This is a fascinating handbook revealing the secrets of the symbolic written characters of the ancient Maya people, which provides a vivid portrait of their gods, people, and everyday life. This is the only book available that provides readable discussions of individual symbolic figures. By the time Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico in the sixteenth century, Maya cities had long since fallen into a state of decay and abandonment. Europeans were impressed by the painted books of the Maya but concluded that they did not have a system of writing because no alphabetic value could be given to their script. This impression remained in the West until recently when researchers finally succeeded in deciphering the written record of the Mayas. "Maya Script" presents about 200 Maya glyphs (symbolic figures). Some are ideograms (pictorial symbols representing things, not words); others are phonetic signs. The glyphs express people, animals, things, and such abstract concepts as or even emotions. The complexity of the Maya calendar, mathematical computations, and astronomy reveals a highly developed civilization. This book also features two-color drawings of the glyphs, illustrations from reliefs and Spanish codices, and examples of Maya sculpture and paintings. Concluding the book are a chapter on writing systems of the New World, a bibliography, and an index of glyphs. This informative book is a travelogue back in time for anyone intrigued by ancient civilizations.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is written by someone with no understanding of the Maya. Not only are the glyphs innacurately drawn in many cases, the explanations of their meanings are equally poor. This book is a classic example of western thought structures being imposed on a culture that has a totally different outlook on life and the universe. The author didn't bother to ask the one group of people who could give her the real answers: the Maya themselves.
Format:Paperback
Unlike the previous reviewer, I am in no position to judge the credentials of the book's author, or the validity of the author's work, except to note that there aren't too many Mayan representatives of the culture as it was 1000 years ago around now. (It is debatable how much their descendants can really tell us. How much does 21st century England tell you about how the Normans lived?)
The main fault with this book is that it essentially a dictionary, and reading it is about as edifying as reading any other dictionary. interesting in places, and dead dull in others, although the illustrations and picture do liven it up a bit. The blurb on the back suggests that it is suitable for the general reader, but I should have thought myself that it was more of an undergraduate text.
The main fault with this book is that it essentially a dictionary, and reading it is about as edifying as reading any other dictionary. interesting in places, and dead dull in others, although the illustrations and picture do liven it up a bit. The blurb on the back suggests that it is suitable for the general reader, but I should have thought myself that it was more of an undergraduate text.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Short and simple
12 Sep 2002
By D. P. Birkett
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This is up against a lot of competition. Maya civilization has attracted some excellent writers. For an enthralling acount of the decipherment I best liked Michael Coe's "Breaking the Maya Code." For a heavy duty textbook if you have time and dedication go to "Understanding Maya Inscriptions" by John F Harris and Stephen K Stearns, published by the University Museum of Archeology of the University of Pennsylvania. Longhena's book has the advantage of being short and straightforward. Even such a neophyte as myself noticed innacuracies. On page 14 the number thirteen is mislabelled as twenty-three.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nice to look at but has errors
7 Jan 2001
By Paul V Caetano
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This book is certainly well illlustrated, but I found a number of errors. Most were simply captions which had been switched between adjacent glyph illustrations. Therefore do not rely on the glyph identifications in this book. On the other hand, if you do not intend to try find any of the glyphs in real inscriptions, this may not be such a problem.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating linguistic tour
6 July 2001
By Midwest Book Review
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Maria Longherna's Maya Script reviews the symbolic written characters of the ancient Maya of Mexico, providing a history of the script and about 200 glyphs and symbols taken from Maya artifacts. A fascinating linguistic tour.
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3.5 out of 5 stars
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