Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya Hardcover – January 1, 2000

Highly recommended as a short, accessible, and not too technical introduction to Maya political history during the Classic Period (first millenium A.D.). Simon Martin is a brilliant young English art scholar and Nikolai Grube an outstanding epigrapher from Bonn. They collaborated to propose a new theory of grand shifting alliances among ancient Maya city states that roiled the Yucatan Peninsula 1500 years ago. This Chronicle (one in a Thames & Hudson series) includes that and more: it is an event-based chronicle of all the best known rulers of the ancient Maya world as currently inferred from their own pictorial hieroglyphics. It is a wonderful supplement for people interested in the Maya, with an exciting new history to outline.There IS a chronological narrative running through it, but really this is a book to be studied. Only the 11 most powerful (or well-documented) Maya city states are presented in full. After a brief introduction to Maya history, five chapters trace the glyph-based histories of the most important cities (including Tikal and Calakmul). Then six chapters cover as many peripheral cities with full records (like Palenque and Copan), concluding with the fall of the kings. The text is festooned with innumerable photographs, line drawings of hieroglyphs and royalty, explanatory captions, kings' names, biographical tables, sidebars on archaeological topics, views of buildings, and shaded city plans. Helping you keep track of the impossible (and often similar) names are king headers and timeline footers. A useful bibliography and name (not topic) index complete the bookThis book is not intended as a guide to famous ruins nor does it deal with the popular subject of Maya religion and cosmos. It deals with the political outcomes of the scheming and murder that underpinned all that. It does not provide glyph by glyph readings (as Schele and Mathews do for many of the same cities in the very different CODE OF KINGS). The book is printed on fine paper in Slovenia. (Hopefully we shall soon see some good novels fleshing out the bloody tales implied here.)

Here are the dynasties, conquests, monuments, and artifacts of the best-known of Classic Maya cities, beautifully explicated and correlated by leading authorities. The congenial text, abundant and interesting sidebars, and copious illustrations combine to make for an ideal entry for the intellectually curious general reader into the apogee of the ancient Maya. I regard my copy as central to my personal library.

This is the beat book on the Maya I have ever come across. It is great and a must for any one who is interested in the history of the Maya.

As a Maya Archaeologist I must say that this book is highly informative and packed with beautiful images. I am thinking in buying a second copy to give as a gift.

This book gives you some context of the history of the "discovery" of the Mayan culture and of the present state of archaeological understanding. The REAL strength of this book is in the surveys of eleven important Mayan cities. It discusses their rise, sources of political powers, the ruling lineages and how all of these cities intertwined in history and power.After reading this book I have a better four-dimensional sense of these city-states. This book is a treasure.

someone had to do it

I never got the book, therefore I am unable to say anything about it.

This book is chock full of site plans and photos, artifacts and loads of maps.This is a highly informative work considering that most of Maya history comes from the Glyphs/writing left on buildings and monuments.This book is a very good quick reference guide for those who do not want to wade through huge blocks of history text to get to the information you need. The volume is divided into sections separating the Maya into their city states and showing their impact on the world around them (as well as the impact on them from outsiders).The Maya are a precise and warlike people who, it seems, overstretched their natural resources which then lead to their city states to eventual ruin and abandonment.And now the Maya people today (who have a strong oral tradition) are being taught to read the writing of their ancestors by the Archaeologists who study the ancient Maya.Writing and language are so much a part of a person's cultural identity, that when you lose your connection with it, you lose a part of yourself.-HMC

Great reference book for anyone interested in Mayan history.

A good and serious reference.