Four heavens : a new history of the ancient Maya / David Stuart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stuart, David, 1965- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mayas--History.

Mayas.

Maya mythology.

Maya art.

Maya astronomy.

Maya language.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2026.

Summary:

From the world-leading expert on the Maya, a monumental history of a flourishing civilization across three millenniaThe Four Heavens brings to life the cultural and visual splendor of the ancient Maya, drawing on the oldest indigenous texts of the Americas and the latest archaeological discoveries to present an entirely new history of this spectacular civilization. Renowned historian and archaeologist David Stuart, who has made groundbreaking contributions to the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics, shows how there was no single rise and fall of the Maya but a series of births and collapses over a breathtaking span of nearly three millennia. Maya history was seemingly lost forever when the first Europeans encountered the great ruins of ancient cities in what is today Mexico and Central America. Today, with the recent decipherment of their ancient writings, the story of the Maya can now be told from their perspective. Stuart traces the rapid emergence of permanent settlements in the rainforest, which gave rise to monumental architecture and a flourishing urbanism and ushered in the Classic period of Maya civilization beginning in the mid-second century CE. He reveals a world of majestic royal courts tightly bound together by marriages, shifting alliances, and warfare, much of it driven by the ambitions of two major dynasties, the Kanuls and Mutuls. Stuart describes how the long-standing rivalry between these two great houses shaped the fates of the surrounding kingdoms and may have set the stage for "the Great Rupture" of the nineth century, when the royal courts buckled under the weight of internal strife, social unrest, and environmental crisis, transforming Maya civilization yet again. With stunning illustrations, including many of Stuart's own drawings and images, The Four Heavens is a work of momentous historical sweep, one that paints an unforgettable portrait of the Maya and the richly complex social, political, and cosmological worlds in which they lived. Available in Spanish from our partners at Grupo Planeta

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of Maps

Foreword

Preface

PART I. PASKAB: THE WORLD REVEALED

MAP 1. The Maya area with selected archaeological sites.

CHAPTER 1 Rupture

CHAPTER 2 Reading

CHAPTER 3 Dawning

PART II. KABCHEN: THE EARTH AND CAVES

CHAPTER 4 Dynasties

CHAPTER 5 Arrivals

CHAPTER 6 Expansions

PART III. CHANTECHAN: THE FOUR HEAVENS

CHAPTER 7 East

CHAPTER 8 West

CHAPTER 9 South

CHAPTER 10 North

PART IV. LOKOY: THE LEAVING

CHAPTER 11 Abandonments

CHAPTER 12 Revivals

CHAPTER 13 Rises and Falls

APPENDIX A Family Relations

APPENDIX B Selected Timeline

APPENDIX C Maya Timekeeping

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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ISBN:

0-691-28066-5

9780691280660