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| This serpent is a hieroglyph at the Maya ruin Uxmal. I took this picture during a light show, Thus, it's lit up and easy to see the snake on the Maya ruin wall. |
I found this fantastic reference online that goes through the different Maya glyphs. It's interesting that their structure of writing was so advanced that they have slightly varying hieroglyphs to represent different tenses of verbs.
(http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/calvin/glyph_guide.pdf)
I was thinking about how a civilization could advance with a written language. In order to advance in different studies, such as math, it is necessary to have a system of writing. I previously referenced the number system in another post.
These are photos I took at Chitzen Itza--one of the most famous Maya ruins--below are all examples of maya hieroglyphs or pictures illustrating different beliefs at Chitzen Itza. The skulls on the right represent death. The bottom right represents a warrior and the picture below also has to do with death.
I really like how you used a lot of photos! They really helped us see (literally) the hieroglyphs.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked how you brought up Chichen Itza. In my art history class in high school, one of the things we talked about a lot was that different civilizations have built HUGE structures (Chichen Itza, the Pyramids, the Great Wall, etc.) which have required a great deal of work. Because of all the work that goes into them, we know that whatever is associated with these structures, including whatever is used to decorate them, must be important because of all the work that went into the process. These hieroglyphs on the Chichen Itza really let us see what it is that was important enough to the Maya ("Maya" is correct in this context instead of "Mayan," right Brianne? Just making sure I didn't get that mixed up.) that they put them on this huge construct. In their society, we see that their culture emphasized death and honored warriors.
This is very much like the Egyptian form of writing. It is fascinating to me how similar they are to each other!
ReplyDeleteI can't stop thinking just how time consuming it must have been to draw pictures to make up a word instead of just a couple lines to form a letter. Perhaps this is why these languages have "died." I know that I wouldn't want to do this! However I am grateful they did because they are so unique and mystifying!
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ReplyDeleteJared, at Chitzen Itza I was amazed at all of the symbolism regarding death, sacrifice, warriors, etc. I wish I could remember all of the details, but will have to look them up again. From my memory, at least the main pyramid, the photos of the ruin I posted, the pelota court (Maya game that prisoners of war played till the death), even the cenote (maya natural sink hole in limestone full of water) and a few other structures somehow all related to these concepts and had deep symbolism shown through these hieroglyphs. It was like the different ruin structures told a story and were all related. Their buildings had much more meaning than the structures we build today.
ReplyDeleteYes, according to the Maya people, "Maya" is the most respectful way to refer to them.
Brenda, not to mention they weren't just drawing these complicated glyphs on a piece of paper-- they were carving them into stone! I can't imagine how tedious of a process that would have been or how long it would have taken. It makes me appreciate the convenience of paper today. However, the durability of carved rock makes up for the lack of convenience. The carvings have been preserved for a thousand-plus years, which amazes me!
The Maya language has not died per-say; it has instead adapted to the modern times and is now written with a typical alphabet instead of the glyphs. However, the glyphs still exist as a cultural representation of the Maya.
In our times, buildings that have real significance to a culture still have tremendous time and effort put in. We just have the technology to do more things, in an easier way. In the same way, words, languages and writing remain important to us and yet typing is far faster and more convenient than carving in solid rock. We just have found new ways of symbolizing the written word's importance.
ReplyDeleteBrenda, I think the similarities you noted between Egyptian and Mayan writing are great because when we think about the Book of Mormon and how the gold plates, the most important text of the Native Americans, were being written in Egyptian, we shouldn't be surprised that the writing systems are similar.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, what is significantly more interesting to me is the similarities in architecture. The Mayan temples at Tikal and the Egyptian pyramids at Giza are very similar in architectural form and in symbolic meaning.