Culture & Politics of Mesoamerica

Introduction

According to Robert J. Sharer: "Archaic states are stratified into a series of classes including full-time occupational specialists, and are topped by a highly centralized, hierarchical government that rules a territory with more or less defined boundaries" (Sharer, 39). "The most powerful member of the elite class is the ruler or 'king' . . . In addition to his social standing, the ruler possesses considerable power by virtue of his position as head of the administrative hierarchy and its institutions of enforcement. Power is also based on economic and religious sanctions, such as the right of tribute collection, and the belief that their supernatural origins give the king and his family the divine right to rule". Kent Flannery has defined the state as, "a type of very strong, usually highly centralized government, with a professional ruling class, largely divorced from the bonds of kinship which characterize simpler societies" (Flannery, p79-80). States can wage war, draft soldiers, levy taxes, exact tribute, build public works, and implement projects with professional architects, engineers, and bureaucrats including full time specialists in a state religion (Sharer, 78).

Maya Government

Political, economic, and social institutions characteristic of the governmental form. In Sharer's view, during the Classic Maya period (ca. A.D. 250-900) state-level political organization developed, particularly in the southern and central lowlands. During the Late Classic (ca. 600-800) new state polities emerged and population peaked. (Sharer, p138). An economic system of contributing labor and food to the state and acquiring tribute from neighboring polities developed. Political alliances could be strengthened through marriage of the ruler.

The Classic Maya form of political organization, with no standing armies, appears to have emphasized the qualities of the individual leader, and was closer to the "big man" system of Papua New Guinea, rather than the Zapotec political organization which emphasized the office rather than the individual. The coercion that a Mayan leader like 18 rabbit could impose on a city state apparently had limits since he was perhaps forcibly "given up" during a neighboring polity's conquest and sacrificed. The Zapotec considered the generic political office to be more important than the individual's personal characteristics, and in Oaxaca powerful families ruled in a kind of confederacy with hereditary palaces and a disembedded capitol, which was both an administrative and ceremonial center supported through tribute and conquest. Similar to the Aztecs, each valley in this confederacy was semi-independent.

Principal political offices in the society

According to Sharer: "During the Classic period, the highest Maya political authority in a particular polity was given the title ahau, which can be translated as 'lord' or 'noble'" (Marcus, p50-65). The term k'ul ahau (supreme or sacred ruler) designated the heads of state during the Classic period (Spores, 89). Individual women could be power brokers or become king, and other officials had special functions - usually relatives of the king. Relatives also might become warriors or priests. In theory, primogeniture was the most recognized principle of succession (Flannery, 29). Maya leaders tended to need "charisma" ...