These workers were tossing stones up to the last guy who was actually filling in an old tunnel in the ruins. I joined the brigade and helped for a while so I can say I worked on a Mayan construction project.
This character looks like my favorite cartoon character - Snagglepuss
Ruins of temple
Crocodile head
A Lily stone. Guide pointing out details with a feather.
Carved stone
Macaas
View from our hotelAntigua, Guatemala to Copan, Honduras – 170 miles
I was sorry to leave Guatemala. It too was a surprise for the senses. Like Mexico the people were always friendly and helpful. It also had a strong sense of mystery about it. The border crossing into Honduras was uneventful. It took a few hours due to redundant paperwork and each border’s need to match our bike’s VIN number with the one on our title. They don’t want anyone to smuggle bikes in and sell them without paying the tariff.
Copan is a town built around a Mayan city discovered buried in the thick jungle in the 1950’s. It seems the Mayans started building a civilization here around 750 BC. They disappeared in 900AD. It was the typical Mayan city with temples, palaces, hieroglyphs, and my favorite, sacrificial alters.
The Mayans would conquer adjacent tribes and enslave them for labor to build the stone structures. During the 1700 year existence of this place construction was perpetual. Engineers were only one step below the ruling class. Not such a bad idea!
I once visited Tolum in Mexico with my intrepid world travelling friend Pat Davis. There we toured a very similar Mayan ruin. Both of these cities contained grass courts where competitions were held to determine who would be sacrificed. In Tolum Pat and I questioned our tour guide carefully to be sure we understood the rules of the game. Two teams competed, each trying to throw a ball through a small ring perched high up on the side of the stone enclosure. The participant who finally hurled his ball through the ring, and his team, were he winners. The successful athlete that scored the goal was rewarded by being named the next SACRIFICEE. That’s right, the winner was immediately segregated from the others, and sequestered in a private chamber for the next two weeks. During that time he was supplied with the best food and wine, all the virgins he cared to deflower, and toward the end drugged into semi-consciousness. On his big day he was led ceremoniously up the temple steps and placed in a sort of stone bathtub. It had the head of one of their scarier gods carved into it and an opening at the bottom. At the appropriate time, with thousands watching from below, the head priest would arrive and cut the heart out of the lad with a dull implement. The blood would flow down the stairs and all but one would be happy.
Now the reason Pat and I were so fascinated with the story was because it was the WINNER that had his heart ripped out. Think about that! Why would any culture be able to produce so many young people vying for a painful and early death? I’ve pondered that question for years and can only come up with a few theories,to wit:
1. Life in the Mayan culture was so hard and short that two weeks of good food and virgins was better than 30 more years of life.
2. The priests had everyone completely convinced that the afterlife was not only real, but real good.
3. In the historian’s interpretation of how the game was played something as lost in the translation. The culture died around 900 and wasn’t re-discovered until the 1950’s. The thousand year gap could have muddied the facts a bit.
In fact my worst nightmare was realized. Our guide says that today there is a raging debate between Mayan archeologists. One school is convinced the winners were sacrificed and one school believes it was the loser. But that is the most important question we need answered. How could you hope to understand these people without being sure about this issue? I may have to do my own exhaustive study. It’s that important.
I was sorry to leave Guatemala. It too was a surprise for the senses. Like Mexico the people were always friendly and helpful. It also had a strong sense of mystery about it. The border crossing into Honduras was uneventful. It took a few hours due to redundant paperwork and each border’s need to match our bike’s VIN number with the one on our title. They don’t want anyone to smuggle bikes in and sell them without paying the tariff.
Copan is a town built around a Mayan city discovered buried in the thick jungle in the 1950’s. It seems the Mayans started building a civilization here around 750 BC. They disappeared in 900AD. It was the typical Mayan city with temples, palaces, hieroglyphs, and my favorite, sacrificial alters.
The Mayans would conquer adjacent tribes and enslave them for labor to build the stone structures. During the 1700 year existence of this place construction was perpetual. Engineers were only one step below the ruling class. Not such a bad idea!
I once visited Tolum in Mexico with my intrepid world travelling friend Pat Davis. There we toured a very similar Mayan ruin. Both of these cities contained grass courts where competitions were held to determine who would be sacrificed. In Tolum Pat and I questioned our tour guide carefully to be sure we understood the rules of the game. Two teams competed, each trying to throw a ball through a small ring perched high up on the side of the stone enclosure. The participant who finally hurled his ball through the ring, and his team, were he winners. The successful athlete that scored the goal was rewarded by being named the next SACRIFICEE. That’s right, the winner was immediately segregated from the others, and sequestered in a private chamber for the next two weeks. During that time he was supplied with the best food and wine, all the virgins he cared to deflower, and toward the end drugged into semi-consciousness. On his big day he was led ceremoniously up the temple steps and placed in a sort of stone bathtub. It had the head of one of their scarier gods carved into it and an opening at the bottom. At the appropriate time, with thousands watching from below, the head priest would arrive and cut the heart out of the lad with a dull implement. The blood would flow down the stairs and all but one would be happy.
Now the reason Pat and I were so fascinated with the story was because it was the WINNER that had his heart ripped out. Think about that! Why would any culture be able to produce so many young people vying for a painful and early death? I’ve pondered that question for years and can only come up with a few theories,to wit:
1. Life in the Mayan culture was so hard and short that two weeks of good food and virgins was better than 30 more years of life.
2. The priests had everyone completely convinced that the afterlife was not only real, but real good.
3. In the historian’s interpretation of how the game was played something as lost in the translation. The culture died around 900 and wasn’t re-discovered until the 1950’s. The thousand year gap could have muddied the facts a bit.
In fact my worst nightmare was realized. Our guide says that today there is a raging debate between Mayan archeologists. One school is convinced the winners were sacrificed and one school believes it was the loser. But that is the most important question we need answered. How could you hope to understand these people without being sure about this issue? I may have to do my own exhaustive study. It’s that important.
2 comments:
Perhaps, purely by coincidence, all the winners were married.
Maybe we'll let you and Pat to play a game to decide which theory is right.....
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