Customer Reviews

The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs

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As a professional archaeologist I found this one of the most insightful books on the Maya I've ever read--and what a pleasure it is. You really catch the excitement of the hunt for the soul of the Maya, from two terrific key scholars. No one has ever tried this approach before, delving the "Maya mysteries" by deeply (and clearly) illustrating the finds and exploring the meanings associated with one outstanding building from each of several well known Maya sites. Each building selected also represents a distinctive TYPE of Maya structure as well: funerary or ritual pyramids, the Chichen ball court, broad plazas ("oceans!"), and great palaces, among others. The reader may not realize how new and innovative their proposed discoveries are, so smoothly and convincingly presented are they. They pull together many recent research advances, and push beyond. They reconstruct history and ritual, right down to the dance steps. Of course this type of analysis only works where one has extraordinary preservation, and texts still directly associated with their original buildings (rather than lost to some foreign collector). The thousands of typical ruined buildings could supply little of the rare information they use here; hopefully their insightful analyses will apply to the aggregate types as well. This is a really fascinating book, one that reads like a novel or good mystery. Even better, the text is organized in layers so you can pick the level of detail you want to follow, from a tourist summary to intricate details of textual exegesis and webs of inferences in the endnotes. This would make a wonderful second book on the Maya (after a general introduction, as by Mike Coe, Norman Hammond, or John Henderson, q.v.).

What a magnificent book for any general reader, like me, who loves to read about the cultures of Mesoamerica. The authors take us on a tour of seven of the best known and most visited sites: Tikal, Palenque, Copan, Seibal, Chich'en Itza, Uxmal, and Iximche'. The book opens with a most helpful introduction to the archaeology of Mayan culture and the cultural elements that are common to all the city-states / regions that we call Mayan.

Look at page 21 at the photo from 1891 that shows us what the Temple of the Inscriptions looked like before excavation and restoration. Obviously, all the trees that are cleared in the picture would have hidden them even more, but the photo could not have been taken with them there. As you read through the lessons on Mayan architecture, housing, writing, religion, and warfare, the Maya become life and blood people who existed at a time and place that becomes nearer to us through this great book.

If you are planning to visit one or more of these sites, then this book is a must read as well as a field guide to take with you on the trip. The authors take key features and each site and explain them in detail. What a great experience it would be to stand in front of these monuments, murals, and temples with this most helpful text helping you understand what you are seeing.

The book is richly illustrated with many drawings of important inscriptions, buildings, monuments, and architectural details. There are also many black and white photographs, and a section of wonderful color plates to help us understand the beauty of the natural setting that provides the context for these cultures.

After the visits to the cities there are many helpful features that comprise another hundred pages of the book. First, a concordance of Maya personal names provides the spelling used in this book, alternative and common anglicized versions of that name, and a brief description of who that person was. There is also a key to pronunciation and orthography that I found to be most helpful. It is always intimidating to see words without having any idea how they would be said.

The notes section is full of very helpful information for those readers who want to dig a little deeper as is the list of references (really, a bibliography). The Glossary of Gods and Supernaturals is amazingly interesting and helpful and the index is a handy way to get back to certain topics in each section when you are trying to tie the cultural elements together across time and geography.

As I said at the beginning, this is a fantastic and wonderful achievement that I am very grateful for and it is a final example of why we miss Linda Schele so much. The other authors are also fine and will continue to bring us much, but Prof. Schele had a special eye for the aesthetic achievements of the Maya and the ability to help us see things her way and enriched all of us who are fortunate enough to read her words.

"The Code of Kings" suffers from too much seriousness. The structure of the book relies on interpreting some main architectural achievements of the Mayan kings who commissioned them. That is, for most chapters a brief historical narrative is followed by a detailed description of the monumental group of interest and ends with an interpretation as to its relevance. The interpretations are good, and we can appreciate the great scholarly gifts of Linda Schele (in particular when the authors dispose of the Toltec Maya myths of Chichen Itza). We can even be moved at times such as when the authors talk of the Great Plaza of Waxaklahun-Ubah-K'Awil (this reviewer was happy to have read it a few days before going to Copan). However, this dense package might scare away a more casual reader of the Maya history. It also makes this book pretty useless to take along in your trip to Guatemala and Yucatan, unless you will have plenty of time to sit down under some trees and read while you visit. But if you have plenty of time to prepare for your trip, you definitely need to read it. And of course, it is a must in any serious book collection on the Maya.

