1.
Palenque
–
Palenque, also anciently known as Lakamha, was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca.226 BC to ca and it is located near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, about 130 km south of Ciudad del Carmen,150 m above sea level. It averages a humid 26 °C with roughly 2160 mm of rain a year, the most famous ruler of Palenque was Kinich Janaab Pakal, or Pacal the Great, whose tomb has been found and excavated in the Temple of the Inscriptions. By 2005, the area covered up to 2.5 km². Mythological beings used a variety of glyphs in their titles indeed suggests a complex early history. For instance, Kuk Bahlam, the founder of the Palenque dynasty, is called a Toktan Ajaw in the text of the Temple of the Foliated Cross. The famous structures that we know today probably represent an effort in response to the attacks by the city of Calakmul. He is best known through his funerary monument, dubbed the Temple of Inscriptions after the text preserved in the temples superstructure. At the time Alberto Ruz Lhuillier excavated Pakals tomb it was the richest and best preserved of any scientifically excavated burial then known from the ancient Americas. It held this position until the discovery of the rich Moche burials at Sipan, Peru, the extensive iconography and textual corpus has also allowed for study of Classic period Maya mythology and ritual practice. After him, a king came to power, nicknamed Casper by archaeologists, the next two kings were probably Caspers sons. Little was known about the first of these, Butz Aj Sak Chiik, until 1994, the first tablet mentioned his successor Ahkal Mo Naab I as a teenage prince, and therefore it is believed that there was a family relation between them. For unknown reasons, Akhal Mo Naab I had great prestige, when Ahkal Mo Naab I died in 524, there was an interregnum of four years, before the following king was crowned en Toktán in 529. Kan Joy Chitam I governed for 36 years and his sons Ahkal Mo Naab II and Kan Balam I were the first kings who used the title Kinich, which means the great sun. This word was used also by later kings, Balam was succeeded in 583 by Yohl Iknal, who was supposedly his daughter. The inscriptions found in Palenque document a battle that occurred under her government in which troops from Calakmul invaded and sacked Palenque and these events took place in 599. A second victory by Calakmul occurred some years later, in 611, under the government of Aj Ne Yohl Mat. In this occasion, the king of Calakmul entered Palenque in person, consolidating a significant military disaster, Aj Ne Yohl Mat was to die in 612
2.
Madrid
–
Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
3.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
4.
Dresden Codex
–
The Dresden Codex is the oldest surviving book from the Americas, dating to the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The codex was rediscovered in the city of Dresden and is how the Maya book received its present name and it is located in the museum of the Saxon State Library in Dresden, Germany. The book received serious damage during World War II. The pages are 8 inches high and can be folded accordion-style and it has Mayan hieroglyphs and refers to an original text of some three or four hundred years earlier, describing local history and astronomical tables. The Dresden Codex contains 78 pages with decorative board covers on the front, most pages have writing on both sides. They have a border of red paint, although many have lost this framing due to age deterioration, the pages are generally divided into three sections, students of the codex have arbitrary labeled these sections a, b, and c. Some pages have just two sections, while one has four and another five sections. The individual sections with their own theme are generally separated by a red vertical line, sections are generally divided into two to four columns. The Dresden Codex is one of four hieroglyphic Maya codices that survived the Spanish Inquisition in the New World, three, the Dresden, Madrid, and Paris codices, are named after the city where they were ultimately rediscovered. The fourth is the Grolier Codex, located at the Grolier Club in New York City, the Dresden Codex is held by the Saxon State and University Library Dresden in Dresden, Germany. The Maya codices all have about the same pages, with a height of about 20 centimetres. The pictures and glyphs were painted by skilled craftsmen using thin brushes, black and red were the main colors used for many of the pages. Some pages have detailed backgrounds in shades of yellow, green, the codex was written by eight different scribes, who all had their own writing style, glyph designs, and subject matter. The Dresden Codex is described by historian J. Eric S. Thompson as writings of the people of the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. Maya historians Peter J. Schmidt, Mercedes de la Garza, Thompson further narrows the probable origin of the Dresden Codex to the area of Chichen Itza, because certain picture symbols in the codex are only found on monuments in that location. He also argues that the tables would support this as the place of origin. British historian Clive Ruggles suggests, based on the analyses of several scholars, Thompson narrows the date closer to 1200 to 1250. Maya archaeologist Linton Satterthwaite puts the date when it was made as no later than 1345 and it is the oldest surviving book from the Americas
5.
