Yaxchilan - Classic Maya City-State in Mexico

Yaxchilan - Classic Maya City-State in Mexico Yaxchiln is a Classic period Maya site located on the riverbank of the Usamacinta river that borders the two modern countries of Guatemala and Mexico. The site lies within a horseshoe meander on the Mexican side of the river and today the site can only be reached by boat. Yaxchiln was founded in the 5th century AD and reached its maximum splendor in the 8th century AD. Famous for its more than 130 stone monuments, among which include carved lintels and stelae depicting images of royal life, the site also represents one of the most elegant examples of classic Maya architecture. Yaxchiln and Piedras Negras There are many extant and legible inscriptions in Maya hieroglyphs at Yaxchilan, which provide us a nearly unique glimpse into the political history of Maya city-states. At Yaxchilan, for most Late Classic rulers we have dates associated with their births, accessions, battles, and ceremonial activities, as well as their ancestors, descendants, and other kinsmen and companions. Those inscriptions also allude to an ongoing conflict with its neighbor Piedras Negra, located on the Guatemalan side of the Usumacinta, 40 kilometers (25 miles) upriver from Yaxchilan. Charles Gordon and colleagues from the Proyecto Paisaje Piedras Negras-Yaxchilan have combined archaeological data with information from the inscriptions at both Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, compiling a political history of the intertwined and competing Maya city-states. Early Classic 350-600 AD: Both communities began as small cities during the Early Classic in the 5th and 6th centuries AD, when their royal dynasties were established. As early as the 5th century, a neutral zone existed between Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan that was not controlled by either polity; and warfare was limited to a few, unusual episodes of direct conflict.Late Classic 600-810 AD: During the Late Classic, the neutral zone was repopulated and transformed into a contested frontier. Warfare was most frequent in the 8th century AD  and involved the governors of secondary and tertiary centers loyal to each combatant.Between the 7th and 8th centuries AD, Yaxchiln gained power and independence under the rulers Itzamnaaj B’alam II and his son Bird Jaguar IV. Those rulers extended their dominion over other nearby sites and started an ambitious construction program that included most of what is visible on at Yaxchilan today. At about 808, Piedras Negras lost its ruler to Ya xchilan; but that victory was brief. Terminal Classic 810-950 AD: By 810, both polities were in decline and by AD 930, the region was essentially depopulated. Site Layout Visitors arriving at Yaxchiln for the first time will be mesmerized by the tortuous, dark passageway known as â€Å"the Labyrinth† leading into the main plaza, framed by some of the most important buildings of the site. Yaxchiln is made up of three major complexes: the Central Acropolis, the South Acropolis, and the West Acropolis. The site is built over a high terrace facing the Usumacinta river on the north and extending beyond there into the hills of the Maya lowlands. Main Buildings The heart of Yaxchilan is called the Central Acropolis, which overlooks the main plaza. Here the main buildings are several temples, two ballcourts, and one of the two hieroglyphic stairways. Located in the central acropolis, Structure 33 represents the apex of Yaxchiln architecture and its Classic development. The temple was probably constructed by the ruler Bird Jaguar IV or dedicated to him by his son. The temple, a large room with three doorways decorated with stucco motifs, overlooks the main plaza and stands on an excellent observation point for the river. The real masterpiece of this building is its nearly intact roof, with a high crest or roof comb, a frieze, and niches. The second hieroglyphic stairway leads to the front of this structure. Temple 44 is the main building of the West Acropolis. It was constructed by Itzamnaaj B’alam II around 730 AD to commemorate his military victories. It is decorated with stone panels depicting his war captives. Temple 23 and its Lintels Temple 23  is located on the southern side of the main plaza of Yaxchilan, and it was built about AD 726 and dedicated by the ruler Itzamnaaj B’alam III (also known as Shield Jaguar the Great) [ruled 681-742 AD] to his principal wife Lady K’abal Xook. The single-room structure has three doorways each bearing carved lintels, known as Lintels 24, 25, and 26. A lintel is the load-bearing stone at the top of a doorway, and its massive size and location led the Maya (and other civilizations) to use it as a place to exhibit their skill at decorative carving. Temple 23s lintels were rediscovered in 1886 by the British explorer Alfred Maudslay, who had the lintels cut out of the temple and sent to the British Museum where they are now located. These three pieces are almost unanimously considered among the finest stone reliefs of the entire Maya region. Recent excavations by the Mexican archaeologist Roberto Garcia Moll identified two burials under the temple floor: one of an aged woman, accompanied by a rich offering; and the second of an old man, accompanied by an even richer one. These are believed to be Itzamnaaj Balam III and one of his other wives; Lady Xooks tomb is thought to be in the adjacent Temple 24, because it features an inscription recording the queens death in AD 749. Lintel 24 Lintel 24 is the easternmost of three door lintels above the doorways in Temple 23, and it features a scene of the Maya bloodletting ritual performed by Lady Xook, which took place, according to the accompanying hieroglyphic text, in October of 709 AD. The king Itzamnaaj Balam III is holding a torch above his queen who is kneeling in front of him, suggesting that the ritual is taking place at night or in a dark, secluded room of the temple. Lady Xook is passing a rope through her tongue, after having pierced it with a stingray spine, and her blood is dripping onto bark paper in a basket. The textiles, headdresses and royal accessories are extremely elegant, suggesting the high status of the personages. The finely carved stone relief emphasizes the elegance of the woven cape worn by the queen. The king wears a pendant around his neck portraying the sun god and a severed head, probably of a war captive, adorns his headdress. Archaeological Investigations Yaxchiln was rediscovered by explorers in the 19th century. The famous English and French explorers Alfred Maudslay and Desirà © Charnay visited the ruins of Yaxchilan at the same time and reported their findings to different institutions. Maudslay also made the fist map of the site. Other important explorers and, later on, archaeologists that worked at Yaxchiln were Tebert Maler, Ian Graham, Sylvanus Morely, and, recently, Roberto Garcia Moll. In the 1930s, Tatiana Proskouriakoff studied the epigraphy of Yaxchilan, and on that basis built a history of the site, including a sequence of the rulers, still relied on today. Sources Edited and updated by K. Kris Hirst Golden C, and Scherer A. 2013. Territory, trust, growth, and collapse in Classic period Maya kingdoms. Current Anthropology 54(4):397-435.Golden C, Scherer AK, Muà ±oz AR, and Vasquez R. 2008. Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan: Divergent Political Trajectories in Adjacent Maya Polities. Latin American Antiquity 19(3):249-274.Golden CW, Scherer AK, and Muà ±oz AR. 2005. Exploring the Piedras Negras- Yaxchilan Border Zone: Archaeological Investigations in the Sierra del Lacandon, 2004. Mexicon 27(1):11-16.Josserand JK. 2007. The Missing Heir at Yaxchiln: Literary Analysis of a Maya Historical Puzzle. Latin American Antiquity 18(3):295-312.Miller M, and Martin S. 2004. Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and Thames and Hudson.ONeil ME. 2011. Object, memory, and materiality at Yaxchilan: The reset lintels of Structures 12 and 22. Ancient Mesoamerica 22(02):245-269.Simon, M, and Grube N. 2000, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. Thames Hudson, London and New York. Tate C. 1992, Yaxchilan: The Design of a Maya Ceremonial City. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Mackinders Heartland Theory

