Understanding Mayan Human Sacrifice

Why did the Maya perform human sacrifices? That the Mayan people practiced human sacrifice is not in doubt, but providing motives is part speculation. The word sacrifice is from the Latin and it is associated with the word sacred—human sacrifices, like many other rituals in the Maya and other civilizations, were part of a sacred ritual, an act of appeasing or paying homage to the gods. Grappling With the World Like all human societies, the Maya grappled with uncertainty in the world, erratic weather patterns which brought drought and storms, the anger and violence of enemies, the occurrence of disease, and the inevitability of death. Their pantheon of gods provided some perceived control over their world, but they needed to communicate with those gods and to perform deeds showing that they were worthy of good luck and good weather. The Maya performed human sacrifices during particular societal events. Human sacrifices were conducted at specific festivals in their annual calendar, at times of crisis, at dedications of buildings, at the ends or beginnings of warfare, at the accession to the throne of a new ruler, and at the time of that rulers death. Sacrifices at each of these events likely had different meanings to the people who conducted the sacrifices. Valuing Life The Maya valued life highly, and according to their religion, there was an afterlife so human sacrifice of people they cared for—such as children—was not perceived as murder but rather placing that individuals life into the hands of the deities. Even so, the highest cost to an individual was to lose their children thus child sacrifice was a truly holy act, conducted at times of crisis or times of new beginnings. At times of war and at rulers accessions, human sacrifices may have had a political meaning in that the ruler was indicating his ability to control others. Scholars have suggested that public sacrifice of captives was to display that ability and to reassure the people that he was doing everything he could to stay in communication with the gods. However, Inomata (2016) has suggested that the Maya may never have evaluated or discussed the legitimacy of a ruler: sacrifice was simply an expected part of the accession. Other Sacrifices Maya priests and rulers also made personal sacrifice, using obsidian knives, stingray spines, and knotted cords to draw blood from their own bodies as offerings to gods. If a ruler lost a battle, he himself was tortured and sacrificed. Luxury goods and other items were placed in sacred locations such as the Great Cenote at Chichen Itza and in rulers burials along with the human sacrifices. When people in modern societies try to come up with the purpose of human sacrifice in the past, we are prone to put our own concepts about how people think about themselves as individuals and members of society, how authority is established in our world, and how much control we believe our gods have over the world. It makes it difficult if not impossible to parse out what the reality might have been for the Maya, but no less fascinating for us to learn about ourselves in the process. Sources: Ardren T. 2011. Empowered Children in Classic Maya Sacrificial Rites. Childhood in the Past 4(1):133-145.Inomata T. 2016. Theories of Power and Legitimacy in Archaeological Contexts: The Emergent Regime of Power at the Formative Maya Community of Ceibal, Guatemala. Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. p 37-60.Pà ©rez de Heredia Puente EJ. 2008. Chen K’u: The Ceramic of the Sacred Cenote at Chichà ©n Itzà ¡. Tulane, Louisiana: Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI).

Electric Power Transmission - 7736 Words

Electric power transmission Electric transmission redirects here. For vehicle transmissions, see diesel-electric transmission. [pic] [pic] 400 kV high-tension transmission lines near Madrid Electric power transmission or high-voltage electric transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to substations located near population centers. This is distinct from the local wiring between high-voltage substations and customers, which is typically referred to as electric power distribution. Transmission lines, when interconnected with each other, become high-voltage transmission networks. In the US, these are typically referred to as power grids or just the grid, while in the UK the network is†¦show more content†¦High-voltage overhead conductors are not covered by insulation. The conductor material is nearly always an aluminium alloy, made into several strands and possibly reinforced with steel strands. Copper was sometimes used for overhead transmission but aluminium is lower in weight for only marginally reduced performance, and much lower in cost. Overhead conductors are a commodity supplied by several companies worldwide. Impr oved conductor material and shapes are regularly used to allow increased capacity and modernize transmission circuits. Conductor sizes range from 12 mm2 (#6 American wire gauge) to 750 mm2 (1,590,000 circular mils area), with varying resistance and current-carrying capacity. Thicker wires would lead to a relatively small increase in capacity due to the skin effect, that causes most of the current to flow close to the surface of the wire. Today, transmission-level voltages are usually considered to be 110 kV and above. 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El Salvador Essay Research Paper HISTORYThe Olmec free essay sample

