The Maya society was organized by a class system. At the top of the system was the ruling class filled with the wealthy and powerful elite, which included nobles and priests, all of who were headed by the King. The middle class consisted of government officials, merchants, artisans, and warriors. The lowest class held commoners, farmers, servants, and war captives. A main contributor to the structure of the Maya society was the intense devotion to their polytheistic religion. Maya religion helped set the foundation for the entire society by helping control the social class system. The majority of the labor came from the lower class, namely farmers and slaves. Farmers supplied the entire society with food, including maize, squash, avocados, beans, vanilla beans, cocoa beans, and tomatoes. The creation of temples and pyramids led the culture to rely heavily on the use of human labor. The King was believed to be semi-divine and, in some cases, a direct decedent of gods. This instilled a sense of divinity in his rule, making it easier for him to control the lower and middle class workers.
Another importance between the social structure and the religion was the elaborate ceremonies and rituals that the Mayas would perform. As a status symbol, the upper-class society would distort the heads of their children by using a press to elongate the skulls before they hardened. Lavish ceremonies took place to show homage to the gods. Sacrifices would be made to represent the transferring of power between kings. Kings would perform a ceremony called bloodletting in which they would take their own blood as a sacrifice because ruling class blood was considered sacred. They would also sacrifice slaves, enemy worriers, and women. Many of the people chosen to be sacrificed would do so willingly because of how sacred it was.
Finally, the social structure and the religion of the Mayas affected the architecture of the society. Gigantic pyramids and temples were built with stone tablets that averaged ten tons. Chichén Itzá was one of the large ceremonial complexes used for rituals, events, and festivals. Soon after the classical period, the City became the capital of Yucatán Maya.
“Maya” Guatemala and Belize http://www.naomistolow.com/travelogue/maya.html April 4 2011 WEB
Sterns, Peter N. World History in Brief Upper Saddle NJ. Pearson, 2010
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