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The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Americas
A book about the daily life of the pre-Columbian peoples of the Aztec, Mayan & Inca cultures before European contact & conquest. Illustrated with black & white line drawings, maps & photos. Indexed with bibliography & chronology.
"An exotic panorama--lavishly illustrated & pulsing with life--of the Aztec, Maya & Inca civilizations. A Major work of archeology, anthropology & history by one of America's foremost archeological historians."--dust jacket
Part 1 Aztec
1 The historical & geographical background of the Aztecs
2 The people
3 The Aztec "kings" & the directing classes
4 The achievements
Part 2 Maya
1 This historical & geographical background of the Mayas
2 The people
3 The ruling class
4 The achievements
Part 3 Inca
1 The historical & geographical background of the Incas
2 The people
3 The Inca & his city
4 The achievements
"An exotic panorama--lavishly illustrated & pulsing with life--of the Aztec, Maya & Inca civilizations. A Major work of archeology, anthropology & history by one of America's foremost archeological historians."--dust jacket
Part 1 Aztec
1 The historical & geographical background of the Aztecs
2 The people
3 The Aztec "kings" & the directing classes
4 The achievements
Part 2 Maya
1 This historical & geographical background of the Mayas
2 The people
3 The ruling class
4 The achievements
Part 3 Inca
1 The historical & geographical background of the Incas
2 The people
3 The Inca & his city
4 The achievements
351 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
9 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
Victor Wolfgang von Hagen
144 books14 followersVictor Wolfgang von Hagen (February 29, 1908 - March 8, 1985) was a US-American explorer, archaeological historian, anthropologist, and travel writer who traveled the South Americas with his wife, Christine. Mainly between 1940 and 1965, he published a large number of widely acclaimed books about the ancient people of the Inca, Maya, and Aztecs.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 6, 2023
I acquired this book from a 'for free' box sitting outside someone's house. There's always a danger with history books they'll be bland, full of straight talking facts and no glamour. That fear took me a few months to open this book but I'm glad I did!
The author has a wonderful enthusiasm for history and writes beautiful sentences like 'The dream of every archaeologist is that someday in the hushed sanctity of the forest he will find a place, a city, a ruin which no other explorer has ever seen. This is a fundamental human instinct, for life exists for the sake of newness.'
The book animates everyday life in the Ancient Kingdoms. It informs you of social structures, of gender roles, and how available resources shaped society. As I have a passion for Ethnobotany I most enjoyed learning about each Kingdoms use of plants. For the Aztecs both religion and war stemmed from their understanding of the climate - wars had to be fought to gain sacrifice victims so that human hearts could be offered to the rain God, so that rain would come when needed and cease when needed to sustain the perfect crop of maize, which was the staple of everything.
It was special for me to find this book because I was lucky enough to visit Mexico and Central America when I was 21. At the time I was young and knew nothing, I visited Palenque and it didn't do much more for me than visiting an English Castle so it's incredible to have read this book and to relate it back to my memories. I visited Mexico and Guatemala with an open mind and absorbed so many stories from people I met, learned tid-bit's of history, anecdotes, made good friends, was told of the impacts of colonisation and ate maize in some form everyday.
It is fascinating to understand that maize is probably still as vital today as it was in the Ancient Kingdoms. Now they do not require human hearts for their maize, but the modern world of maize production does have it's own troubles, with many farmers switching to growing monocultures of GMO corn from the US, many indigenous varieties of corn are endangered.
The author has a wonderful enthusiasm for history and writes beautiful sentences like 'The dream of every archaeologist is that someday in the hushed sanctity of the forest he will find a place, a city, a ruin which no other explorer has ever seen. This is a fundamental human instinct, for life exists for the sake of newness.'
The book animates everyday life in the Ancient Kingdoms. It informs you of social structures, of gender roles, and how available resources shaped society. As I have a passion for Ethnobotany I most enjoyed learning about each Kingdoms use of plants. For the Aztecs both religion and war stemmed from their understanding of the climate - wars had to be fought to gain sacrifice victims so that human hearts could be offered to the rain God, so that rain would come when needed and cease when needed to sustain the perfect crop of maize, which was the staple of everything.
