The Maya Ballgame
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Transcript of The Maya Ballgame
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The Maya Ballgame
CHW-3M1
Take general noteson the subject
matter. Don’t copy everything.
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Mesoamerican Ballgame
• Exhibit in the New Orleans Museum of Art in 2002
• “The Sport of Life and Death”
• Ballgame: sport, politics, and ritual
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Ball Game
• First ball court ~1400 B.C. (Pacific Coast of modern Chiapas, Mexico)
• First rubber balls from the spring El Manatí (Gulf Coast)
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Religion: The Ball Game
• Mayans inherited a ball game from the Olmecs that was an important part of Mayan political and religious festivals
• High-ranking captives were forced to play the game for their very lives– The losers became sacrificial victims and faced torture and
execution immediately following the match• Object of the game was to propel an 8 inch ball of
solid baked rubber through a ring or onto a marker without using your hands
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Pok-a-tok (Ball Game)
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Maya ballgame
• The ball court was an integral part of the ceremonial centers– Stone buildings– Two parallel structures – (I-shaped playing alley)– Sloping walls– Some ball courts have end zones (I-shape)
• Target: ball court ring, upright post, or flat markers
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Rules• Two teams played each other
– Sometimes only two men – (e.g. two kings or a king and a captive)– Headdresses identified teams
• Balls bounced back from the side walls• Scoring: Rubber ball had to hit a target
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Ballcourt Markers
Ballcourt goal, Chichén Itzá
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CopanBall court II-BCenter Marker
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Ball court at Chichen Itza
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Mayan Ball Court
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Ball Court
Ballcourt at Monte Alban
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Protective gear
• Solid rubber balls are heavy!
• Equipment:– knee pad (only on one
knee)– hip yoke – breast shield
• Made of leather
Ceramic figurine from Jaina
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An elite affair• Ballgame very important to the Maya kings
and nobles– Titles: pitsal “ballplayer”– Ballgame appears often in Maya art
• Social prestige and probably manly honor• Likened to the hunt of deer
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Players
Ballplayer Wearing Deer Headdress, Late Classic Period, Maya, A.D. 700-900
Monument With Decapitated Ballplayer, Early Postclassic Period, Veracruz, c. A.D. 900-1200
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Political ends• Political landscape of the Maya: competing
city states• Ballgame as means of competition among
nobles– Emblematic teams for each site– Substitute for war?
• Sacrifice of war captives in set-up games
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Sacrifice• Sacrifice of captives
– Rolling them into a ‘ball’– Tossing them down a stairway to fall to their death
• Stairways as ‘one-sided ball court’
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Sacrifice of the Player
One of a series of murals from the South Ballcourt at El Tajin, showing the sacrifice of a ballplayer.
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TikalAltar 8
War Captive
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GAME
Decapitation scene at a ball court
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Not only a game …• Ballgame was accompanied by wagering• Huge crowds attended
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Modern Survivors
• The ballgame is still played today– 3500 years later!
• Rural areas of Mexico• Several variants
Modern Ulama
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Not one but many ballgames
• Several ballgame variants:– Hip-ball– Stick-ball– Hand-ball
• Variants in different regions and different time periods
• Targets vary: rings, posts, markers, etc.
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Mythological and Religious Aspects
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Sacrifice• Was the winner or looser of a ballgame
sacrificed? – We don’t know• Ritual embedding of the ballgame:
– Skulls inside the rubber balls– Sacrifice, decapitation
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Ballgame and creation• Ballgames commemorate ballgames that took
place at the time of creation• Sacrifice/death and creation/life as two sides
that balance each other for the Maya
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Gods• The Maya thought their deities and the
netherworld very much as mirror images of earth and humans
• Ball playing gods• Recall Hero Twins story
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Ballgame & Underworld• The ballgame was thought to connect to the
underworld– Entering the underworld through the ball court
cleft (or caves, or water surfaces)– Ball court as transitional zone
• Ball court as ’ohl “portal” • Transitional persons like
dwarfs as ballplayers
Palenque “dwarf” figurine
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Gods and Ancestors• Maya concept of person
– Rulers had the capability to morph themselves, go through the portal, and return
• Ballgame as means of communication with ancestors and gods– Other means: blood sacrifice
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Ballgame in Codices
http://www.ulama.freehomepage.com/
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http://www.ballgame.org
Go to this website to learn more aboutMayan ball games.
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Watch a Ballgame
http://www.ballgame.org/sub_section.asp?section=3&sub_section=1