El Salvador Essay, Research Paper History The Olmec Boulder, a rock sculpture of a elephantine caput found near Chalchuapa in western El Salvador, is grounds of Olmec presence in the part from at least 2000 BC. The step-pyramid ruins at Tazumal and San Andres show that the Maya besides lived in western El Salvador for over 1000 old ages. Groups that inhabited the eastern portion of the state included the Chorti, Lenca and Pok. When the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, the state was dominated by the Pipil, posterities of Nahuatl-speaking Toltecs and Aztecs, both Mexican folks. The Pipil likely came to cardinal El Salvador in the eleventh century merely after the Maya dynasty collapsed. Their civilization was similar to that of the Aztecs, with heavy Maya influences and a maize-based agricultural economic system that supported several metropoliss and a complex civilization including hieroglyphic authorship, uranology and mathematics. Spains claim was staked by the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, who arrived in the country in 1525. The Spanish developed plantations of cotton, balsam and anil. Throughout the 1700s agribusiness boomed, but a group of 14 elite European households maintained control of most of the land, which was farmed by enslaved autochthonal people or slaves imported from Africa. Father Jose Matias Delgado organized a rebellion against Spain in 1811, but it was rapidly suppressed. Napoleons invasion of Spain the undermentioned twelvemonth increased the drift for reform, and El Salvador finally gained independency in 1821. This did non change the kineticss of land ownership, an issue at the nucleus of an unsuccessful Indian rebellion in 1833, led by Anastasio Aquino. In 1841, following the disintegration of the Cardinal American Federation ( formed between El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua), El Salvador became a autonomous independent state. In the 2nd half of the nineteenth century, man-made dyes undermined the anil market, and java took chief phase in the economic system. By the twentieth century, 95 % of El Salvadors income came from java exports, but merely 2 % of the population controlled that wealth. Intermittent attempts by the hapless bulk to right El Salvadors societal and economic unfairnesss were met with terrible repression. The first popular motion for alteration followed on the heels of the stock-market clang of 1929 and the subsequent plummeting of java monetary values. In January 1932, Augustin Farabundo Marti, a laminitis of the Cardinal American Socialist party, led an rebellion of provincials and Indians. The military responded by consistently killing anyone who looked Indian or who supported the rebellion. In all, 30,000 people were killed. Marti was arrested and executed by firing squad ; his name is preserved in the FMLN ( Frente Marti Liberacion Nacional ) . By the sixtiess El Salvadors neglecting economic system and terrible overpopulation drove 100s of 1000s of Salvadorans to traverse illicitly into Honduras seeking work. In 1969, allegations of Honduran mistreatment of Salvadoran immigrants were raised merely as a World Cup association football lucifer between the two states was being played. National competitions and passions escalated to a pathetic degree that resulted in El Salvador occupying Honduran district and bombing its airdromes. The struggle lasted less than 100 hours, but dealingss between the two neighbours were hostile for over a decennary. During the 1970s the population suffered from increased landlessness, poorness, unemployment and overpopulation. Political parties became polarized and fought for power mostly through putschs and electoral fraud. In 1972, the military arrested and exiled the elected president and installed their ain campaigner in power. Guerrilla activity increased, and the authorities responded by unleashing # 8216 ; decease squads who murdered, tortured or kidnapped 1000s of Salvadorans. In 1979, a junta of military and civilians overthrew the president and promised reforms. When these reforms were non met, resistance parties banded together under the party name Federacion Democratico Revolucionario, of which the FMLN was the largest group. The successful revolution in Nicaragua in 1979 encouraged many Salvadorians to believe that armed battle was the lone manner to procure reforms. When popular archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated stating mass in 1980, his decease sparked an armed rebellion. FMLN guerillas gained control of countries in the North and E of El Salvador and blew up Bridgess, destroyed power lines and burned java plantations in a command to smother the states economic system. The Reagan Administration, unnerved by the success of Nicaraguas socialist revolution, donated immense sums of money to the Salvadoran authorities, and the military retaliated by decimating small towns, doing 300,000 citizens to fly the state. In 1982, the utmost right ARENA party took power and decease squads began aiming trade union members and agricultural reformists. In April 1990, United Nations-mediated dialogues began between the authorities and the FMLN, and eventually, on 16 January 1992, a via media was signed and a ceasefire took consequence. The FMLN became an resistance party, and the authorities agreed to assorted reforms, including leveling the decease squads and replacing them with a national civil constabulary force. Land was to be distributed to citizens and human rights misdemeanors to be investigated. During the class of the 12-year war, an estimated 75,000 people were killed, and the US authorities donated a astonishing US $ 6 billion to the Salvadoran authorities war attempt, despite cognition of atrociousnesss carried out by the military. In March 1994, ARENA member Calderon Sol was voted president, amid allegations of electoral fraud. While some of the reforms outlined in the peace agreements have been implemented ( most notably the land-transfer plan ) , many Salvadorans consider the current state of affairs to be no better now than it was before the civil war. Unemployment, poorness, disgruntled ex-combatants and a proliferation of guns in the state have led to high homicide rates # 8211 ; merely one of the grounds why about 20 % of Salvadorans now live abroad. In March 1997, the FMLN won elections in the metropoliss of six of the 14 sections; it now governs a greater per centum of the population than ARENA. Presidential elections are scheduled for 1999. Culture El Salvador is preponderantly a Roman Catholic state. During the war the authorities assumed that the Catholic Church supported communism because it sympathized with the hapless, and it targeted the Church for force. Many fled the faith either because they feared for their lives or because they were unhappy with the Church # 8217 ; s association with the resistance. Protestantism, particularly Evangelism, offered a welcome option. Other churches include the Baptist and Pentecostal. Spanish is the national linguistic communication. Many work forces, chiefly between the ages of 20 and 40, learned some English in the US during the war. Autochthonal linguistic communications have died out in day-to-day usage, but there is some academic involvement in continuing the Nahua linguistic communication of the Pipils. Most of the music on Salvadoran wireless is standard dad menu from the US, Mexico or other parts of Latin America, but at that places a little resistance motion of cancion popular ( folk music ) , which draws its inspiration from current events in El Salvador. Poetry is popular, and well-known authors include Manlio Argueta and Francisco Rodriguez. The small town of La Palma has become celebrated for a school of art started by Fernando Llort. His childlike, about cartoony, images of mountain small towns, campesinos and Christ are painted in bright colourss on objects runing from seeds to church walls. The town of Ilobasco is known for its ceramics, while San Sebastian is recognized for its fabric humanistic disciplines. El Salvadorans chow down on a standard day-to-day menu of casamiento, a mixture of rice and beans. Another pillar is pupusas, a cornmeal mass stuffed with husbandmans cheese, refried beans or chicharron ( fried porc fat ) . Licuados ( fruit drinks ) , java and gaseosas ( soft drinks ) are omnipresent. Tic-Tack and Torito are vodka-like liquors made from sugar cane and are non for those who cherish their tummy liner.