Four Heavenly Kings
–
The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods, each of whom watches over one cardinal direction of the world. In Chinese, they are known collectively as the Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn or Sì Dà Tiānwáng, the Hall of the Heavenly Kings is a standard component of Chinese Buddhist temples. The Kings are collectively named as follows, the Four Heavenly Kings are said to currently live in the Cāturmahārājika heaven on the lower slopes of Mount Sumeru, which is the lowest of the six worlds of the devas of the Kāmadhātu. They are the protectors of the world and fighters of evil, all four serve Śakra, the lord of the devas of Trāyastriṃśa. On the 8th, 14th and 15th days of each lunar month, then they report upon the state of affairs to the assembly of the Trāyastriṃśa devas. On the orders of Śakra, the four kings and their retinues stand guard to protect Trāyastriṃśa from another attack by the Asuras and they are also vowed to protect the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Buddhas followers from danger. According to Vasubandhu, devas born in the Cāturmahārājika heaven are 1/4 of a krośa in height and they have a five-hundred-year lifespan, of which each day is equivalent to 50 years in our world, thus their total lifespan amounts to about nine million years. The umbrella was a symbol of sovereignty in ancient India. Vaiśravaṇas mongoose, which ejects jewels from its mouth, is said to represent generosity in opposition to greed, statues of the Four Heavenly Kings of Jikō-ji, Takasago, Hyōgo, Japan. Guardians of the directions Bacab Lokapala Tetramorph Titan Anemoi Four Dwarves Four Stags Schumacher, shitenno - Four Heavenly Kings of Buddhism, Guarding Four Cardinal Directions. Digital Dictionary of Buddhism in Japan
6.
Anemoi
–
The Spartans were reported to sacrifice a horse to the winds on Mount Taygetus. Astraeus, the deity, and Eos/Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, were the parents of the Anemoi. The daughters of the Anemoi are the Aurae, the deities equivalent to the Anemoi in Roman mythology were the Venti. These gods had different names, but were very similar to their Greek counterparts, borrowing their attributes. Boreas was the Greek god of the north wind and the bringer of winter. Although normally taken as the wind, the Roman writers Aulus Gellius. Boreas is depicted as being strong, with a violent temper to match. He was frequently shown as an old man with shaggy hair and beard, holding a conch shell. Pausanias wrote that Boreas had snakes instead of feet, though in art he was depicted with winged human feet. Boreas two sons Calaïs and Zetes, known as Boreads, were in the crew of the Argo as Argonauts, Boreas was closely associated with horses. He was said to have fathered twelve colts after taking the form of a stallion, to the mares of Erichthonius and these were said to be able to run across a field of grain without trampling the plants. Pliny the Elder thought that mares might stand with their hindquarters to the North Wind and he is said to have fathered three giant Hyperborean priests of Apollo by Chione. Boreas was also said to have kidnapped Orithyia, an Athenian princess, Boreas had taken a fancy to Orithyia and had initially pleaded for her favours, hoping to persuade her. When this failed, he reverted to his temper and abducted her as she danced on the banks of the Ilisos. Boreas wrapped Orithyia up in a cloud, raped her, and with her, from then on, the Athenians saw Boreas as a relative by marriage. When Athens was threatened by Xerxes, the people prayed to Boreas, and when they went home they built the god a shrine by the River Ilissus. The abduction of Orithyia was popular in Athens before and after the Persian War, in these paintings, Boreas was portrayed as a bearded man in a tunic, with shaggy hair that is sometimes frosted and spiked. The abduction was also dramatized in Aeschyluss lost play Oreithyia, in other accounts, Boreas was the father of Butes and the lover of the nymph Pitys
7.
