The Mayans Essay
The Mayans The ancient Mayan civilization settled in the Yucatan Peninsula in around 900 AD. This civilizations was one of the most advanced of
its times. They created their own religion, language, mathematical structure, a very precise calendar, and many other things. The Mayan way of life
revolved their religion. They had a polytheistic religion praising many gods. Each god had a certain thing that they would rule over or take care of.
Chac was the god of rain, Kinich Ahau was the sun god, and Yum Cimil was the god of the underworld. There were many gods and goddess for
almost every reason one could think of, there is even a goddess of suicide. They would perform human sacrifices, bleeding rituals, and dances to praise
and to...show more content...
The children in upper class families would be taught many different skills, whereas the commoners' children would just learn the skill of their
parents. The children would continue to live with their parents until the got married. There were many regulations about sex and marriage.
Homosexuality and inbreeding was strictly forbidden. If they practiced those they would become an outcast. There was also no marriage outside the
classes unless the chief of the district approved it. The Mayans were also were technologically advanced. They used their own math system. One dot
stood for one, a bar symbolized five, and a shell figure was zero. The numbers were expressed vertically with the highest on top. The also created a
very precise calendars. Two different calendars were calculated 260–day and a 365–day. They were able to calculate the dates because at noon time
there was no shadow. This was important for them to use in predicting eclipses, scheduling religious ceremonies, and when to plant and harvest.
Agriculture and trade were the basis of the economy. A wide variety of things were grown. The predominate crop was maize. However, beans,
squash, pumpkin, chili peppers, tomatoes, frijol, yucca, cocoa, tobacco, avocado, and sapota were grown and traded. The goods were taken to major
cities and traded for things like cloth, jade, pottery, fish, deer meat, and also salt. All of these were traded by canoe. They also domesticated dogs and
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