Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Nikolai Grube (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

There's nothing else like this book. It supersedes everything else ever written on Maya history. -- Michael D. Coe, author of Breaking the Maya Code

Product Description

For a thousand years the dense rain forests of Central America concealed the ruins of one of the world's great civilizations, that of the ancient Maya. Early explorers found themselves in cities dominated by steep temple pyramids and fallen idols covered in unfathomable hieroglyphs. Since the mid-nineteenth century, scholars have tried to understand the mysterious people who produced one of the greatest flowerings of art and culture in the New World. Behind the ruined Maya cities and their abandoned artworks--the superb sculptures of Copan, the fine vase painting of Naranjo, the mighty pyramids of Tikal and Calakmul--lie the turbulent stories of their ruling dynasties. The recent tremendous progress in reading Maya hieroglyphs is now bringing this story into focus. Here is the first book to bring together and examine the greatest Maya dynasties in a single volume. Two of the world's leading experts in Maya hieroglyphic decipherment reveal the latest thinking on the nature of Maya divine kingship, statehood, and political authority, and describe the most recent readings and archaeological finds, including their own discoveries. 250 illustrations, 100 in color.

Key features of the book include:

* biographical accounts of 152 kings and four ruling queens;
* royal names spelled in hieroglyphs, plus datafiles listing lineage, spouses and children, and place of burial;
* special features and boxes, ranging from the supernatural journeys of the dead kings to the Maya ballgame;
* timelines providing at-a-glance visual guides to the length and key events of each reign.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; illustrated edition edition (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500051038
• ISBN-13: 978-0500051030
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #323,961 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #20 in	Books > Science > Archaeology > Pre-Columbian
  #28 in	Books > History > Americas > Central America > Guatemala
  #79 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > Systems Of Government > Monarchy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE Reference Guide for Classic Maya History, June 15, 2001

By	JEB CARD (New Orleans, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews

Until I finally started using this book (I've had my copy since December, but haven't been able to return to studying Maya History until now), I would have recommended Schele and Friedel's _Forest of Kings_ (1990) as the best synthesis of Maya History. Though _Forest_ is out of date, it did a remarkable job at establishing a general idea of what Classic Maya history was all about (I'm not sure I want to use the word paradigm here). But with _Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens_, Martin and Grube have achieved two great things.

First, they have finally provided a good public accounting of their work on the Calakmul alliance. The piecing together of Calakmul's history and political structure from the rest of the Maya lowlands is truly an important key to understanding Maya political evolution.

Second, they have produced a first rate synthesis of Classic Maya history, at a time when some of the pieces are really falling into place. This is an evident strength of the book. While the chapters on the Late Classic city-states (Yaxchilan, Copan, etc.) are informative, up-to-date, and useful, they primarily fill out a picture of squabbling city states that has been understood for some time.

But it is in the first half of the book, dealing primarily with the conquests of Tikal/Teotihuacan (a connection only now being revealed with any sense of understanding) and the rival alliance built by the city of Calakmul during the 4th-7th centuries AD, that this book truly shines.

The systematic presentation of information on the rulers (especially the listing of names used previously by other Maya historians and archaeologists) will be of incredible utility to anyone trying to understand Maya history. On the subject of names, Martin and Grube are definitely up to date on using phonetic readings for as many names as they can, though I am sometimes skeptical of phonetic readings that do not spell out known words. I do think that an extensive endnote section dealing with some of these readings (ala _Forest of Kings_) would be useful, but I also understand that such a section might not be appropriate for the series that _Chronicle_ is a part of.

Truly, my only complaint concerning _Chronicle_ would be that I wanted more (more sites, primarily). Assuming that Martin and Grube have built up a significant database of historical data in preparing this book, I for one would love to see a specialist work, sort of a "Maya Who's Who", on all known personages. But _Chronicle_ will be keeping me busy checking monuments and dates for quite some time. This is truly an important work, and one which will hopefully inform both Mesoamericanists and the general public about an important chapter in the history of the Americas.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative Eyeful, July 3, 2002

By	Thomas F. Ogara (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The amount of information that has accumulated about the Maya in the last ten years is extraordinary. I find it amazing to go to public libraries, even good ones like the state library here in Tallahassee, Florida, only to find that most of the books on the Maya date from the 1970's or earlier, and virtually everything they have to say about the historical context of Maya civilization is woefully out of date.

If you're out of date about the latest developments in Maya historiography, or if you're just developing an interest in the subject, you'll find this book to be of value. It gives the history of the major classic era cities (the book is completely about the classic period, and only digresses outside of that era to add supporting information), and does it in a format that is attractive and interesting. Indeed, many of the illustrations are of pieces that have only recently been unearthed, and this increases the interest of the book.

The one drawback is that the book is a little too advanced for the beginner - it can be difficult to work out the historical signposts - and a little too basic for the student already familiar with most recent work. A little more data about the overall context of the period and culture would be of some value. Aside from this one objection, it is an admirable work, well-written enough to capture the interest of the intelligent general reader while not giving the feeling that the authors are talking down to a non-specialist level. Definitely worth the read.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excitingly political, January 30, 2001

By	tertius3 (MI United States) - See all my reviews

Highly recommended as a short, accessible, and not too technical introduction to Maya political history during the Classic Period (first millenium A.D.). Simon Martin is a brilliant young English art scholar and Nikolai Grube an outstanding epigrapher from Bonn. They collaborated to propose a new theory of grand shifting alliances among ancient Maya city states that roiled the Yucatan Peninsula 1500 years ago. This Chronicle (one in a Thames & Hudson series) includes that and more: it is an event-based chronicle of all the best known rulers of the ancient Maya world as currently inferred from their own pictorial hieroglyphics. It is a wonderful supplement for people interested in the Maya, with an exciting new history to outline.

There IS a chronological narrative running through it, but really this is a book to be studied. Only the 11 most powerful (or well-documented) Maya city states are presented in full. After a brief introduction to Maya history, five chapters trace the glyph-based histories of the most important cities (including Tikal and Calakmul). Then six chapters cover as many peripheral cities with full records (like Palenque and Copan), concluding with the fall of the kings. The text is festooned with innumerable photographs, line drawings of hieroglyphs and royalty, explanatory captions, kings' names, biographical tables, sidebars on archaeological topics, views of buildings, and shaded city plans. Helping you keep track of the impossible (and often similar) names are king headers and timeline footers. A useful bibliography and name (not topic) index complete the book

This book is not intended as a guide to famous ruins nor does it deal with the popular subject of Maya religion and cosmos. It deals with the political outcomes of the scheming and murder that underpinned all that. It does not provide glyph by glyph readings (as Schele and Mathews do for many of the same cities in the very different CODE OF KINGS). The book is printed on fine paper in Slovenia. (Hopefully we shall soon see some good novels fleshing out the bloody tales implied here.)