Maya civilization
–
The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture, the first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC, in the Late Preclassic a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop a number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful, the Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonized the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city in 1697. Classic period rule was centred on the concept of the divine king, kingship was patrilineal, and power would normally pass to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader. Maya politics was dominated by a system of patronage, although the exact political make-up of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic, the aristocracy had greatly increased, resulting in the reduction in the exclusive power of the divine king. Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, the Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, there are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a complex series of interlocking ritual calendars. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice, the Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers a region that spreads from northern Mexico southwards into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradles of civilization worldwide, the Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural developments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing, and calendrical systems
8.
Spanish conquest of the Maya
–
The conquest of the Maya was hindered by their politically fragmented state. Spanish and native tactics and technology differed greatly, among the Maya, ambush was a favoured tactic, in response to the use of Spanish cavalry, the highland Maya took to digging pits and lining them with wooden stakes. Spanish weaponry included broadswords, rapiers, lances, pikes, halberds, crossbows, matchlocks, Maya warriors fought with flint-tipped spears, bows and arrows, stones, and wooden swords with inset obsidian blades, and wore padded cotton armour to protect themselves. Before the conquest, Maya territory contained a number of competing kingdoms, many conquistadors viewed the Maya as infidels who needed to be forcefully converted and pacified, disregarding the achievements of their civilization. Several Spanish expeditions followed in 1517 and 1519, making landfall on various parts of the Yucatán coast, the Spanish conquest of the Maya was a prolonged affair, the Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries. In Mexico, the Maya occupied territory now incorporated into the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Quintana Roo, the Yucatán Peninsula is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the east and by the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west. It incorporates the modern Mexican states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Campeche, the portion of the state of Tabasco, most of the Guatemalan department of Petén. Most of the peninsula is formed by a vast plain with few hills or mountains, in contrast, the northeastern portion of the peninsula is characterised by forested swamplands. The northern portion of the peninsula lacks rivers, except for the Champotón River – all other rivers are located in the south, a chain of fourteen lakes runs across the central drainage basin of Petén. The largest lake is Lake Petén Itza, it measures 32 by 5 kilometres, a broad savannah extends south of the central lakes. To the north of the lakes region bajos become more frequent, to the south the plain gradually rises towards the Guatemalan Highlands. Dense forest covers northern Petén and Belize, most of Quintana Roo, southern Campeche, further north, the vegetation turns to lower forest consisting of dense scrub. Chiapas occupies the extreme southeast of Mexico, it possesses 260 kilometres of Pacific coastline, Chiapas features two principal highland regions, to the south is the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and in central Chiapas are the Montañas Centrales. They are separated by the Depresión Central, containing the drainage basin of the Grijalva River, the Sierra Madre highlands gain altitude from west to east, with the highest mountains near the Guatemalan border. The Central Highlands of Chiapas rise sharply to the north of the Grijalva, to an altitude of 2,400 metres. They are cut by valleys running parallel to the Pacific coast. At the eastern end of the Central Highlands is the Lacandon Forest, the littoral zone of Soconusco lies to the south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and consists of a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre. The Maya had never been unified as an empire, but by the time the Spanish arrived Maya civilization was thousands of years old and had already seen the rise
9.
