Maya Art and Architecture - Essay Example

Maya Art and Architecture The Maya is an ancient civilization which thrived for almost two thousand years between 300 and900 AD. It existed in Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish who are known for destroying most of the Mayan libraries and histories as they took over the land. The Mayans were skilled architects, astrologists, scholars, farmers and carpenters. They used stone to build great cities that consisted of pyramids, temples, palaces, ball courts and residences. These buildings were often decorated with intricate stone carvings, stucco statues and paint. At the onset of a large-scale construction of any city, a pre-determined axis is established in harmony with the compass directions. These locations are usually chosen based on their topography and availability of natural resources such as freshwater wells or rivers. The construction also integrated a great degree of natural physical features. For example, pyramids and temples were built atop hills to raise the former to impressive heights. Large plazas were located at the heart of the cities and surrounded by most valued administrative and religious buildings such as pyramid temples and ball courts. The rest of the city layouts evolved rather haphazardly as dictated by the topography of each independent building site. However, meticulous attention was placed on the directional orientation of temples since they were constructed in accordance with the position of the celestial bodies such as the sun, the moon and the planet Venus. Smaller structures of lesser nobles would follow, including smaller temples and individual shrines which gave them a greater degree of privacy than the large temples located in the cities. Less permanent and more modest homes of common people would follow, outside the city center. These were usually owned by farmers and laborers, who formed the working class. Every fifty-two years, the temples and pyramids, would be remodeled or rebuilt on top of the old structures, mostly under the direction of a new ruler. The cities were then surrounded by high walls with gates for passage, much like our walled, gated modern communities. The Mayans made these great architectural constructions and art validate the crucial aspects of their culture. At the heart of each Mayan city was a large multi-storied and highly decorated palace which housed the king and the royal family. It contained small chambers and at least one courtyard. The palace was made of stone, with wooden structures on top. The roof was usually made of thatch. Some palaces have been speculated to have held tombs for ancient rulers. The palaces served as administrative centers where bureaucrats regulated important matters such as trade, agriculture and tributes and where the king and members of the nobility would interact with the common people and diplomatic visitors. In addition, the palace also served a social function since it was where social events and ceremonies were held such as feasts and dances. This phenomenon has some similarity to modern-day society, where presidential houses are located at the center of the capital or administrative cities such as The White House in Washington DC. This is iterated in many countries of the world today. They serve the same administrative purposes as those served by the Mayan palaces. Next to these palaces existed the pyramids and temples. Temples were located on top of pyramids, some over two-hundred feet such as the one at El Mirador. Temples were built of stones and beautifully decorated with stone carvings and glyphs. The construction of certain temples was aligned to the movements of the sun or moon. Pyramids consisted of steep stone steps leading to the top and into the temples where important ceremonies and sacrifices occurred. These pyramids were usually built atop hills in order to give them the illusion of incredible height a phenomenon Treister referred to in his book as ‘Temples in the Sky’. This can be likened to our skyscrapers in this modern day. Our cities are littered with buildings of incredible height which house thousands of people such as the famous World Trade Center in New York. Some pyramids were built to capitalize on natural lighting hence give credence to the sacred nature. For example, the El Castillo was built to capitalize on the seasonal lighting phenomenon. The sun’s natural light is shadowed off the steps of the pyramid twice a year. This gives an illusion of a feathered serpent which appears to slither down the side of the pyramid during spring and autumn equinox. This phenomenon can be seen in today’s revolution in architecture, which emphasizes and puts allowance for natural lighting, as opposed to the artificial lighting in houses. More buildings are being constructed with more and larger windows, glass doors and more small glass inlets on the roof for sunlight during the day. Observatories were round temples used for observing and documenting celestial bodies. Ceremonial sites were located near the palaces. These were limestone platforms decorated by carved figures, altars and a stake used to display the heads of victims or defeated ballgame opponents. These sites were where public ceremonies and religious rites were performed. This is similar to the modern day Christian churches which are characterized by sacred altars where religious rites like the ‘Holy Communion’ are performed. Ball courts were places set for playing ball games. These courts were made of solid wall, which were high and long. Sound reverberated from wall to the wall, and whispers became amplified to create a more intense arena. Some games were played for recreation while others had important religious and spiritual significance. The ball game consisted of a ball made of solid rubber passed between teams ranged on opposite ends of the court. Players only hit the ball with their knees or hips and points were scored when the opponents failed to return the ball correctly. A ball hoop was attached to a specified point on the wall, and additional points were awarded when a player managed to pass the ball through the hoop successfully. This is much like the modern day soccer where the ball