It was special for me to find this book because I was lucky enough to visit Mexico and Central America when I was 21. At the time I was young and knew nothing, I visited Palenque and it didn't do much more for me than visiting an English Castle so it's incredible to have read this book and to relate it back to my memories. I visited Mexico and Guatemala with an open mind and absorbed so many stories from people I met, learned tid-bit's of history, anecdotes, made good friends, was told of the impacts of colonisation and ate maize in some form everyday.
It is fascinating to understand that maize is probably still as vital today as it was in the Ancient Kingdoms. Now they do not require human hearts for their maize, but the modern world of maize production does have it's own troubles, with many farmers switching to growing monocultures of GMO corn from the US, many indigenous varieties of corn are endangered.
March 19, 2013
Von Hagen is usually a good bet, his writing being clear and accessible. This is therefore a capable general introduction to the civilizations of ancient Central and South America.
August 22, 2017
Ho comprato questo libro in un mercatino dell'usato, attratto sia dalla collana alla quale apparteneva (Gli Struzzi Einaudi sono stati per decenni la collana di punta dell'editoria italiana), sia per l'argomento che è di quelli interessanti: la scoperta archeologica di una nuova civiltà.
I miei ricordi di liceo mi dicevano che parlare delle grandi civiltà precolombiane significa parlare di architettura, e soprattutto delle incredibili strade che furono capaci di costruire, raggiungendo livelli tecnologici impressionanti per l'epoca: la lettura di questo libro lo ha confermato. Parlare della civiltà Inca quasi sempre significa parlare delle sue strade. Del resto qualunque impero molto esteso che voglia pensare di sopravvivere, deve essere in grado di costruire e gestire una rete di comunicazione efficiente: sia esso l'impero Romani, l'Impero Inca o altri. Non a caso, il declino di una civiltà comincia quando questa non è più in grado di gestire le proprie strade.
La curiosità che non mi aspettavo è che lo studio archeologico dell' impero Inca in realtà è recentissimo: risale alla seconda metà del '900, ed è dovuto al grande archeologo che è anche autore di questo libro, ovvero Von Hagen.
E purtroppo il libro soffre un po' il fatto di essere stato scritto dall'autore stesso del viaggio per le strade dell'immenso impero Inca: risulta essere molto freddo, molto tecnico, molto "studiato", appunto. Ed un mondo che agli occhi di un occidentale appare surreale, con le sue distanze di centinaia di miglia, le sue città ad altezze inimmaginabili (oltre tremila metri!), e le sue foreste fittissime, forse avrebbe meritato qualcosa di meglio dal punto di vista della resa al lettore.
Il fatto che Von Hagen sia molto archeologo e poco scrittore si vede anche dal fatto che a fianco delle (molte ed interessanti) informazioni che offre, traspare chiaramente un ecccessivo compiacimento di sè ed una scarsisima cura nel mantenere un occhio obiettivo nei confronti della storia. Nonostante le meraviglie che va scoprendo strada dopo strada, Von Hagen non riesce a perdere la spocchia del vero americano Wasp, e da un lato continua a far apparire gli Inca come dei veri selvaggi, dall'altro descrive gli aspetti più deteriori della (terribile) colonizzazione spagnola che distrusse quell'impero con l'odio del vero protestante.
Il coraggio nell'affrontare l'impresa è stato mirabile, ma il grande archeologo non è risultato altrettanto competente come scrittore e reportagista, secondo me.
I miei ricordi di liceo mi dicevano che parlare delle grandi civiltà precolombiane significa parlare di architettura, e soprattutto delle incredibili strade che furono capaci di costruire, raggiungendo livelli tecnologici impressionanti per l'epoca: la lettura di questo libro lo ha confermato. Parlare della civiltà Inca quasi sempre significa parlare delle sue strade. Del resto qualunque impero molto esteso che voglia pensare di sopravvivere, deve essere in grado di costruire e gestire una rete di comunicazione efficiente: sia esso l'impero Romani, l'Impero Inca o altri. Non a caso, il declino di una civiltà comincia quando questa non è più in grado di gestire le proprie strade.
