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Chronicle Of The Maya Kings And Queens
 
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Chronicle Of The Maya Kings And Queens [Hardcover]

Simon Martin (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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There's nothing else like this book. It supersedes everything else ever written on Maya history. -- Michael D. Coe, author of Breaking the Maya Code

Book Description

For a thousand years the dense rain forests of Central America concealed the ruins of one of the world's great civilizations, that of the ancient Maya. Early explorers found themselves in cities dominated by steep temple pyramids and fallen idols covered in unfathomable hieroglyphs. Since the mid-nineteenth century, scholars have tried to understand the mysterious people who produced one of the greatest flowerings of art and culture in the New World. Behind the ruined Maya cities and their abandoned artworks--the superb sculptures of Copan, the fine vase painting of Naranjo, the mighty pyramids of Tikal and Calakmul--lie the turbulent stories of their ruling dynasties. The recent tremendous progress in reading Maya hieroglyphs is now bringing this story into focus. Here is the first book to bring together and examine the greatest Maya dynasties in a single volume. Two of the world's leading experts in Maya hieroglyphic decipherment reveal the latest thinking on the nature of Maya divine kingship, statehood, and political authority, and describe the most recent readings and archaeological finds, including their own discoveries. 250 illustrations, 100 in color.

Key features of the book include:

* biographical accounts of 152 kings and four ruling queens;
* royal names spelled in hieroglyphs, plus datafiles listing lineage, spouses and children, and place of burial;
* special features and boxes, ranging from the supernatural journeys of the dead kings to the Maya ballgame;
* timelines providing at-a-glance visual guides to the length and key events of each reign.

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative Eyeful, July 3 2002
By 
Thomas F. Ogara (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Chronicle Of The Maya Kings And Queens (Hardcover)
The amount of information that has accumulated about the Maya in the last ten years is extraordinary. I find it amazing to go to public libraries, even good ones like the state library here in Tallahassee, Florida, only to find that most of the books on the Maya date from the 1970's or earlier, and virtually everything they have to say about the historical context of Maya civilization is woefully out of date.

If you're out of date about the latest developments in Maya historiography, or if you're just developing an interest in the subject, you'll find this book to be of value. It gives the history of the major classic era cities (the book is completely about the classic period, and only digresses outside of that era to add supporting information), and does it in a format that is attractive and interesting. Indeed, many of the illustrations are of pieces that have only recently been unearthed, and this increases the interest of the book.

The one drawback is that the book is a little too advanced for the beginner - it can be difficult to work out the historical signposts - and a little too basic for the student already familiar with most recent work. A little more data about the overall context of the period and culture would be of some value. Aside from this one objection, it is an admirable work, well-written enough to capture the interest of the intelligent general reader while not giving the feeling that the authors are talking down to a non-specialist level. Definitely worth the read.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Kings of the Yucatan, Feb 24 2002
By 
"guiscard" (Toms River, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Chronicle Of The Maya Kings And Queens (Hardcover)
The 'Chronicle of the Mayan Kings' is a beautifully illustrated chronicle of the Mayan kings of the poorly known Mayan kingdoms of the Yucatan like Tikal and Copan. The names of the Mayan kings are shown in Mayan hieroglyphs. There are accounts of what we know of the accomplishments of men such as Yik'in Chan Kawil of Tikal and Yukmook Cheen 2 of Calukmal. We see the relations among the Mayan states. There are timelines to make the time periods more clear. Special features describe the complex Mayan calendar and the Mayan number system, which is based on twenty instead of ten.
This book is an excellent account of what little is known about the Mayan states.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A book for all your Classic Maya needs, Nov 10 2001
By 
"danielinyaracuy" (San Felipe, Yaracuy Venezuela) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Chronicle Of The Maya Kings And Queens (Hardcover)
This book is a perfect example on how to divulge history without making it too simple or pandering to the "sensationalist" aspects of the tale. The research on the ancient Maya culture over the last decades has revealed enough information that a more or less complete sequence of events can be drawn over several centuries. It also has revealed that the Mayan did not seem able, or willing, to strive towards the establishment of a centralized empire as others civilizations tried. The result is a complex story involving the struggles between loosely organized groups of petty states around a few major ones. Telling that tale in an exciting way is thus more difficult: no Alexander the Great figure here to follow.... But Martin and Grube have been able to spin the yard of quite a tale. Once you pass the catchy title that makes you wonder whether the inside will be lightweight history, you do realize that this is a very complete, if brief, book. After a concise introductory chapter, the authors chose deliberately to tell the story of a few individual cities. You might disagree as to why they chose those (Northern cities such as Uxmal are absent). You might have wanted a more unified tale of Mayan civilization. Or perhaps a more people's oriented history. But the fact is that there are not many facts on the ancient Maya in spite of recent advances. It is to the merit of the authors to make the most of these facts to write an informative story, a city based history as the Mayan were, without entering into undue speculations. And that the book is loaded with nice pictures, interesting maps and diagrams is a great plus. Nice enough for a coffee table, deep enough for a serious library.
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