Ancient Maya Politics: A Political Anthropology of the Classic Period 150-900 Ce

ISBN-13: 9781108705233 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 542 str.

Simon Martin

Opis

The Classic Maya have long presented scholars with vexing problems. One of the longest running and most contested of these, and the source of deeply polarized interpretations, has been their political organization. Using recently deciphered inscriptions and fresh archaeological finds, Simon Martin argues that this particular debate can be laid to rest. He offers a comprehensive re-analysis of the issue in an effort to answer a simple question: how did a multitude of small kingdoms survive for some six hundred years without being subsumed within larger states or empires? Using previously unexploited comparative and theoretical approaches, Martin suggests mechanisms that maintained a 'dynamic equilibrium' within a system best understood not as an array of individual polities but an interactive whole. With its rebirth as text-backed historical archaeology, Maya studies has entered a new phase, one capable of building a political anthropology as robust as any other we have for the ancient world.

Recenzje

'Ancient Maya Politics provides a record of the political system and history of the Classic Period of Maya civilization, from 400 BCE to 200 CE and through its decline after 800 CE … Strongly recommended for specialists in Mesoamerican history and society.' E. N. Anderson, Choice

Spis treści

1. Introduction: the questions; Part I. Agendas in Classic Maya Politics: 2. Modelling the Maya; 3. On archaeopolitics; 4. Worlds in words; Part II. Epigraphic Data on Classic Maya Politics: 5. Identity; 6. Constitution; 7. Transcendence; 8. Matrimony; 9. Conflict; 10. Hierarchy; 11. Coda; Part III. A Political Anthropology of the Classic Maya; 12. Classic Maya networks; 13. Defining classic Maya political culture; 14. Hegemony in practice and theory; 15. Summary and conclusions: a society of kings.