The Maya civilization had a complex class structure with slaves on the bottom and priests and noble rulers at the top. Priests held significant power as they communicated with the gods and directed many aspects of daily life like planting, marriage, and human sacrifice. The Maya were organized into independent city-states, each ruled by a hereditary noble family claiming descent from mythic hero twins. Craftspeople created impressive art, music, and a sophisticated hieroglyphic writing system. Warriors held an important role and the Maya were often engaged in warfare. Farmers and women performed important agricultural work while slaves occupied the lowest level of society.

1. MAYA CIVILIZATION
Text adapted by Esmeralda Ferti
The Maya had a class society. There were slaves, peasants, craftsmen, nobility, priests, and
leaders. There were also warriors. At the top were the nobles and priests. The middle class
had the craftsmen, traders, and warriors. At the bottom were farmers, other workers, and
slaves.

2. Priests: Religion was at the heart of nearly
all Maya activities. The Mayas believed in a
great many gods and goddesses. They
believed their priests could talk to the gods.
That gavethe priests incredible power. The
priests, along with the leaders in each city-
state, were the most powerful people in
the Maya civilization. Priests decided
nearly everything in the Maya daily life.
They decided when to plant, when people
could marry, and whom to sacrifice.
Leaders: The Mayas were organized in city-
states. Each city was ruled by a different
noble family. The same family ruled
forever; the crown was handed from father
to son generation after generation (we call
this DYNASTY). Their right to rule came
from the fact that they were direct
descendants of the Hero Twins. They were
the children of the children of the children
of the original Hero Twins.
Nobles:The nobles were allthe people who
were not actually the rulers, but were of
royal blood - the brothers, sisters, cousins,
aunts, uncles, and other relative of the
ruling family. Nobles believed they were so
important that, when they appeared in
public, their attendants would hold a cloth
in front of their face. That way, no one
could talk to them directly.
Artisans/Craftsmen: Mayas had a great
sense of aesthetics: their statues were
incredible and huge. The art they created
honored their gods or their leaders. They
also made musical instruments like drums,
shell horns, and castanets.Additionally, the
Mayas wove beautiful

3. The Mayas also developed a writing system. People called it Mayan script, Mayan Glyphs,
or Mayan hieroglyphs. Their written language seemed like drawings and for a long time
many historians believed that they were just images. After a time, they realized it was a
script. This language has 550 logograms (symbols that represent whole words), and 150
syllabograms (that represented syllables). These scripts have been found carved on stone,
wood, written in jade, ceramics, etc.
Warriors: The Mayas were often at war,
some scholars even saythey were always at
war. So, well-trained warriors were
important to the Maya way of life. The job
of warriors was highly respected.
Farmers: Many of the Maya peasants were
farmers. Farmers worked very hard. The
Mayas did not have metal tools. Fathers
and sons worked their land mostly by hand,
helped a little with stone axes.
Wives and daughters cooked, cleaned and
sewed clothes. Girls had to watch after
their brothers and sisters just like baby
sitters do. Women helped in the fields as
necessary.Women carried goods in baskets
on their heads from the fields to market.
Slaves: were people who were captured
from warring tribes. Slaves worked in the
homes of noble families. Some slaves cared
for the children, others cleaned the house,
and many others worked in the fields.

4. Honoring the Gods: Ball courts were usually positioned at the
foot of a temple. Ball games had religious meanings. Games
were played to honor the Hero Twins and other Mayan gods
and goddesses.
The Game: Courts had a large playing area. There was a stone
hoop mounted in the wall at one end. The Mayas used the ball
courts to play a ball game they called pok-a-tok. It was a very
rough sport.
Pok-a-tok is a mix of soccer, basketball, and kick ball. It was played with a solid hard rubber
ball. You could not hit the ball with your hands. It had to be hit with the hips, shoulders, or
arms. The object of the game was to hit the rubber ball through the stone ring that was
attached to the wall at one end of the court. Ball players wore protective clothing when
playing.
Winners: When playing games among
themselves, or against other Maya cities, the
winning team got to keep the jewelry of the
losing team.
Losers: Some games were played with captives,
people from other Indian tribes that Mayan
warriors had captured. These games were of
great interest to the Mayan people. Poorly fed,
exhausted, beaten captives made up one team,
and professional Mayan ball players made up
the other. The beaten captives always lost these
games. After they lost, they were sacrificed.

5. References: http://mayas.mrdonn.org/ballgames.html
http://www.ballgame.org/sub_section.asp?section=3&sub_section=2
Fragments of “El Dorado” movie.
Mayan calendar
Read the text about the way Mayans used to measure time and organize their planting and
harvesting season.
Among their other accomplishments, the ancient Mayans invented a calendar of
remarkable accuracy and complexity. At right is the ancient Mayan Pyramid Chichen Itza,
Yucatan, Mexico. The Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá, constructed circa 1050 was built
during the late Mayan period, when Toltecs from Tula became politically powerful.
The pyramid was used as a calendar: four stairways, each with 91 steps and a platform at
the top, making a total of 365, equivalent to the number of days in a calendar year. The
Mayan calendar uses three different dating systems in parallel, the Long Count, the Tzolkin
(divine calendar), and the Haab (civil calendar). Of these, only the Haab has a direct
relationship to the length of the yeaR.
The Mayan calendar was adopted by the other Mesoamerican nations, such as the Aztecs
and the Toltec, which adopted the mechanics of the calendar unaltered but changed the
names of the days of the week and the months. The Aztec calendar was an adaptation of
the Mayan calendar. It consisted of a 365-day agricultural calendar, as well as a 260-day
sacred calendar.