Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars

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Synopsis
&“A prodigious work of unmatched interdisciplinary scholarship&” on Maya astronomy and religion (Journal of Interdisciplinary History). Observations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars played a central role in ancient Maya lifeways, as they do today among contemporary Maya who maintain the traditional ways. This pathfinding book reconstructs ancient Maya astronomy and cosmology through the astronomical information encoded in Pre-Columbian Maya art and confirmed by the current practices of living Maya peoples. Susan Milbrath opens the book with a discussion of modern Maya beliefs about astronomy, along with essential information on naked-eye observation. She devotes subsequent chapters to Pre-Columbian astronomical imagery, which she traces back through time, starting from the Colonial and Postclassic eras. She delves into many aspects of the Maya astronomical images, including the major astronomical gods and their associated glyphs, astronomical almanacs in the Maya codices and changes in the imagery of the heavens over time. This investigation yields new data and a new synthesis of information about the specific astronomical events and cycles recorded in Maya art and architecture. Indeed, it constitutes the first major study of the relationship between art and astronomy in ancient Maya culture. &“Milbrath has given us a comprehensive reference work that facilitates access to a very broad and varied body of literature spanning several disciplines.&” ―Isis &“Destined to become a standard reference work on Maya archeoastronomy . . . Utterly comprehensive.&” —Andrea Stone, Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Copyright:
1999

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
382 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780292778511
Related ISBNs:
9780292752252
Publisher:
University of Texas Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
University of Texas Press
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Art and Architecture, Social Studies
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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