Papers by Karen Bassie-Sweet
A common metaphoric couplet found in Classic Period texts is u ch'ab-u ak'ab "his creation,
Maya Rain Predictions, 2003
2003 Chacmool Conference: Oral Presentation Corn was and still is the principal staple of the May... more 2003 Chacmool Conference: Oral Presentation Corn was and still is the principal staple of the Maya diet. In the tropical zone of the Maya region, the year is divided into a wet and dry season that creates the basic rhythm of life, and dictates the planting cycle for corn. The primary corn crop is planted at the start of the rainy season. The specific dates of the rainy season vary slightly, but generally the season begins in late April/early May. Although some rain usually falls every month of the year, the precipitation of the rainy season is intense and frequent. Typically the prevailing east wind brings afternoon and evening lightning storms with torrential downpours. A short dry period occurs anywhere from late July to late August for about 7 to 21 days. The rains again reach a high volume in September and then decline. The dry season extends from late December to April with March being the driest
The Myths of the Popol Vuh in Cosmology, Art and Ritual, 2021
There is ample evidence that the K'iche' participated in this cultural horizon. Allen J. Christen... more There is ample evidence that the K'iche' participated in this cultural horizon. Allen J. Christenson (2007: 26-31) has summarized the well-known affiliations of the highland K'iche' with Epiclassic Chichen Itza and Tula and the Postclassic Nahua cultures of Central Mexico and the Gulf Coast. The Popol Vuh recounts a foundation story that has elements from both the Classic period Maya and Epiclassic-Postclassic Nahua mythologies. This ancient tale explains how a family of primordial deities created the world, established its structure and order, and created humans to inhabit it and worship them. The meager visual arts record left behind by the K'iche' does not even hint at this rich mythology; however, episodes from the Popol Vuh story have long been used to explain some of the mythology illustrated in lowland Classic period art. The Popol Vuh relates the deeds of three generations of deities: the creator grandparents called Xpiyacoc and Xmucane; their sons, One Junajpu and Seven Junajpu; and One Junajpu's sons, named One Chowen, One B'atz, Junajpu, and Xb'alanke. Classic period lowland parallels for all of these gods, their spouses, and their in-laws have been identified (
Mexicon, 2015
Contents mexicon XXXVII (4) Cover Karen Bassie-Sweet Greeting the Ixil Yearbearer 77-79 News 79-X... more Contents mexicon XXXVII (4) Cover Karen Bassie-Sweet Greeting the Ixil Yearbearer 77-79 News 79-XX Conferences and Meetings / Exhibits XX Research Notes XX-XX XX-XX Contributions XX-XX XX-XX Recent Publications-Books XX-XX-Journals XX-XX Impressum XX Cover Greeting the Ixil Yearbearer
The Don Juan Mountain range is a massive limestone formation that rises to an elevation of 1,170 ... more The Don Juan Mountain range is a massive limestone formation that rises to an elevation of 1,170 meters and dominates the landscape (Figure 1). The coastal plain and the lower Usumacinta River drainage spread out as far as the eye can see to the west, north and northeast of Don Juan Mountain. The Cojolita Mountain range and river valleys that lead to the upper Usumacinta River and Peten are to the east. On the south side of the Don Juan range is the Tulilja River Valley, the Cordon Sumidero range and the Tumbala mountain range. The north side of Don Juan has a series of lower ridges that parallel the main mountain. The Classic Period site of Palenque is located on the first ridge at the east end of the mountain range. Travelers journeying from Palenque toward the coast to such sites as Tortuguero and Comalcalco had to skirt the northern base of Don Juan Mountain, while travelers heading to the central highlands of Chiapas in the south were forced to climb over it. This article explores these two routes as well as the cosmological importance of the mountain. Figure 1: Don Juan Mountain as seen from the northwest. On the first ridges are the sites of El Retiro and Miraflores. Figure 7: "Riding in a Silla". Lithograph from Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan (Stephens 1841).
Parallel Worlds: Genre, Discourse, and Poetics in Contemporary, Colonial, and Classic Period Maya Literture, 2012
Classic Maya art and hieroglyphic writing employ diagnostic traits and semantic markers to clarif... more Classic Maya art and hieroglyphic writing employ diagnostic traits and semantic markers to clarify the meaning of various motifs and hieroglyphs. This paper examines the diagnostic traits and semantic markers used to identify various animals and how these animals are often the quintessential examples of their class. It specifically addresses the nature of the gopher and the rat, and their role in Maya mythology.
2020
During World War II, my father served in the First Special Service Force (the Black Devils), a Ca... more During World War II, my father served in the First Special Service Force (the Black Devils), a Canadian-American commando unit that was famous for capturing the heights of Monte la Defensa in southern Italy and for their daring night raids on the Anzio beachhead. He was wounded and knocked unconscious twice from artillery blasts. During the apocalyptic hell of the Anzio breakout, his regiment was overrun by a dozen German Tiger tanks and his company was decimated. The commanding officer of the unit that relieved FSSF described what he saw:
The creator deities were the embodiment of complementary opposition, and represented the ideal st... more The creator deities were the embodiment of complementary opposition, and represented the ideal state for humans to achieve. This paper explores the celestial court of the creator grandfather Itzamnaaj, his role in Classic Period royal ceremonies, and his avian messengers.
