The Ancient Maya Civilization The Art Of Maya

The Ancient Maya Civilization

The Art Of Maya The art of the ancient Maya reached its development during the classical period (about 250 - 900 A. D. ). Wall frescoes in Palenque, Kopane and Bonompack considered to be one of the most beautiful. The beauty of the images of people on the frescoes allow you to compar the monuments of culture with monuments of the ancient culture of the world. Therefore, this period of development of the Mayan civilization, and it is considered a classic. Unfortunately, many of the cultural monuments have not survived to our days, as they were either destroyed by the Inquisition, or time.

The Architecture Of The Maya For the art of Maya, who has found the expression in stone sculptures and bas-reliefs, and works of fine sculpture, paintings on the walls and ceramics, characterized by religious and mythological subjects, as embodied in the stylized grotesque images. The major motives of the arts Maya anthropomorphic deity, a snake and a mask; it has stylistic elegance and sophistication lines. The main building material for Maya served as a stone, in the first place limestone. Typical for the architecture of the Maya were false arches, fixed up the facades and roofs with a comb. These massive facades and roofs, венчавшие palaces and temples, created the impression of height and sublimity.

The writing and the reckoning of time Basic elements of the system of the letter served as a mark, which is known about 800. Usually marks have the form of a square or oblong oval; one or more characters may be located together, forming the so-called hieroglyphic block. Many of these units are located in a certain order in the linear lattice, which determined the spatial framework for the majority of well-known labels. Within this grid icon-based blocks form the rows and columns, the reading of which was subordinated to special rules. Also a lot of weight are telltale signs depicting, often in detail, animals, people, body parts and objects of everyday life.

Exclusive intellectual achievements pre the New world had been created by the people of the Maya writing system and the computation of time. Maya hieroglyphs served as for идеографического, and for the phonetic letters. They were carved in stone, painting on the ceramics, they are written folding books in the local paper, referred to as codes. These codes are the most important source for the study of Mayan script. . In addition to this, the Mayans used «цолкин» or «тоналаматль» - the system of the account, based on the numbers 20 and 13. System цолкин, common in Central America, is very old and not necessarily was invented by the Maya people.

In the Olmec and Zapotec culture of the epoch of the formative similar and are quite developed system of reckoning time established even earlier than that of the Maya. However, the Maya in the improvement of the numerical system and astronomical observations have advanced much further than any of the other indigenous people of Central America.

Maya Religion Among the ruins of the Mayan cities dominated by the construction of a religious nature. As expected, religion, together with the Ministers of churches played in the life of the Maya key role. In the period from 250 years BC. E. up to 900 -ies BC. e. (the classical period of the development of Mayan) in the Chapter of city-States of the region were rulers, who embodied the if not the highest, at least a very important religious function. Archaeological excavations suggest that in religious rituals was also attended by representatives of the higher strata of the society.

Geographical position Area, which was a civilization of Maya. Red highlighted border of the Mayan culture, the black, - the territory of the Mesoamerican civilization At the present time (2011) of the territory, on which the development of the Mayan civilization is included in the States: Mexico (the States of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan, Quintana Roo), Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras (Western part). Found about 1000 ancient Mayan culture (at the beginning of the 80 -ies of XX century), but not all of them have been excavated or researched by archaeologists, as well as 3000 villages.

Time, space, and the end of the world As with the other peoples living in Central America that time, the Maya believed in the cyclical nature of time, and astrology. For example, their calculations movement of Venus differed from modern astronomical data only for a few seconds in a year. They imagined the Universe subdivided into three levels - the underground world, the earth and the sky. Religious rites and ceremonies were closely linked with the natural and the astronomical cycles. Repetitive phenomena have been subjected to systematic observations, after which appear in various types of calendars. The task of the religious leader of the Maya was at that, in the interpretation of these cycles.

In particular, on astrology and the calendar of the Maya, «the time of the fifth Sun» will end 21 -25 December 2012 (winter solstice). "the Fifth The sun" is known as «the Sun» of the Movement, because, by the opinion of the Indians, in this era will happen movement of the Earth, from which all shall perish. The end of the world, for which there must be another birth of the Universe. This date causes a lot of modern the false prophecies and esoteric speculation. Especially this theory popular in the movement of the «New era» , where it is blended with the Christian the idea of the Apocalypse.

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