People of high social class would were special clothing to set them apart from the other Maya. farmers were in the lowest Mayan social classes. Slaves, who were usually prisoners of war, were the bottom of Mayan society. Many Mayan cities had pyramids with temples on top that were used for religious ceremonies. The priests were powerful because the Mayans believed that only the priests could perform the religious ceremonies that were needed to please the Mayan gods.
There was a supreme god, Itzama, and the rest of gods were ranked in importance. Most gods had human characteristics and needed human sacrifices to propitiate them. It is said that rivalry among the Mayan city-states often involved bloody fights. Painting show a society bent on war and using captives as sacrifices. At the top of the society was a ruler and around the ruler were a class of aristocrats whose wealth was determined by ownership of land.
The Mayans and Incans were very similar culturally. An emperor ruled the civilizations, beneath him was the nobles and priests and following them was the merchants and artisans and at the very bottom were the serfs. Both the Incans and Mayans valued their religion very strongly and they both were polytheistic, meaning they believed in many gods. The people sacrificed human and animal blood in rituals because they believed that their gods were nourished by blood. Agriculture was also a very important role in the Mayan and Incan civilizations.
• • The Incas and Aztecs, empires that both peaked in the 16th century, shared many differences and similarities socially and politically. The Incas were the more powerful empire because the Aztecs were more focused on their religion and had a better social system. • • The Incas were at first a little tribe that was a chiefdom, or form of political organization with rule by a hereditary leader. They used Andean social and economic customs. Incas were pastoralists meaning their military strength and success based on how many llamas and alpacas you had.
(This is an indirect comparison, not a direct comparison) For instance it went from the Pharaoh, high priests and nobles,scribes,craftsmen to the last class which were the slaves. Each city in Egypt had a king. The structure of their society was not based on the gender but based on the social classes. As well as the Mesopotamians, the Ancient Egyptian women bore and raised the children while then men taught the boys how to trade. The Mesopotamians believed in over fifty gods and goddesses, but four of these were held in greater importance.
They believed that every human being was composed of physical and spiritual parts or aspects. In addition to the body, each person had a shadow, a personality or soul, a life-force, and a name. They worshiped many gods inside of cult temples that were held by priests. These two cultures religions were very alike, but yet very different. The Egyptian pyramids, One of the great wonders of the world, these architectural wonders is one of the many things the Egyptian's are famous for.
The Mayans developed farming methods, traded expanded between the different Mayan cities, and the population is estimated to have grown to over two million people. Furthermore, a class system developed between the people, rich, poor, farmers, political leaders, religious leaders, and crafts people leading. And, since each group believed their needs superseded the
They sought the regard of their gods by offering up human sacrifices. The chosen sacrifices, often captives conquered in battle, would have their hearts cut out of their chests while they were still alive. Records show that over 5,000 people were ritually killed to celebrate the crowning of one certain Aztec chieftain. Hernan Cortes heard of unrest within the Aztec empire among the peoples who were demanded as tribute, and also heard of tales of wealth and gold within the empire, and proceeded to approach the Aztecs. Cortes was at first approached by ambassadors from the Aztec chieftain Moctezuma, yet Cortes still proceeded with a hunger for wealth and power.
The king or temple leaders had controlled large agricultural estates, and collected taxes from their subjects. While the Egyptians started out with separate kings for upper and Lower Egypt. That was until one ruler named Menes united them both. In Mesopotamia the ruler Sargon who was king of the city state Akkad, decided to unite the city states and became ruler of Sumer and Akkad. Much like Menes did with upper and lower Egypt.
What was mummification, its significance, and what happened after one was mummified? Religion was a large and crucial part of the Egyptian’s everyday lives. Their religion was based on polytheism, or the worship of many gods and goddesses; they did not believe in only one god. Furthermore, their gods, for the most part, took the forms of half human and half animal of some type. Citizens of ancient Egypt believed in many gods all through the Old Kingdom.