Mackinders Heartland Theory Sir Halford John Mackinder was a British geographer who wrote a paper in 1904 called The Geographical Pivot of History. Mackinders paper suggested that the control of Eastern Europe was vital to control of the world.  Mackinder postulated the following, which became known as the Heartland Theory: Who rules Eastern Europe commands the HeartlandWho rules the Heartland commands the World IslandWho rules the World Island commands the world The heartland he also referred to as the pivot area and as the core of Eurasia, and he considered all of Europe and Asia as the World Island.   In the age of modern warfare, Mackinders theory is widely considered outdated. At  the time he proposed his theory, he  took into consideration world history only in the context of conflict between land and sea powers. Nations with large navies were at an advantage over those that could not successfully navigate the oceans, Mackinder suggested. Of course, in the modern era, the use of aircraft has greatly changed the ability to control territory and provide defensive capabilities.   The Crimean War Mackinders theory was never fully proven because  no one power in history had actually controlled all three of these regions at the same time. But the Crimean War came close. During this conflict, waged from 1853 to 1856,  Russia fought for control of the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine. But it lost to an allegiance of the French and British, which had more effective naval forces. Russia lost the war even though the Crimean Peninsula  is geographically closer to Moscow than to London or Paris. Possible Influence on Nazi Germany Some historians have conjectured that Mackinders theory may have influenced Nazi Germanys drive to conquer Europe (although there are many who think the eastward push of Germany that led to World War II just happened to coincide with Mackinders heartland theory). The concept of geopolitics (or geopolitik, as Germans called it) was proposed by Swedish political scientist Rudolf Kjellen in 1905. Its focus was political geography  and combined Mackinders heartland theory with Friedrich Ratzels theory on the organic nature of the state. Geopolitical theory was used to justify a countrys attempts to expand based on its own needs.   In the 1920s, German geographer Karl Haushofer used the geopolitik theory to support Germanys invasion of its neighbors, which it viewed as expansion. Haushofer posited that densely populated countries like Germany should be allowed and were entitled to expand and acquire the territory of less-populated countries. Of course, Adolf Hitler held the much worse view that Germany had some kind of moral right to acquire the lands of what he termed lesser races. But  Haushofers geopolitik theory provided support for the expansion of Hitlers Third Reich, using pseudoscience. Other Influences of Mackinders Theory Mackinders theory  also may have influenced Western powers strategic thinking during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the  United States, as the Soviet Union had control over the former East Bloc countries.

