By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
The Mayan civilization It developed between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, on the Yucatan Peninsula, in the south of what is now Mexico. The political and administrative organization of this civilization was supported by independent City-States, but they articulated with each other.
Each of the City-States had a specific way of exercising Mayan rule , but they all had a hereditary theocratic structure, in which the political chief , who was given the title of Halach Uinic, and his descendants were considered representatives of divine power on Earth. Furthermore, the political chief was also a warrior, as were the elite that surrounded him. Added to the government structure were the priests, who were generally very powerful and dominated astronomical knowledge, and the tax collectors, who were in charge of bureaucratic missions.
One of the greatest prestige that the Mayan political chief enjoyed was a great capture of warriors from rival tribes, at war, to be taken to the sacrifice in the great pyramids , built for this procedure. In general, sacrificed warriors were offered to the Mayan gods in exchange for portents to cities and the guarantee of new cycles of planting, harvesting, hunting, etc.
Still under the framework of the Mayan government farmers and manual workers, who inhabited the countryside and only went to urban centers on occasions of religious rituals, such as human sacrifices, were subjected.
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