Maya Script: A Civilization and Its Writing

by Maria Longhena, Rosanna M. Giammanco Frongia

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.

Maya Script presents about 200 Maya glyphs (symbolic figures). Some are ideograms while others are phonetic signs. The glyphs express people, animals, things, and such abstract concepts as death. Each one opens a window onto fragments of everyday life, religious beliefs, 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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Linguistics, Anthropology

180 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Maria Longhena studied ancient history at Bologna University and wrote her thesis on pre-Columbian history and civilizations of America. She has carried out research on collections of objects from pre-Columbian Peru at the Museo di Anthropologia at Florence University, the Musee de l'Homme in Paris, and the Musees Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire in Brussels. She has collaborated on several exhibitions dealing with pre-Columbian archaeology, and has specialized in the religions and writings of ancient Peru and ancient Mexico.

Reviews

[Daniele Daldoss]

Una grandissima risorsa per chi come me è appassionato di culture precolombiane. Il manuale descrive il significato dei glifi più conosciuti anche tramite curiosità e aneddoti.