La curiosità che non mi aspettavo è che lo studio archeologico dell' impero Inca in realtà è recentissimo: risale alla seconda metà del '900, ed è dovuto al grande archeologo che è anche autore di questo libro, ovvero Von Hagen.
E purtroppo il libro soffre un po' il fatto di essere stato scritto dall'autore stesso del viaggio per le strade dell'immenso impero Inca: risulta essere molto freddo, molto tecnico, molto "studiato", appunto. Ed un mondo che agli occhi di un occidentale appare surreale, con le sue distanze di centinaia di miglia, le sue città ad altezze inimmaginabili (oltre tremila metri!), e le sue foreste fittissime, forse avrebbe meritato qualcosa di meglio dal punto di vista della resa al lettore.
Il fatto che Von Hagen sia molto archeologo e poco scrittore si vede anche dal fatto che a fianco delle (molte ed interessanti) informazioni che offre, traspare chiaramente un ecccessivo compiacimento di sè ed una scarsisima cura nel mantenere un occhio obiettivo nei confronti della storia. Nonostante le meraviglie che va scoprendo strada dopo strada, Von Hagen non riesce a perdere la spocchia del vero americano Wasp, e da un lato continua a far apparire gli Inca come dei veri selvaggi, dall'altro descrive gli aspetti più deteriori della (terribile) colonizzazione spagnola che distrusse quell'impero con l'odio del vero protestante.
Il coraggio nell'affrontare l'impresa è stato mirabile, ma il grande archeologo non è risultato altrettanto competente come scrittore e reportagista, secondo me.
August 30, 2009
Von Hagen is amazing. I would love to share a beer with this globe trotting archeologist. That's not going to be possible since he died in 1985 but the tone of Ancient Sun Kingdoms is so enthusiastic and flows so easily it did feel like I got to know Von Hagen and share his passion for exploring ancient archeological sites. Von Hagen’s marveling and respect for the achievements of Aztec, Mayan, and Inca cultures are contagious. The book also contains hundreds of drawings and photos from Von Hagen’s collections. I will definitely look for other Von Hagen books – he’s a treasure!
February 13, 2016
A very interesting overview of the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations. I am most familiar with the Maya but to read about the three distinct and yet similar empires was quite interesting. The tone is conversational and wide-reaching, referencing Huxley, Nietzche and others to give a deeper understanding. Unfortunately I had to return it to the library before I was finished and it doesn't seem to be available now.
March 7, 2018
I really didn't think this book would interest me, but WOW it certainly did. Really interested in the Maya and Incas and after reading this book I now know more than ever before. Wish there were more books like this available.
February 1, 2024
Book is split into Aztec, Mayan and Incan sections. Read the Aztec section of this book. Plenty of photos to aid the descriptions in the book. You get a good sense of how their civilisation worked based on written accounts by Spanish conquistadors and artifacts found.
May 15, 2014
History as it Was in the Old New World
This review is from: The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Americas: Aztec, Maya, Inca (Hardcover)
This was pleasant, informative, scholarly reading on the pre-Spanish cultures and peoples of the New World. There is no fluff in this great volume of ancient real-life adventure. But it flows with readable excitement as this skilled writer takes you back into the reconstructed life of these ancient peoples of the Americas before they became the "New World" of the Europeans in search of new treasures to plunder.
I was surprised to find that this book is still available, though written in 1961. I happened upon my copy in a library sale of an excellent cultural library of a world mission agency that was updating its collection. I found that the remaining new copies of Von Hagen's 1961 Cultural history classic demand a retail price of $250, while used copies may be found for a cheap as $2.50 on Amazon.com. This was a thrilling and fascinating find!
Von Hagen's believable analysis of all the ancient American peoples of North and South reads like an action thriller. As he reconstructs the military movements of warrior peoples, we see the waves of warriors pour into the local areas as ancient conquerors come in to take over the even more ancient residents of one area of the old continents or another, before they are in their turn overrun by newcomers in their turn.
Von Hagen documents the internal struggles as one imperial faction overthrows another in the great Empires that long predated the European barbarians who had lately come to master the seas and discover the cultural challenges of a world that thrived without even knowing of Europe. He presents the few clues we have on some who disappeared suddenly and mysteriously from history, like the great Incas on the eve of the Spanish invasion, leaving behind their marvels of land engineering, commerce networks and architectural marvels.