is only hit with the feet or knees or hips, the goal of which is to put it past the goalkeeper and into the net. In addition, modern sports stadiums are surrounded by high walls similar to the Mayan ball courts. Religious aspects of games in the Mayan society included pitting war prisoners, mainly high-ranking officials from conquered cities, against the locals to re-enact the battle. The losers (war victims) were ceremoniously executed or sacrificed to the gods. Mayan art was also apparent in their warfare attire which consisted of headdresses, jades, jewellery, jaguar-skin drapes and body paint. These indicated power, status and wealth of the warriors. The jaguar-skin drapes indicated their courage and bravery and were meant to instill fear in their enemies and any supernatural forces that opposed them. The warrior shields and flints were decorated with symbols of the gods in order to gain their support and protection in battle. Body ornamentation was also a form of treasured art used to portray the beauty. Ornaments consisted of single or multiple stranded necklaces, pendants, ear ornaments and nose buttons. The quality and components of these ornaments differed according to the social status and wealth of the individuals. Peasant women wore ornaments made of albite, shell, amber, beads or wood while higher status women wore those made of precious stones such as jade. The Mayan society was segregated into social classes, much like our society today. The nobility, consisting of the king, royal family and elite, was at the top of the social hierarchy. The king was the ruler and claimed descent from the gods. He was groomed to rule from birth and had to undergo different initiations as a young prince such as leading battles and capturing prisoners. He was the supreme head of the military and expected to fight in battles as king. The succession of a king was mostly patrilineal, but occasionally, a queen was allowed to rule when there was no suitable male heir in the family. The nobility consisted of aristocrats and bureaucrats who assisted in the administrative duties of the court. These are similar to the high class citizens of modern society consisting of the president, governors, senators and wealthy families like the Rockefellers. The second position in the social hierarchy consisted of the priesthood. These included scholars, astronomers, mathematicians and priests who were revered for their knowledge. They assisted in religious duties such as interpreting spiritual omens and predicting future events. These would make the middle class of our modern society, which consists of highly educated citizens like doctors, lawyers, professors, scientists, among others. At the third level were the commoners, consisting of farmers, carpenters, stonecutters and architects. Their role was to support themselves and the ruling class, much like the society today, where the working low-class citizens work under perilous conditions in order to line the pockets of the rich. At the very bottom were the slaves, consisting of war prisoners and thieves. Unlike most ancient civilization, the Mayan society did not have one unified political system. Each city-state had its own king as the head. These rulers were very competitive and territorial, leading to frequent skirmishes in order to take slaves and victims for sacrifices. They strived to outdo each other on the greatness and grandeur of their architecture by channeling resources to these structures and neglecting pressing need of their people such as food and water. Despite the rivalry of these city-sates, they often traded with each other on prestige items (obsidian, gold, feather and jade) and food items. Despite such a sprouting culture, however, the Mayan civilization declined in the ninth century, never to regain its former glory. Many theories have been suggested to explain the reasons for this sudden decline such as soil exhaustion, water loss and erosion and catastrophes such as earthquakes, diseases and invasions by other surrounding communities and cultures. A more recent theory of the Mayan decline is attributed to the frequent skirmishes and competitiveness among the Mayan city-states (Treister 2013). It proposes that as the Mayan civilization grew, the warfare among the city-states also grew as each ruler wanted to expand their territory and power through warfare and the construction of great architectural buildings, at the expense of the society’s well-being. Entire cities were attacked and destroyed. The ruling class also grew as the civilization grew putting tremendous strain on the commoners, which may have caused civil strife within these cities. With the acquisition of neighboring city-states through warfare, the population increased and this significantly reduced food capacities. Thus, people finally abandoned these cities to seek for areas that are more productive. In addition, most died of famine and others died during the warfare. Treister, K. expressly states that, “The pride, hubris and egotism created among the ruling elite by their magnificent cities and architecture caused an economic collapse, where a disproportionate allocation of resources was directed to the building process. In addition, there was an ecological collapse because this consummate building and the expansion of their cities created a vastly unsustainable ecological calamity.” Perhaps this is the fate that awaits our modern civilization, which has placed so much emphasis on modern structures at the cost of destroying the natural resources that feed the populace. With the increased sprouting of industries that pollute the environment, humanity is slowly but surely eroding the catchment areas that provide the globe with water. Things could be changed if everyone comes to this realization and takes action to halt this dangerous progress to extinction. Who, better than the Mayan history, can show us the glaring effects of greed that awaits us if we continue to pursue our selfish ambitions at the cost of the environment. As always, history always serves to show us the misdeeds in our thinking. Work Cited Treister, Kenneth. Maya Architecture: Temples in the sky. University Press of Florida, 2013. Print Read More