Mayan Empire

1. The Mayans A Great Empire Hidden Amongst the Jungle

2. Introduction Over 1500 years ago, a great empire thrived in the heart of the jungles of central America. It was here that history witnessed some of the greatest accomplishments of all time and the start of the Americas.

4. Mayan architecture ranges in size from small terraces no higher than two meters than giant 120 ft temples

5. The Mayans will go down in history for one of the greatest accomplishments for the breathtaking temples they created

6. These temples were built on immensely tall pyramids.

7. They were built with steeped sided structured stone

8. The base of the pyramid were decorated with religious art and images.

10. The Mayans had many religious festivals and rituals honoring many gods The Mayan gods symbolized weather, the harvest, birth, death, and war The temples/pyramids were dedicated their gods. A festival was either held for one or a few of the gods The Mayan people preformed sacrifices to the gods (Mainly the Sun god, ) It was believed that Mayan rulers were the descendants of gods, their blood was the ideal sacrifice. Either by the sacrifice of captives who had royal blood, or by the personal bleeding of the rulers themselves, the Mayan people pleased the gods. Religion

11. Language The earliest record of writing for the Mayans dates back to 250 B.C. These were the very first scriptures of the Mayan languages, although archeological finds show that the Mayan civilization may date back to around the year 3000 B.C.

12. Mathematics The Mayans developed a complex system of numbers made up of dashes and dots. Very much like morse code numbers were made of arranged dashes and dots. The Mayans were also one of very few cultures that understood the concept of zero.

13. Resources http://library.thinkquest.org/10098/mayan.htm http://www.michielb.nl/maya/math.html http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mayan.htm http://www.religionfacts.com/mayan_religion/index.htm