Ancient Zapotec religion : an ethnohistorical and archaeological perspective / Michael Lind.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lind, Michael, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zapotec Indians--Religion.

Zapotec Indians.

Zapotec Indians--Antiquities.

Zapotec Indians--Rites and ceremonies.

Zapotec calendar.

Physical Description:

xviii, 386 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colorado : University Press of Colorado, [2015]

Summary:

"Ancient Zapotec Religion is the first comprehensive study of Zapotec religion as it existed in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on the eve of the Spanish Conquest. Author Michael Lind brings a new perspective, focusing not on underlying theological principles but on the material and spatial expressions of religious practice. Using sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish colonial documents and archaeological findings related to the time period leading up to the Spanish Conquest, he presents new information on deities, ancestor worship and sacred bundles, the Zapotec cosmos, the priesthood, religious ceremonies and rituals, the nature of temples, the distinctive features of the sacred and solar calendars, and the religious significance of the murals of Mitla--the most sacred and holy center. He also shows how Zapotec religion served to integrate Zapotec city-state structure throughout the valley of Oaxaca, neighboring mountain regions, and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Ancient Zapotec Religion is the first in-depth and interdisciplinary book on the Zapotecs and their religious practices and will be of great interest to archaeologists, epigraphers, historians, and specialists in Native American, Latin American, and religious studies. "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 Zapotec Deities in Sixteenth-Century Documents 13

3 Zapotec Deities in Seventeenth-Century Documents 37

4 Zapotec Temple Priests 75

5 Zapotec Temples: Mitla 107

6 Zapotec Temples: Yagul 167

7 Colaní: Zapotec Community Priests and Their Rituals 215

8 Zapotec Ritual Books and Sacred Calendars 235

9 The Mitla Murals 291

10 Religion in Ancient Zapotec Society 339.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781607323730

1607323737

OCLC:

895301957