Mayan Kings

Flourishing within the lush jungle of the southern Yucatán Peninsula , the great Maya cities of the Classic Period rose and fell in a period roughly bounded between AD 250 and AD 909. Among the palace complexes, administrative buildings, and temples at the heart of these centers, Maya kings commissioned monuments bearing hieroglyphs and portraits illustrating themes of dynastic succession, conquest, and courtly life. One of the best-known polities, centered at the site of Piedras Negras on the Usumacinta River, has been pivotal to our understanding of the Maya inscriptions. We know that most royal tombs in the Maya lowlands, including some found at Piedras Negras, were not reentered; prominent rulers are depicted as ancestors on monuments almost immediately after their deaths, as “support” for their legitimate heirs.

Maya kings and queens competed for control of neighboring cities, their territory, tribute and tax base, trade routes, and political power. Royal death was not only a crisis but also an opportunity: the ancestral basis of divine kingship was reaffirmed, and the society of ancestors was revived to receive another member.

Although their proud civilization vanished more than a thousand years ago, Mayan people still inhabit the Yucatán Peninsula where they maintain many traditional customs.

Ancient Mayan | Mayan map | Mayan cities | Mayan Government | culture | king | People |  Language |  Religion |  Gods | Temples |  Pyramids |  Rituals | Mayan Calendar |  Art |  Ball Game
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