The Maya peoples, who lived in the mountains of Central America, began to descend into the plains in the second millennium BC. It was here that they founded a great empire, the greatest flowering of which began a thousand years before the birth of Christ, the Maya developed a perfect system of chronology, writing, well versed in agriculture and astronomy, built majestic pyramids and temples.
Despite all its power, approximately in the VIII-IX century A. D. e. Maya left their cities and left in an unknown direction.
What actually caused the death of a powerful civilization?
1. Mystical disappearance
According to one of the versions, the cause of the "ethnic cataclysm" was an imperfect farming system: they say, the slash-and-burn method of cultivating the land became ineffective, and led to soil depletion and hunger. But this conjecture is refuted by the fact that the population of the Yucatan Peninsula still cultivates the land in this way. And nothing - they are alive, and some even prosper.
Another reason for this misfortune could be that the Mayan peoples were subjected to brutal extermination by a powerful enemy (like the Mongol-Tatars of the Central American style, only more cruel). But, alas, no evidence of an attack by a powerful neighbor has survived.
Some researchers offer a completely fantastic version of "leaving": the Maya gained access to the teachings of levitation, teleportation and other mysticism, after which they moved to the "parallel world". For those who have read Castaneda or are at least a little familiar with the teachings of Indian magicians, this option will not seem completely incredible.
Promotional video:
In our opinion, the most preferable is the version that the Maya did not die as a result of fatal economic miscalculations or blows from the outside: inside this people initially there was something that over the centuries undermined the health of the nation and, ultimately, sucked out material and spiritual forces from it, forced to dissolve in historical nothingness.
It's about religion. More precisely, about religious cults - cruel to the point of inhumanity, which, under the guise of concern for the spiritual health of the nation, led it to historical death.
2. On the altar of religion
All religious power in the Maya state belonged to the high priests, who had a huge apparatus of assistants. Before reaching this rank, the priests received knowledge of astronomy, hieroglyphic writing and astrology. The priests even had peculiar courses for improving their skills, where they were given special lectures.
The Maya religious rites were based on sacrifices, and the main "product" that the gods "pleased" was human sacrifice. Hence the inhumanity of many rituals - the victim was thrown on the altar, then the priest cut through the human chest and tore out the heart, sprinkling the blood of the stone idol, after which the skin was ripped off the corpse, which the priest was wearing.
The number of victims reached tens of thousands during the days of major holidays and celebrations. The entire population of the cities howled with delight at such ritual actions. Often, as a result of these orgies, people lost their human appearance. Immorality and orgies became more and more widespread. Similar actions have taken place over the centuries. It is not surprising that the most worthy people were chosen as victims - smart, beautiful, strong. This was a real blow to the gene pool, the reproduction of which was also hampered by military actions, epidemics and poor nutrition.
In addition, some of the Mayan religious rites were as if deliberately invented in order to weaken their stamina and make them a convenient target for epidemics and diseases. For example, the Maya fasted for a long time (sometimes up to three years), did not eat meat, salt, pepper. Sexual abstinence was also encouraged. Most of these restrictions applied to the priests, but the rest, under their great influence, tended to follow the same methods of appeasing the gods.
Apparently, the Maya trusted their priests too much. And they brought them under the monastery. Or, more precisely, a temple.
3. Risen Emperor
True, not all representatives of this people were so meek as to perform all kinds of unreasonable rituals. The chronicles describe one such event, which took place around 1200 BC. e. and was associated with the coming to power of the famous ruler Hunak Keel.
As a young man, Hunak Keel participated in the human sacrifice process at the Sacred Well. This well is located in a karst fault and strikes the imagination with its size - its diameter reaches almost 60 meters. There were similar wells in many major Mayan cities. They were intended for human sacrifice. In particular, young virgins were thrown into the Sacred Well of Chichen Itza, which has survived to this day. The victims, as a rule, died, only a few were selected from it. And then, if the priest "allowed". But after this incredible "resurrection" the life of the survivor became unbearable - after all, the gods rejected him! What can we say about people?
At that time, the Triple Alliance was established between the cities of Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Mayapan, which lasted from 987 to 1194 AD. e. It was an alliance that helped establish stability. However, the rulers of the cities often violated the terms of the contract, and the cunning Hunak Keel decided to use the sacrifice rite for political purposes.
When the procession with the victims stood at the edge of the well, he broke through the human corridor, shoved everyone, and leaped down. Eyewitnesses were amazed at his deed - one might say, they witnessed how the gods called their fellow tribesman! But they were even more amazed when a minute later the young man surfaced and declared: “I saw the gods. They ordered me to take the royal throne!"
And what do you think - the people supported the brave young man! Shortly thereafter, Hunak Keel took the royal throne and founded a dynasty known as Kok. The young ruler united power in one person and for a long time ruled the cities alone.
But these were isolated cases. Most of the boys and girls resignedly accepted their fate. When, in the middle of the last century, American archaeologists explored the famous well located in the north of Yucatan, hundreds of skulls of young men and women were found there. And only one of them belonged to the old man. Since a special ritual knife was also found nearby (the priests killed the victim with such knives), archaeologists assumed that this skull belongs to the priest. Apparently, one of the girls, doomed to the slaughter, resisted or "grabbed" the priest with her when he was still alive, or killed him on the surface.
Be that as it may, the regular destruction of virgins, coupled with the mass sacrifice of young men and young men, gradually led to the fact that the strength of the nation dried up. At the turn of the VIII-IX centuries A. D. e. the Maya peoples, exhausted by unreasonable cults and an ineffective system of government, unable to withstand national extermination, preferred to go into the forests and die of hunger or in the mouths of animals than to die on temple altars or in wells clogged with corpses.
And when Spanish caravels appeared off the coast of Yucatan in the 16th century, the Aztecs - relatives of the once mighty Mayans - welcomed the conquerors with open arms. They already had neither the strength nor the spirit to fight for their freedom.
4. Our dossier
The Maya civilization arose in an imposing territory, from Central America to Mexico. The Maya tribes settled in the territories of modern El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Mexico.
VII-VIII centuries - the time of the highest heyday of the classical Maya civilization, its "golden age". The rulers of numerous city-states fought successfully along the western and southern borders. Nothing seemed to threaten the well-being of this great country.
And, nevertheless, by the end of the IX century. in most of the low-lying Mayan forest regions, life died out or even stopped altogether. The Maya seemed to have heard some secret call from the depths of eternity and left, silently closing the door behind them.