audiobook Burma in Turmoil by Alden T. Roycee in History

Description

In the first comprehensive treatment of Classic Maya patron deity veneration; Joanne P. Baron demonstrates the central importance of patron deity cults in political relationships between both rulers and their subjects and among different Maya kingdoms. Weaving together evidence from inscriptions; images; and artifacts; Patron Gods and Patron Lords provides new insights into how the Classic Maya polity was organized and maintained. Using semiotic theory; Baron draws on three bodies of evidence: ethnographies and manuscripts from Postclassic; Colonial; and modern Maya communities that connect patron saints to pre-Columbian patron gods; hieroglyphic texts from the Classic period that discuss patron deity veneration; and excavations from four patron deity temples at the site of La Corona; Guatemala. She shows how the Classic Maya used patron deity effigies; temples; and acts of devotion to negotiate group membership; social entitlements; and obligations between individuals and communities. She also explores the wider role of these processes in politics; arguing that rituals and discourses related to patron deities ultimately formulated Maya rulership as a locally oriented institution; which limited the ability of powerful kingdoms to create wider religious communities. Applying a new theoretical approach for the archaeological study of ideology and power dynamics; Patron Gods and Patron Lords reveals an overlooked aspect of the belief system of Maya communities.