This is a fairly in depth discussion of the epigraphic evidence from various Mayan cities, including Tikal, Palenque, Copan, Seibal, Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Iximche. The first chapter gives a brief overview of the Mayan region, writing, architecture, and mythology that helps orient the reader to the cultural and physical setting of the ancient centers. Thereafter each chapter is deducated to a specific site, its architecture, the written material illuminating its history, and its public personalities. Ms Schele's book brings to life the ancient people, making them more real to the reader. It, like "Lords of Tikal" by Peter Harrison (for which see my review list by clicking on my name or go to the book itself), helps the reader appreaciate the accomplishments of this society and of the researchers who have reclaimed it.

The last major book of the late, great Linda Schele, this volume represents an important epitaph as well as one of the most fascinating recent publications about the Maya. Its approach is to provide the reader with the history incorporated into several famous sites, thereby turning them from anonymous stone monuments into vessels relating captivating facts about Maya history and mythology. This works beautifully, especially in the highly detailed chapters on the Southern lowland sites, and as if that weren't enough, Schele and Matthews pack in some challenging, if not revolutionary theories as well. So, if you want to have the latest information about Maya research, there's no way around this book. A fact which also holds true if you simply want to visit the places described here, not as a blind-folded tourist but as someone who can peek into the complex meanings worked into the artworks of stone around you thousands of years ago. Which is probably the greatest gift Linda Schele could have left us.

This is not just an archeological study of some of the most important sites of the Maya world, it is an inmersion into Maya philosophy and art. I found it exciting how the book relates stories about the conflicts and conquests between the city states and their kings. Some of the new theories into the Toltec migration to Maya land are also very interesting and refreshing to read. I don't think this is a beginner book, at times it digs deep into Maya symbology and thinking, this could make it hard to follow if you're not familiar with some Maya history. Overall, like all of Schele's work, this is an excellent book.

A book any amateur Mayanist will cherish forever... containing many thoughtful and incredibly insightful analyses of sites and their details, both popular and obscure. One of the best books in any collection and, I think, the best in the author's very distinguished career. Buy this book!

I have only had time to browse through and start this book I recently purchased, but if it will stop the flow of e-mail mails from amazon asking me to review it, I will review it anyway. It is one of Linda Schele's last collaborations and for that reason alone it would be interesting. The only thing I can say so far is that it seems to be an interesting book aimed at the educated amateur. Although the title would lead the unwary to think it was strictly a book on Maya epigraphy and although it does contain a lot of epigrapical and linguistic information, it is really a tour of several Maya sites with in depth explanations, floor plans, and charts, all by leading experts. Though I am not in good enough health to travel, still it looks like a very useful book to any Maya scholar amateur or otherwise. I am over the age of two (katuns)

Schele & Mathews,two of the world's most gifted epigraphers, explore the meaning of the most beautiful Maya monuments and cities. They explain in detail the significance of symbolism against the backdrop of Maya government, politics, and the advanced cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Anyone who has traveled or hopes to travel to Chichen Itza, Palenque, Tikal or the other cities they describe will have a new appreciation for the achievements of the Maya culture. Schele and Mathews take the reader on a time-journey to unlock the mysteries of the greatest culture of the western hemisphere. Beautifully and profusely illustrated, this book will be treasured by Maya afficianados as well as the casual tourist to Mexico or Guatemala.

This woman was amazing.

First she studied studio painting. Then she taught art. Then she got interested in Mayans.

Then she proceeded to, quite meticulously, draw the shapes of their glyphs. Not an easy task. It takes a very good eye to replicate the shape of these things, and she did it seemingly effortlessly. Have you ever tried to write Chinese? Yeah, getting the proportions right in Mayan script is even harder. What a skilled hand.

And a skilled author. Both readable and profusely illustrated, The Code of Kings simply rocks. If you dig Mayan script, you will find plenty of it in here. And, best of all, she will teach you what to look for in it -- what it meant, what rituals it once recorded, and what Mayan life was and still is, essentially.