Work of Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Work of Art - Essay Example A southern-born artist, Louis Rmy Mignot painted this view Niagara after he had moved to London during the Civil War. Before leaving the United States in 1862, he had sketched at Niagara Falls, perhaps with the idea of exhibiting an ambitious canvas before an English audience." (Niagara) The view of this work of art has been taken from the Horseshoe Falls, it is an oil on canvas work of art. The signature of the artist can be found on the right hand side corner of the work of art. American identity has been presented in this work of art, it also represents a new look of the American society. Traditional framing devices have been used in this work of art. This work of art falls under the American Art and it predominantly represents the American Society. "At first glance, Song and Yuan landscapes seem to conform to a narrow set of compositional types, with requisite central mountains, hidden temples, and scholars strolling along a path. In fact, the landscape tradition developed slowly as painters gained technical facility and consciously chose to allude to earlier styles or bring out philosophical or political ideas in their work." (Northern Song) Central Majestic Mountain has been portrayed in this work of art; it is unlike the Niagara Falls. The foreground is conspicuous and it is presented at the eye level, it has been painted with crisp and very well defined brush strokes by the artists.

I have been writing the topic in the section '' order intructions'' Research Paper

I have been writing the topic in the section '' order intructions'' - Research Paper Example As a result of his intentional poor financial reporting, special purpose entities and accounting loopholes, the company lost at least $40 billion. This was made possible by the engagement of Arthur Anderson as the company’s sole auditing firm. With the help of Arthur Anderson Auditors, Enron’s Chief Financial Officer managed to manipulate and mislead the company’s accounting committee and the Board of Directors to accept the presented financial records. Indeed, this was a very unfortunate incident which greatly interfered with the company and all its stakeholders. All the employees were affected as well. A part from losing a lot from the $40 billion law suit, they lost a lot of money in pension. This could not be escaped because the company was later declared bankrupt to the extent that it could not manage to compensate its workers. This would mean a great loss to these employees as they would lose all the benefits. Even those who had been working for the company for a long time would not get their pensions upon the dissolution of the company since it would not be in a position to do so. It would be so disappointing and demoralizing for such employees because the scandal would eventually affect them in person. The investors also incurred a lot of losses. A part from discouraging prospecting investors from pumping their resources into the company, the existing ones had to contend with a drastic loss of stock. A few months after the information about the scandal reached the market, the company share prices declined from $83 to $1. Worse still, these investors later lost their investments in the company2. Since the company could not stand on its feet any longer, it had to be declared bankrupt. Meaning, it would not manage to refund the shareholders their investments. To prove that the company lost value, even attempts by its rival Dynegy to buy it out at extremely low price flopped. On the

