Bøger af Rhandel Lopez

Chichén ItzáAlthough many ancient civilizations have influenced and inspired people in the 21st century, like the Greeks and the Romans, none have intrigued people like the Mayans, whose culture, astronomy, language, and mysterious disappearance continue to captivate people today. Chichén Itzá, the most visited and most spectacular of the Late Classic Maya cities, is at the center of the fascination.In the later years of Maya civilization, Chichen Itzá had been inhabited for hundreds of years. In developing columns and exterior relief decoration, Chichén Itzá probably had over 30,000 residents at its peak, with a spectacular pyramid, enormous ball court, observatory, and several temples to boast.The sacred cenote at Chichén Itzá, a sinkhole used for Maya rituals surrounding water, is of particular interest. The Maya regarded it as a primary concern because adequate water was rarely found on the limestone-based Yucatan surface. The underwater archeology conducted in the cenote at Chichén Itzá found that offerings (including people, possibly) were thrown into the sinkhole in honor of the Maya rain deity Chaac.Despite its long history, Chichén Itzá had a relatively short period where it dominated the region, lasting from 800-950 CE. Nowadays, guides take tourists to one of the temples called the Nunnery for no good reason other than that the small rooms remind them of a nunnery back home.

In the almost total isolation of the tropical lands of the Yucatán Peninsula, the Maya developed a science-based civilization more than 1,000 years before European explorers arrived. Overlooking the emerald rainforest were their majestic skylines. Architectural wonders with magnificent carvings adorned with hieroglyphic inscriptions, these wonders were stunners. This sophisticated urban center was the largest on Earth during the middle of the first millennium A.D. More than technologically stunning works of art and architecture, the sprawling Maya city-states were conceived to overwhelm observers with a sense of wonder. In addition to being centers of power, these cities were incubators of science and technology, places of learning, and hubs of commercial activity that generated wealth for the kingdom.After the demise of the Maya civilization, these magnificent cities survived against all odds for more than a millennium. Due to the innovative Maya technology employed during their construction, the structures have remained intact despite environmental degradation, the ravages of time, natural disasters, and the prying roots of the jungle. These brilliant societies developed scientific advances and technological methods of discovery that were a millennium ahead of those produced by European sciences to preserve their cities. It is even more impressive that these technological advances were created without the influence of outside cultures, unlike in Europe.Maya cities were designed and built on a grand scale with functional efficiency and artistic elegance. Each city was a triumph of grace and power, with its monumental palaces and temples. There are no other styles of architecture like Mayan. Unlike any different culture in Mesoamerica and any other world style of architecture, its inventive design is alien and bizarre. Where did this style originate? Their art style also inspires their veneration of the cosmos and its impact on the Maya civilization's philosophy. Ancient Egypt had fewer cities and pyramids than the Maya civilization, which was among history's longest-lived cultures. More than 50 independent city-states governed the Maya world, spread out over 125,000 square miles.