Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya

The Chronicles Series

by Simon Martin, Nikolai Grube

A superb guide to eleven of the `most influential and best-known kingdoms' that helped to shape Mayan history, including 152 biographical accounts of 152 kings and 4 ruling queens. Written by two of the foremost experts on Mayan hieroglyphic decipherment, this book includes a concise text accompanied by a timeline, illustrations, maps, photographs, useful summaries and guides to decipherment and spellings. It outlines the major periods of history and aspects of Mayan culture before focusing on issues of divinity, power and authority, the royal court, war, death and burial and politics for each of the kingdoms Tikal, Dos Pilas, Naranjo, Caracol, Calakmul, Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Palenque, Tonina, Copan and Quirigua.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Native Americans, Latin American History, Reference, World History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jack Bharucha]

I read the Second edition. The book is organized by city instead of by Dynasty. This causes some confusion, but it is also very fun to spot a name in one place and then go back a chapter to see where it came up. The whole story reads like a puzzle, which is a lot of what the state of Mayan archeology currently is.

[Emily Davis-Hale]

Great in-depth overview. Highly useful to anyone needing a quick reference for Maya dynasties (hi there, fellow grad students). I hope we’ll see a new edition soon, given the many developments in scholarship over the last decade.

[H.M.]

This book is chock full of site plans and photos, artifacts and loads of maps.

This is a highly informative work considering that most of Maya history comes from the Glyphs/writing left on buildings and monuments.

This book is a very good quick reference guide for those who do not want to wade through huge blocks of history text to get to the information you need. The volume is divided into sections separating the Maya into their city states and showing their impact on the world around them (as well as the impact on them from outsiders).

The Maya are a precise and warlike people who, it seems, overstretched their natural resources which then lead to their city states to eventual ruin and abandonment.

And now the Maya people today (who have a strong oral tradition) are being taught to read the writing of their ancestors by the Archaeologists who study the ancient Maya.

Writing and language are so much a part of a person's cultural identity, that when you lose your connection with it, you lose a part of yourself.

-HMC
http://www.hmclarkeauthor.com/

[Frederick]

A very enjoyable and interesting account of scholarship's opinions of the meanings of Mayan inscriptions, architecture, and sculpture. It is fascinating that such an impressive civilization is gone and we would do well to take heed to the warnings that are implied in this book. Overpopulation, disregard of the limitations of the environment, and constant warfare eventually take their toll on any civilization. I recommend this book highly. It has no agenda. Just spells out what they believe about Mayan history. Imagine leaders with names like "Baby Jaguar" and "First Step Shark".

[Travis]

It leans heavily on epigraphic analysis, without much analysis of why some of these texts may contain propagandistic lies. But it is overall great. Every known ruler from the major sites. Mayanists may benefit from seeking out the 2nd edition, as the bibliography is more complete. But the text itself has barely been revised.

[Leonide Martin]

Well-documented descriptions of the ruling dynasties of 11 Maya cities. Nice overview of Maya time periods, hieroglyphs, calendars, culture and politics. Published in 2000, the name spellings are from an older protocol; newer books use different spellings as epigraphic progress enabled better translations of Maya glyphs. Gorgeous color pictures throughout.

[AskHistorians]

This work offers an up to date history of the Classic Period Maya based off of inscriptions and archaeological work since the publication of Schele and Freidel's A Forest of Kings. This book is noted for its detail in understanding the relationships between different polities such as Tikal and Teotihuacan or Calakmul's alliance used to defeat Tikal.

[Ronny]

I very much enjoyed this book. I have been interested in Maya archaeology and history for many years. This was a very informative and up to date history of the Mayan kingdoms and their rulers. Very much recommended for anyone interested in this area.

[Little Timmy]

OK avoid this book if your aren't a history buff or a Mesoamerica scholar or just burning to learn a new area of interest. I loved it, it's a great book to teach the basic succession of rulers of the Maya. Slow to read but I did enjoy it. Very recommended

[ZooDoc]

This is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to research the history of ancient Mayan kings and queens, the Mayan language, calendar and culture.

[Jeffrey]

Mostly Yucatan Maya in the first edition-haven't looked at second edition-copiously illustrated and helpful to decode glyphs.

[Natalie]

Gosto muito desta série de livros e este não me desiludiu. Permitiu-me conhecer melhor este povo tão impressionante. Excelentes imagens.

[Line Saxtorph]

Very visually helpful and overall pretty handy guide to maya historical figures