Good Country People Essay -- essays papers

Good Country People â€Å"Woman, Do You Ever Look Inside?† There are many themes within Flannery O’Connor’s short story â€Å"Good Country People†. Religion is definitely one of the more prominent themes that the story holds. Like most of O’Connor’s works, it plays a big part in the actions or characteristics of the main characters. This is all on the surface however. The more important and less accentuated theme is the various facades the characters create for themselves. These facades prevent them from facing their true â€Å"grotesque† selves. These facades also hide their weaknesses that they have no wish to face ort just can’t understand. People must be comfortable with every aspect of themselves, because certain people, who in this story are represented by Manley Pointer’s character, can easily exploit their weaknesses. He’s â€Å"good country people† and â€Å"the salt of the earth† as Mrs. Hopewell refers to Manley Pointer who really is a demon that they mu st face. A demon to remind them of their weaknesses. Beginning with Mrs. Hopewell, the title of the story comes from what she likes to call the poorer and less fortunate people that live off the land and work their whole lives just to hang on to some scrap of a life. This is how she views these people. She believes that they are good country people not a bad seed among them, that they are all eager to help out and bow in humility to the upper class. The gullible nature of Mrs. Hopewell betrays her true vision of a situation. She is one of those people who are all goody-goody to people who they view as less fortunate. She’s a person that commends or speaks for the people she knows nothing about. Altogether this is her true weakness that is taken advantage of by Manley Pointer. One of ... ...of a minor character in the story but she is referred to as having two emotions, â€Å"forward and reverse†. This is important because when a person is forced to go in reverse they must face something or learn something they don’t want to know about themselves. This seems to be what happens during the course of the story for Joy-Hulga. Although all the characters in the story are stuck in reverse, the only character that is forced to realize her weakness, which destroys the faà §ade that she created is Joy-Hulga. It seems that in this story as in life the most high and mighty suffers the greatest fall. Joy-Hulga was the one who perceived herself to be the high and mighty of the characters. This attitude is displayed with many of her comment to Mrs. Hopewell. Perhaps when Joy-Hulga remarks to Mrs. Hopewell, â€Å"Woman, do you ever look inside?† she should’ve taken her own advice.

Frankenstein Socratic Seminar Reflection

Frankenstein and Pride & Prejudice Socratic Seminar Reflection This Socratic Seminar made me agree much more with Socrates’ beliefs: that extended discussion and continual questioning facilitate the most meaningful learning experiences. It helped me understand the novel much more than I had before because I got to hear about the book from the perspective of others and how they interpreted the story and discussed what they thought were the positive and negative aspects of Frankenstein.I discovered that many others interpreted some meanings of the novel in the same way that I did. Overall, the seminar went very well in both groups, but there were some negative aspects in both seminars. In the Pride & Prejudice seminar, none of the members proposed any questions in response to an already given question (a rebuttal question). This was not the case in the Frankenstein group, which is good.However, although we did ask rebuttal questions, our group failed to use quotes for support an d our discussion was more of a modern conversation between people with a lot of agreeing and disagreeing, but no evidence for backup. I believe that there was only one person who used quotations and cited them to backup his/her point, who was Matt Kane (I hope you didn’t want us to specify names; at least it’s not a bad comment). The Pride and Prejudice group did fulfill the use of quotations, which evened out the differences between the seminars.There were also many great points brought up in our discussion of Frankenstein, which almost everybody agreed with such as how we appointed Victor Frankenstein as the monster of the novel and not the physical monster that he has created. I would not have thought about many of the things with deeper meanings that were discussed in the seminar by myself. Not only was the seminar itself what helped me to further understand the story, but also the pre-seminar tasks (question responses and formation).Each question coincidentally as ked me something that I had thought about at least one time during the reading, and the required quotations helped remind me of when and where I had encountered the question while reading it. The post-seminar paper (this thing) is helping me because it makes me remember what we talked about during the seminar and how it was effective to understanding the story. Being reminded of how effective the seminar actually was, will make me believe more in the beliefs of Socrates, as well as want to do more seminars for different novels in the future.

A Map of Tectonic Plates and Their Boundaries