Mayan Civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mayan Civilization - Essay Example The ancient kinship of the Mayan people can be described as comprising patrilineal, bilateral and matrilineal and as such laid the foundation for their political organization (Carter 345). In this case, the political organization was embedded in this kinship where it was characterized by segmentary or well-defined lineages. In this case, the political organization resembled the clan-like structures. The strong attachment to kinship is also evident from the extent to which the Mayan assigned the duties to the scribes in the royal houses and palaces (McAnany 21). The scribes played an important role in the documentation of arts and other materials in the society, and most came from the aristocratic families thus extending the noble doctrine. Therefore, forming and establishing the political organizations of these kinship structures meant that the Mayan rather had a centralized political system with the authority from above or the royal powerful kinships (Yaeger 922). On the other hand, the Mayan arts indicate that the most of the rulers were scribes thus the political organization or structure was built on the ability of the rulers to write. The hierarchy brought about by the kinship implied that the aristocrats were the ruling class with the King as the head (Carter 340). Each city, therefore, had a king with a ruling class. On the other hand, the kingship was based on the religious construction and belief that they represented God on earth. Nonetheless, the Mayan had an outstanding religious belief where they had a calendar set with activities for appeasing the gods. Though the traditional Mayan religion can be described as a system of belief, the society rather engaged in habitual religious practices (McAnany 15). In this case, the Mayan religion was a complex collection of ritual practices and was also based on the hierarchy that