Likewise we review the sad story of Spanish treachery that destroyed the proud Aztec Empire. We feel renewed agony at the loss Mayan cultural treasures of untold ages and eras, destroyed by a misguided religious zealot. When Von Hagen focuses on as the Spanish destruction of the accumulated science, math, astronomy and history of the Maya nation, we feel the weight of this onerous burden of modern history, realizing we are all poorer as a race, along with the immediate Mayan heirs to that great human treasure.
Von Hagen's detailed recreation of the daily lives, activities, economies, commerce and religions of these ancient peoples captured my interest and produced a mental video of sight and sound that was entrancing and rewarding. His illustrations and maps are very helpful in orienting the reader to the events and characteristics of each civilisation in its own place and time.
Very entertaining and time-conscious, Von Hagen tells us what else was happening in the comparable spheres of life in the classical world at the time of developments he mentions among the historical and prehistorical peoples of the New World. Such rich volumes are hard to find in current literature.
The author reports on social and culinary aspects of life, social roles and marriage patterns lineage, medicines and mystical beliefs. And he does all this without losing the eager movement of anticipation as these ancient lives come to life before us. He references all the archaeological finds available at the time of writing in 1961, and the deciphered records on stone and cave as well as parchment, where they were available.
This review is from: The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Americas: Aztec, Maya, Inca (Hardcover)
This was pleasant, informative, scholarly reading on the pre-Spanish cultures and peoples of the New World. There is no fluff in this great volume of ancient real-life adventure. But it flows with readable excitement as this skilled writer takes you back into the reconstructed life of these ancient peoples of the Americas before they became the "New World" of the Europeans in search of new treasures to plunder.
I was surprised to find that this book is still available, though written in 1961. I happened upon my copy in a library sale of an excellent cultural library of a world mission agency that was updating its collection. I found that the remaining new copies of Von Hagen's 1961 Cultural history classic demand a retail price of $250, while used copies may be found for a cheap as $2.50 on Amazon.com. This was a thrilling and fascinating find!
Von Hagen's believable analysis of all the ancient American peoples of North and South reads like an action thriller. As he reconstructs the military movements of warrior peoples, we see the waves of warriors pour into the local areas as ancient conquerors come in to take over the even more ancient residents of one area of the old continents or another, before they are in their turn overrun by newcomers in their turn.
Von Hagen documents the internal struggles as one imperial faction overthrows another in the great Empires that long predated the European barbarians who had lately come to master the seas and discover the cultural challenges of a world that thrived without even knowing of Europe. He presents the few clues we have on some who disappeared suddenly and mysteriously from history, like the great Incas on the eve of the Spanish invasion, leaving behind their marvels of land engineering, commerce networks and architectural marvels.
Likewise we review the sad story of Spanish treachery that destroyed the proud Aztec Empire. We feel renewed agony at the loss Mayan cultural treasures of untold ages and eras, destroyed by a misguided religious zealot. When Von Hagen focuses on as the Spanish destruction of the accumulated science, math, astronomy and history of the Maya nation, we feel the weight of this onerous burden of modern history, realizing we are all poorer as a race, along with the immediate Mayan heirs to that great human treasure.
Von Hagen's detailed recreation of the daily lives, activities, economies, commerce and religions of these ancient peoples captured my interest and produced a mental video of sight and sound that was entrancing and rewarding. His illustrations and maps are very helpful in orienting the reader to the events and characteristics of each civilisation in its own place and time.
Very entertaining and time-conscious, Von Hagen tells us what else was happening in the comparable spheres of life in the classical world at the time of developments he mentions among the historical and prehistorical peoples of the New World. Such rich volumes are hard to find in current literature.
The author reports on social and culinary aspects of life, social roles and marriage patterns lineage, medicines and mystical beliefs. And he does all this without losing the eager movement of anticipation as these ancient lives come to life before us. He references all the archaeological finds available at the time of writing in 1961, and the deciphered records on stone and cave as well as parchment, where they were available.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews