Tikal And Machu Picchu Essay

A Tale of Two Cities: Tikal and Machu Picchu Tikal and Machu Picchu, a tale of two cities in which one ruler was building a city on the need for superiority in a time of a growing Maya empire, and the latter, thought to be established for an Inca ruler and to pay homage to their societies deities. The Inca’s did not have a well-developed written language, and as a result, much of what historian know today comes from second and third person accounts. However, the Maya empire, indeed, had a sophisticated means of communication in the form of hieroglyphics, artwork, and scribe’s, allowing for historian to better understand their culture. In this essay, I will discuss the cities of Tikal and Machu Picchu, giving a brief overview of the history and the religious influence each society had in establishing such masterpieces.

Tikal

The Maya civilization developed in an area that includes southeastern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. Tikal, located in

The masters of magnificent stonework, the Inca’s established many of their communities in “harmonious relationship,” with Mother Nature and the earth as it was originally built to be, and Machu Picchu serves as a prime example (Kleiner, 2016, p. 1090). Stretched along the ridgeline, Machu Picchu is beautiful and inspiring, so much so many consider as of late, to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Consequently, due to the lack of communication and record keeping, the city is a complete secret of the once magnificent Inca Empire. In fact, Machu Picchu according to Kleiner (2016), “remained unknown to the outside world until Hiram Bingham (1875 – 1956), an American explorer, discovered it in 1911” (p. 1090). Realistically, archaeologist thought of Machu Picchu as being rather insignificant. However, the city is an archaeological jackpot because it was untouched during the Spanish