Maya architecture
–
A unique and intricate style, the tradition of Maya architecture spans several thousands of years. Often, the buildings most dramatic and easily recognizable as Mayans are the stepped pyramids the Terminal Pre-classic period, being based on the general Mesoamerican architectural traditions, these pyramids relied on intricate carved stone in order to create a stairstep design. Each pyramid was dedicated to a deity whose shrine sat at its peak, during this height of Maya culture, the centers of their religious, commercial and bureaucratic power grew into large cities, namely Tikal, and Uxmal. Through observation of the numerous consistent elements and stylistic distinctions, remnants of Maya architecture have become an important key to understanding the evolution of their ancient temples, Maya architecture tends to integrate a great degree of natural features. However, some semblance of order, as required by any large city, at the onset of large-scale construction, a predetermined axis was typically established in congruence with the cardinal directions. Immediately outside of this center were the structures of lesser nobles, smaller temples, and individual shrines. Outside of the evolving urban core were the less permanent. Classic Era Maya urban design could easily be described as the division of space by great monuments, in this case, the open public plazas were the gathering places for the people and the focus of the urban design, while interior space was entirely secondary. Only in the Late Post-Classic era did the great Maya cities develop into more fortress-like defensive structures that lacked, for the most part, the large and numerous plazas of the Classic. A flight of steep stone steps split the large stepped platforms on at least one side. Depending on the prevalent stylistic tendencies of an area, these platforms most often were built of a stucco, as is the case with many other Maya reliefs, those on the platforms often were related to the intended purpose of the residing structure. Thus, as the platforms were completed, the grand residences and temples of the Maya were constructed on the solid foundations of the platforms. Commonly, these would continue uninterrupted around a structure and contain a variety of artwork pertaining to the inhabitants or purpose of a building. Though not the case in all Maya locations, broad use of painted stucco has been discovered as well and it has been suggested that, in conjunction to the Maya Long Count Calendar, every fifty-two years, or cycle, temples and pyramids were remodeled and rebuilt. It appears now that the process was often instigated by a new ruler or for political matters. However, the process of rebuilding on top of old structures is indeed a common one, most notably, the North Acropolis at Tikal seems to be the sum total of 1,500 years of architectural modifications. These were commonly limestone platforms of typically less than four meters in height where public ceremonies, large and often highly decorated, the palaces usually sat close to the center of a city and housed the populations elite. Every exceedingly large royal palace, or one consisting of many chambers on different levels might be referred to as an acropolis, archaeologists seem to agree that many palaces are home to various tombs
10.
Twin-pyramid complex
–
A twin-pyramid complex or twin-pyramid group was an architectural innovation of the Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. Twin-pyramid complexes were built at the great city of Tikal in the central Petén Basin of Guatemala to celebrate the end of the 20-year katun cycle of the Maya Long Count Calendar. A twin-pyramid complex has been identified at Yaxha, a city that was 30 kilometres to the southeast of Tikal. Another has been mapped at Ixlu, and Zacpeten appears also to possess at least one twin-pyramid complex and these examples outside of Tikal itself indicate that their cities were closely linked to Tikal politically. Plain monuments were raised at the foot of the east pyramid. The term twin-pyramid complex was first used in 1956 by Edwin M. Shook when he recognised that five groups conformed to a similar architectural pattern. Twin-pyramid complexes had identical radial pyramids on the east and the west sides of a small plaza, usually they had a range building on the south side that possessed nine doorways and a small enclosure on the north side that housed a sculpted stela-altar pair. These sculpted monuments recorded the king performing the katun-ending ceremony, up to nine plain stela-altar pairs were erected in a line at the foot of the eastern pyramid, facing west, at Tikal no stelae were ever placed in front of the western pyramid. The twin pyramids were never designed to support a summit temple, the walled northern enclosure faced southwards onto the plaza. Access was via a single doorway sporting a corbel arch, the enclosure was not roofed, the earliest twin-pyramid complex was built in Tikals East Plaza early in the 6th century AD. This first example was used to celebrate several katun endings, in the Late Classic Period a new twin-pyramid complex was built for each katun-ending ceremony, with six complexes built between 692 and 790. A total of nine such complexes have been discovered at Tikal, although one was demolished in antiquity. Later twin-pyramid complexes tended to be larger than their predecessors, with two examples being much larger than earlier versions, five of the nine twin-pyramid complexes at Tikal had been recorded prior to the University of Pennsylvania initiating the Tikal Project of investigations in 1956. Four had been reported by Teobert Maler in 1911 and mapped by Alfred Tozzer and R. E. Merwin that year, the last had been discovered by Edwin Shook in 1937. When Shook found Stela 22 in Group Q in 1956, he realised that all five groups conformed to a set architectural pattern, Tikal Group L was situated to the south of Tikal Temple IV but was demolished in antiquity. Site archaeologists believe that the complex was demolished around 740 in order to construction material for Temple IV. The visible remains are a number of monuments scattered on the surface. The complex was built in 672
_01.jpg)