The Mayan Empire

Mayan BeginningsIntroduction to the Mayans

The classic Civilization we recognize today as the Mayan Empire existed from about 250 A.D. to 900 A.D.

Mayan topography composed of things such as volcanic mountains and lowlands.

Lowlands consisted of vast rain forests as well as drier normal forests.

They were some of the first people to keep written historical records in early America.

They mastered astronomy, mathematics, and made some of the most accurate calendars of their time.

Mayan ReligionThe Maya worshiped nature gods.

Their religion was polytheistic.

Their religion was based on astronomy and astrology.

They would sacrifice people to the gods

They would also build fantastic premedical temples

A lot of the information on the religion was in the Codex

Most of the religion was influenced by the Olmecs

Mayan Religion (cont’d)The gods lived in 13 layers in the sky and 9 layers in the underworld

The gods were categorized as good or evil

The Maya believed that each day was a separate living god

To keep track of what was going on with the gods and what god was in control of the day they created two calendars.

The Mayan CalendarOf the many things that the Mayans well known for, the Mayan calendar has to be the largest. The unbelievably close relation it has to our present day calendar is incredible, its creative religious design is beautiful, and its precise calculation of time is mind boggling. The calendar is mainly based off of the gods. The Mayans believed that the weight of time had to be carried on the backs of different gods and so it was important to know exactly what god was carrying the day, week, month or year (thus the calendar was created.) In creating the calendar, the Mayan’s calculations were off by only 0.0002 of a day in a year (most likely caused by the leap year.) However, their solar calendar (called Haab) still included 365 days but, unlike our present day calendar, was made up of 18 months with 20 days each and a final month called Wayeb’ (meaning “the five unlucky days.”) were

The ApocalypseOne of the most well known reasons for the Mayan calendar’s popularity is the Apocalypse. The end of the cycle of the Mayan calendar is in 2012 and so it is believed that by the end of the calendar, everything will end and the world will begin again. The Mayans associated the end of the calendar with the pleasure of the gods. They believed that humanity ended the cycle because the gods were displeased with them. They also believed that this was a constant cycle and that the apocalypse had come many times before now. Researchers have been looking into this event and trying to find a scientific explanation for it. People associate the end of the world with global warming and particular astronomical events that are expected to take place in 2012. However, the reason for the apocalypse is still unclear making it more credible that the end of the world follows a cycle just as the Mayans believed.

Mayans Disappearance

No one is really sure what caused the Mayans mysterious disappearance. Historians have theorized that is could have been due to natural disasters, weather, and/or famine do to an extended period of crop failure.

BIBLIOGRAPHYhttp://www.everyculture.com/wc/Mauritania-to-Nigeria/Maya.html

http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm

http://www.mayafifthsun.com/

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ancient-mayan-religion.html

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/Maya

http://www.deathreference.com/Ke-Ma/Maya-Religion.html

http://mayancountdown.net/mayan_haab_calendar.html

http://mayancountdown.net/images/mc_mc.jpg

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm