Lesson 14

The Civilization of Mayas, Incas & Aztecs

The aim of the lesson is to teach you to draw historical analogies

1. Read the given information and answer the questions:

a) Why are Westerners still fascinated [очарованы] by the civilizations under discussion?
b) What might have led to the collapse [крах] of the civilizations?
The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the
Yucatan around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence [заняли видное место] around A.D. 250 in present-day
southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited
[унаследованный] inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed
astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing.
While Europe was still in the Dark Ages, these amazing people had mapped the heavens, evolved
[развили] the only true writing system native to the Americans and were masters of mathematics.
They invented the calendars we use today. Without metal tools [орудия], beasts of burden [вьючные
животные] or even the wheel they were able to construct vast [обширный] cities across a huge jungle
landscape with an amazing degree of architectural perfection and variety. Their legacy [наследие] in stone,
which has survived in a spectacular fashion [зрелищно] at places such as Palenque, Tikal, Tulum, Chichen
Itza, Copan and Uxmal, lives on as do the seven million descendants of the classic Maya civilization.
The Aztec civilization contained about 15 million people that lived in nearly 500 towns and cities. The
center of the Aztec civilization was the Valley of Mexico, a huge, oval basin [бассейн] about 7,500 feet
above sea level. The largest city in the empire was the capital, Tenochtitlan.
The story of the Aztecs' rise to power is awe inspiring one [внушает благоговейный трепет], and is
one of the most remarkable stories in world history. They were a relatively unknown group of people who
came into the Valley of Mexico during the 12th and 13th century A.D., and rose to be the greatest power in
the Americas by the time the Spaniards arrived, in the 16th century.
The Inca have long held a mystical fascination for people of the western world. Four hundred years ago
the fabulous wealth in gold and silver possessed by these people was discovered, then systematically
pillaged [грабилось] and plundered [расхищалось] by Spanish conquistadors. And in their wake, they left a
highly developed civilization in tatters [разорённый]. That a single government could control many diverse
tribes [различные племена], many of which were secreted in the most obscure of mountain hideaways
[самые тёмные из горных убежищ], was simply remarkable. [поразительный]

2. Read the ‘Aztec Story of Creation’ and explain in what way this myth reveals the Aztecs’ vision of
the world.
Quetzalcoatl, the light one, and Tezcatlipoca, the dark one, looked down from their place in the sky and
saw only water below. A gigantic goddess floated upon the waters, eating everything with her many mouths.
The two gods saw that whatever they created was eaten by this monster. They knew they must stop her,
so they transformed themselves into two huge serpents and descended into the water. One of them grabbed
the goddess by the arms while the other grabbed her around the legs, and before she could resist they pulled
until she broke apart.
Her head and shoulders became the earth and the lower part of her body the sky. The other gods were
angry at what the two had done and decided, as compensation for her dismemberment, to allow her to
provide the necessities for people to survive; so from her hair they created trees, grass, and flowers; caves,
fountains, and wells from her eyes; rivers from her mouth; hills and valleys from her nose; and mountains
from her shoulders.
 Still the goddess was often unhappy and the people could hear her crying in the night.
They knew she wept because of her thirst for human blood, and that she would not provide food from
the soil until she drank. So the gift of human hearts is given her. She who provides sustenance for human
lives demands human lives for her own sustenance. So it has always been; so it will ever be.

3. Study the information concerning the religion of the civilizations discussed, completing the text with
the given words:
Religion was extremely _________. People worshipped hundreds of gods and Aspects
goddesses, each of whom ruled one or more human activities or _______ of nature. The
people had many ____________ gods because their culture was based heavily on balance
farming; also they included natural _______and ancestor-heroes. solar
They believed that the _________of the natural world, the processes that make life origin
possible - like the rain or _________energy - and that the destiny of people depended on agricultural
the will of these gods. While some deities were benevolent, others had terrifying
characteristics. important

It was thought that the _________of the gods should be acknowledged and thanks centers
given to them, so as to avoid the _________that their rage or indifference could cause. elements
For this reason, the monumental ceremonial __________were built and there were so
many religious rites. The existence of the gods and their goodwill were maintained by power
offering up the most valuable human possession, life. This then, was the ________of catastrophe
human sacrifice and the ritual of bearing intense physical pain, which believers
intentionally caused themselves. s

4. Read the text about the Aztecs’ Calendar and sum it up as if you were to explain its essence to
school children.
This is the Aztec Calendar, perhaps the most famous symbol of Mexico. The original object is a
massive stone slab, carved in the middle of the 15th century.
Historically, the Aztec name for the huge basaltic monolith is Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl, but it is
universally known as the Aztec Calendar or Sun Stone. It was during the reign of the 6th Aztec monarch in
1479 that this stone was carved and dedicated to the principal Aztec deity: the sun. The stone has both
mythological and astronomical significance. It weighs almost 25 tons, has a diameter of just under 12 feet,
and a thickness of 3 feet. The Aztec calendar kept two different aspects of time; tonalpohualli and
xiuhpohualli. Each of these systems had a different purpose.
The tonalpohualli was the 'counting of days.' It originated by ancient peoples observing that the sun
crossed a certain zenith point near the Mayan city of Copan every 260 days. So, this first system is arranged
in a 260-day cycle. These 260 days were then broken up into 20 periods, with each period containing 13
days, called trecenas. Each period was given the name of something that was then shown by a hieroglyphic
sign, and each trecena was given a number 1-13. Each trecena is also thought to have a god or deity
presiding over each of the trecena. They kept these counts in tonalamatls, screenfold books made from bark
paper.
The Aztecs used this as a religious calendar. Priests used the calendar to determine luck days for such
activities as sowing crops, building houses, and going to war.
The xiuhpohualli was the 'counting of the years.' This calendar was kept on a 365-day solar count. This
was also the agricultural and ceremonial calendar of the Aztec state. It was divided into 18 periods, with
each period containing 20 days, called veintenas. This left five days that were not represented. These were
called "nemontemi." These were the five transition days between the old and the new year, and were
considered days of nothing. This was a time of festivals. People came to the festivals with their best clothes
on, and took part in singing and dancing. This is also when the priest would perform sacrifices, most of these
sacrifices were human, but others were performed on animals and fruit.

5. The civilizations under discussion are famous for their inventions and achievements, e.g. calendar,
chocolate, pyramids, jewelry, etc. You are to choose the most important (interesting, fascinating, useful,
useless) one and to account for your choice. (You may make use of the plan, but it would be better if you
find some additional information yourself!)

6. How does modern man view the civilization of the past? Analyze the poem “Aztec Mask” by Carl
Sandburg, find stylistic devices and compare the vision of the author with your own.
AZTEC MASK
I wanted a man’s face looking into the laws and throat of life
With something proud on his face, so proud no smash of the jaws,
No gulp of the throat leaves the face in the end
With anything else than the old proud look:
Even to the finish, dumped in the dust,
Lost among the used-up cinders,
This face, men would say, is a flash,
Is laid on bones taken from the ribs of the earth,
Ready for the hammers of changing, changing years,
Ready for the sleeping, sleeping years of silence.
Ready for the dust and fire and wind.
I wanted this face and I saw it today in an Aztec mask.
A cry out of storm and dark, a red yell and a purple prayer,
A beaten shape of ashes
Waiting the sunrise or night,
Something or nothing.