Mayan Religion, Sacrifice, and Warfare Essay

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Important ceremonies required that the sacrifice be held down at top of a pyramid or raised altar "while a priest made an incision below the rib cage and ripped out the heart with his hands. The heart was then burned in order to nourish the gods" ("Mayan Religion"). Though only captives were sacrificed to the gods, bloodletting was also common practice among the Mayan aristocracy. Blood was drawn from various body parts, splattered onto paper, and burnt as an offering to the gods ("Mayan Religion").

The constant threat of war during the Classic Period, and the wars that erupted due to the tensions between the rival communities, eventually led to the downfall of the civilization. Subsequently, the cities in the southern lowlands fell to each other; each city's demise was recorded in the victorious city on stelae (Salinas).

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Violent warfare was meant to establish political control and secure resources. Theories contend that the capture of sacrificial victims motivating factor for warfare among the Mayan people (Chacon). By 900 CE, the most important Mayan cities had collapsed and the remaining Mayan populations scattered into the surrounding forests. It is estimated that warfare, along with overpopulation, environmental exhaustion, drastic climate changes and drought were contributing factors to the civilization's downfall

Religion, war, and sacrifice are deeply interconnected within the Mayan culture. Religion was dependent on appeasing the gods through human and animal sacrifices and bloodletting and war was a method in which the Mayans could acquire people that they could sacrifice. Though the Mayans were nearly eradicated through endemic warfare and Spanish conquest, aspects of the culture remain today and influence modern Mayan religion and agriculture.

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