Religion Influence On Mayan Society

Although many scholars believing that the mayans were uncivilized people, religion impacted Mayan society by causing there to be more religious beliefs and changing the aspects of culture. Religion impacted the infrastructure, beliefs, inventions and art in the Mayan Society. Religion had impacted a major part of the aspects of culture, such as intellect and engineering. Each had a different impact such as new inventions, the creation of a number system and writing system. The number system and writing system were the most impacted by religion. The number and writing system impacted both math and science during the Mayan Period. Maya Civilization brought in a Maya Calendar and hieroglyphic writing. Inscriptions helped understand more about

Not only did religion change the aspects of culture in the mayan society but it also influenced the style of buildings and art. Most of the influence was by the mayan god and beliefs that the society had. Gods were a major impact in the mayan society. Gods impacted the artworks in the society. “The most common subjects of Maya art, however, are gods and earthly rulers. This was not an accident. The maya believed that the gods were fundamentally responsible for whatever happened in human affairs. Each god controlled some aspect of human existence, good or bad. Many artworks depicted individual gods or objects associated with them, such as sacred animal of the rainforest” (Cause & Effect: The Ancient Mayans). Gods and goddesses were a major part of the mayan society. They were very influential and were fundamentally responsible for a variety of things. Gods were the ones who had some control on human experiences. God was treated like a source to human society. Humans were made to honor the gods. and thus gods were depicted on to artworks. In the mayan society, each god represented something different allowing a variety of personalities. “Any list of the finest achievements of the Maya would include objects of art. Today art galleries for from Central America own extensive collection of Maya Art. Most Mayan art were either sculpture or stelae. Mayan painting took forms as murals. Murals ranged from lords and gods to

Most importantly the belief of Heaven and Hell. “Contrary to contemporary western ideas of heaven and hell, the Maya believed in different levels of these realms. The Maya understand supernatural levels not as heaven and hell, but as the upper world which consists of thirteen levels, the middle world which is one level, and the underworld which is nine levels. The Ceiba tree is believed to grow through all of the realms, from the highest level of the upper world to the lowest level of the underworld” (Maya Religion). Mayan beliefs were influenced by the mayan religion. Like heaven and hell, the upper world was heaven, the middle world is the normal world and the underworld is hell according to the mayan beliefs. Most of these ideas were based of the mayan religion because the mayans believed that the Ceiba tree was the cause of the earth to form. Thus the upper, middle and underworld were considered to be a influencer to the mayan society. “ Like Maya art and science, Maya architecture was also heavily influenced by religious ideas. Maya buildings often included religious carvings and icons. The maya underworld was believed to consist nine layers, and thus many temples and pyramids had nine layers to reflect the structure of the underworld. Secular Buildings had different numbers of doorways, with the numbers corresponding to numbers important in the mayan religion” (Cause & Effect: The Ancient Mayans).