Abstract

GARCIA CAPISTRAN, Hugo. The sacred mountain. Aspects of the legitimation of power in the maya Classic. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2019, vol.53, pp.139-172. ISSN 0185-2574.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.ecm.2019.53.923.

The concept of the Sacred Mountain was very important for Mesoamerican societies and other cultures of the world. Some studies show that certain ideas about ancestors, abundance, wealth, territory, and power were combined in this concept of the mountain. Among the Maya of the past and present, this was not an exception. This article discusses the concept of the Sacred Mountain and its graphical representations. I propose that it was one of the most important symbols of power within the apparatus of legitimation of the ajaw. Zoomorphic witz mask were used in both painting and sculpture as a means of articulating the relationship between the Maya ruler, the Sacred Mountain, the ancestors, the territory and the goods preserved inside it.

Keywords : Maya; Sacred Mountain; witz; power; legitimation; authority.