

Preface xiii

Part I Setting

1 Introduction 3

2 Sociality 28

3 Beginnings 65

4 The Classic Period 105

Part II Social Actors

5 Kings and Queens, Courts and Palaces 131

6 Nobles 163

7 Gods, Supernaturals, and Ancestors 193

8 Farmers 218

9 Craftspeople and Traders 250

10 End of an Era 288

Epilogue 320

References 323

Index 377

Editorial Reviews

"...valuable for anyone interested in Mesoamerica, and a major contribution to Maya studies. Essential." -Choice

From the Publisher