In the Maya pantheon, there was a category of gods known as Chahks, a term that literally means l... more In the Maya pantheon, there was a category of gods known as Chahks, a term that literally means lightning. The Chahk deities were thought to create lightning bolts by throwing their flint axes, and they are illustrated in Maya art wielding these weapons. Numerous depictions of the Chahk deities indicate that they and their lightning bolt axes had snake attributes. These conflations are very fitting given that a bolt of lightning and a poisonous snake both strike with rapid, deadly consequences. It is likely that the snake form of the Chahks was specifically modeled after the Bothrops asper, the most feared of the deadly vipers in the Maya region (also known as the k'anti ', fer-de-lance, barba amarilla, nauyaca). In Maya art, Chahk's axe head is frequently marked either with flint and stone semantic markers or with an element composed of two parallel lines that are often enclosed by an oval element. This latter type of axe head appears in the Thompson catalogue of hieroglyphs as the signs T24 and T617 (left glyph). For brevity, I will refer to the axe head as the T24 sign. As demonstrated by Stuart , the T1017 portrait glyph is the personified form of the T24 sign (right glyph).
2019
The royal courts of the Maya were populated by secondary nobles who held a variety of offices. Wh... more The royal courts of the Maya were populated by secondary nobles who held a variety of offices. While it is not clear whether there were hierarchical or heterarchical relationships between these offices, the principal official of an office often had the adjective baah "head" attached to their title. One of these offices has been nicknamed the "banded-bird" because it has not been deciphered (Stuart 2005). The banded-bird hieroglyph is composed of a bird wearing a floppy cloth tied around its head. The title of the principal banded-bird official did not include the baah designation, but it was preceded by the word ajaw, indicating that they were specifically the king's banded-bird officials. While all of the various duties of the banded-bird officials have not been ascertained, the principal banded-bird official was in charge of the king's sak huun headdress of rulership and the royal stingray spine used for penis bloodletting (Zender and Bassie-Sweet 2002; Zender 2004; Stuart 2005; Bassie-Sweet in press). There is evidence that the principal banded-bird official of Palenque was also the curator of the regalia for its three patron gods. This paper explores the nature of the banded-bird office and the gods who were the role models for these lords.
Tlaloc had various animal forms, including owl, feline, wolf, moth, and caterpillar-serpent avata... more Tlaloc had various animal forms, including owl, feline, wolf, moth, and caterpillar-serpent avatars. The Owl Tlaloc was a heart sacrificer, and there is evidence that the name of this avian manifestation of Tlaloc was Janaab. This paper explores the attributes of the Owl Tlaloc and its relations to Spearthrower Owl’s name.
This paper reviews the tok’-pakal objects of Palenque and explores the possibility that one of th... more This paper reviews the tok’-pakal objects of Palenque and explores the possibility that one of these objects was an heirloom belonging to the Early Classic king K’an Joy Chitam I. It also examines the custodians of these objects, who were from the site of Uxte’k’uh and the matrilineal relatives of the rulers.
Genealogical statements referencing parents, grandfathers, and siblings have been identified in M... more Genealogical statements referencing parents, grandfathers, and siblings have been identified in Mayan hieroglyphic writing, and these notations provide important information regarding the royal dynasties of the Classic Period and the patrilineal descent system for rulership that the Maya employed. In addition to these statements, the juxtaposing of text and image was used to enhance genealogical information. Such a convention was employed on the Temple of the Inscriptions sarcophagus of the great Palenque king K’inich Janaab Pakal I. This paper examines K’inich Janaab Pakal I’s ancestors that are featured on his sarcophagus and identifies their genealogical relationships.
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Papers by Karen Bassie-Sweet
Author Karen Bassie-Sweet traces the semantic markers used to distinguish flint from other types of stone, surveys various types of Chahk thunderbolt deities and their relationship to flint weapons and explores the connection between lightning and the ruling elite. Additional chapters review these fire and solar deities and their roles in Maya warfare and examine the nature and manifestations of the Central Mexican thunderbolt god Tlaloc, his incorporation into the Maya pantheon, and his identification with meteors and obsidian weapons. Finally, Bassie-Sweet addresses the characteristics of the deity God L, his role as an obsidian merchant god, and his close association with the ancient land route between the highland Guatemalan obsidian sources and the lowlands.
Through analysis of the nature of the Teotihuacán deities and exploration of the ways in which these gods were introduced into the Maya region and incorporated into the Maya worldview, Maya Gods of War offers new insights into the relationship between warfare and religious beliefs in Mesoamerica. This significant work will be of interest to scholars of Maya religion and iconography.