The study of ancient societies and the elites’ legitimization of state power have been deliberated amongst many scholars. The elites in ancient complex societies were those that occupied the dominant positions and controlled a disproportionate amount of wealth and power. Their source of power was either objective, such as wealth and factors of production or symbolic, emphasizing ideology and ritual relating to fertility and societal cosmic renewal (Rice, 2009). The basis of this essay is a comparison of ancient societies and their legitimacy to power. The societies that will be focused on are the Classic Maya, the Aztec and the Inca. The foundation of elite state power and legitimacy was based on creating an illusion of control of time and the cosmos, achieved through strategic employment and manipulation of religious rituals. Together, these three civilizations are of theoretical and methodological interest and provide valuable comparative backdrop of the study of elite state power.
All societies have rules or patterns of behavior that govern the peoples’ actions and provide a framework for social order. Sometimes these rules are made into laws. However, more often than not, they are simply accepted by the members of a society. In complex societies such the Classic Maya, Incas and the Aztec, complexity denotes qualities of hierarchical differentiation (Adams, 2001). Combined evidence from archaeology, art, history and ethno history have shown that the Classic Maya society was stratified into two basic classes. These classes were the elite and non-elite (Sharer, 2006). The elites were distinguished from commoners by birth, membership that is strictly hereditary. They controlled land, labor and taxes, while the non- elites exist...
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Inga Clendinnen's Aztecs:An Interpretation is an outstanding book dealing with investigations into how the Mexica peoples may have veiwed the world in which they lived. From the daily life of a commoner to the explosively, awe inspiring lives of the priests and warriors. Clendinnen has used thoughtful insights and a fresh perspective that will have general readers and specialist readers alike engaged in a powerful and elegantly written interpretation that is hard to put down without reflection upon this lost culture.
While reading the Trade in the Aztec Civilization, I learned a great deal of new and old business ethics. I saw the differences between today’s business and before business and how we have evolved from it. One of the first things I noticed was the different social classes. Just like in today’s society there were the rich, the middle class, and the poor. The pipiltin’s and mayeques considered themselves the common people. They were the first ones to engage in guilds. On the other hand we had the pochteca who thought of themselves as the more great importance of the social classes. They had what you would call a world of their own in my opinion. They had there own religion, their own economic code, and legal system. Each group came from a different part of the Mexican land, anywhere from El Salvador, to Nicaragua to the Gulf of Mexico. Each group had there own individuality, but came together to share their knowledge in the buying, selling and trading of goods.
The ideology of the Zapatista movement, also known as Zapatismo or Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) integrates traditional Mayan practices with elements of Marxism, libertarian socialism, and anarchism. Zapatismo opposes economic globalization, arguing that it severely and negatively affects the indigenous way of life. The North American F...
Bourdieu's theory of practice is again a large influence in A Dual-Processual Theory for the Evolution of Mesoamerican Civilization (Blanton, et. al.). They focus on process rather than stages or categories to explain variations between social formations and their changes through time. They advocate a political behavioral theory of social change, seeing two main types of political power strategies accounting for variation among societies of similar complexity and scale; exclusionary (or network) and corporate. The outcome of exclusionary political behavior is the development of patrimonial rhetoric, emphasizing the control of particular individuals based on kinship (found in the archaeological record by portrayals or reference to particular rulers), and a prestige-goods system, resulting in an "international style" in goods and information crossing sociocultural boundaries. The corporate strategy signifies collective representations and ritual based on a societies cosmology.
The Aztec Empire stood for many years but never expanded much, only conquering small neighboring civilizations. The Aztec Empire was founded in the 6th century and didn’t fall until 1525. The Inca Civilization was a bit different. The Inca Civilization conquered as many lands that it could but quickly fell after just 100 years. In this essay I will be comparing the government, economics, and culture in the Aztec Civilizationand the Inca Empire.
Maya societies were clearly divided into two classes, the elite and the commoners. This distinction was usually made by who had more power and wealth, a person was usually born into both. The Elite had control over the politics and religion in each city (Sharer, “Social Stratification”). The vast majority of people were considered commoners, but how do you tell which ones are commoners, and which are Elites? Architecture gives us the biggest clue to who had this power and wealth, and who did not. “Monument building and elaborate, vaulted tomb chambers indicate the presence of social ranking and ruling elites. It is likely that ancestor worship was acquiring more weight as the rulers became ever more responsible for acting as intermediaries with the gods and ancestors for the benefit of their people” (Fash). One of the biggest archaeological insights into Maya lifestyles is art...
Many arguments have occurred over the centuries since the Spanish marched into the Andean highlands and took over the Incan empire, over whether the Incan's were part of an ideal human society, or just a group of tyrannical rulers. While the Incan society had created a stable political, economic, and social system in the Andean world it was far from being an ideal society. On the same note, the Incan's were not tyrannical rulers, did not exploit their subjects or take away their land for no reason. The reading entitled "Was Inca Rule Tyrannical?" discusses this argument about the Incan empire, tries to classify the form of government the Incan's lived under, and searches for the truth about what the Incan empire was really like. The truth about the Incan empire lies somewhere between the romanticized views, and the views meant to justify the Spanish conquest, while it is impossible to classify in modern terms the form of government the Incan's had.
Architecture, like many things, can also be made for the use of or inspired by the symbols people believe in. Therefore, art and architecture in Ancient Mesoamerica can be stated to be made for the use of religious symbols. Making architecture and art forms takes effort, dedication, and patience. Architecture can take years to make, as was s...
Callery, Sean. The Dark History of the Aztec Empire. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2011. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Scholars Woodrow Wilson International Center for. “The Mystery of Aztec Sacrifices.”
Society in the Incan Empire was made up of clans and families who lived and worked together. The social structure of the Incas had the Ruler and his wives at the top. Then came the High Priest and Army Commander in Chief. Next were the Regional Army Commanders, then the Temple Priests, architects, administrators and Army Generals. Next were the artisans, musicians, army captains and the...
This paper discusses the development of a civilization defining its ten characteristics it will define why this civilization developed. For this purpose, the civilization of the Incas from South America has been selected; however, this paper will focus on a particular people of this civilization that lived in Machu Picchu. The civilization of the Incas lived on the territory of South America, in an area now occupied by the modern Peru. The capital has been located in the city of Cuzco. The name "Inca" is not given by self-people, but Europeans mistakenly gave it since the local tribes called their supreme ruler, and came to their land the Spaniards came to be called as the whole nation (Abbott & Wolfe 2003). This unique culture has existed as a unit until the 1780-1782 periods (Velasco, 1992).
For the ancient Maya, the world was alive and full of sacred spaces such as caves and mountains, and “The architecture of ritual space replicated the features of sacred geography – the forest, the mountain, and the cave” (Schele and Freidel 72). Classical Maya kings invested a great deal of resources into pyramid construction, and the form of these buildings was carefully calculated. The shape of the pyramid emulated that of a mountain. The external layout, a series of landings and plazas of increasing size, enforced the social hierarchy by controlling the number of people in attendance and their proximity to the sacred spaces (Schele and Frei...
In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society.
"Collapse: Why Do Civilizations Fall?" Out of the Past. Annenburg/CPB Multimedia. 1998. *http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/mayans.html* (30 Jan. 2001).
Patterson, Thomas C. "Tribes, Chiefdoms, and Kingdoms in the Inca Empire.” Power Relations and State Formation (1987): 1-15,117-127.