This engaging exploration of the Maya pantheon introduces readers to
the complex stories of Mesoamerican divinity through the stunning
carvings, ceramics, and metalwork of the Classic period
Focusing on the period between A.D. 250 and 900, Lives of the Gods
reveals that ancient Maya artists evoked a pantheon as rich and complex
as the more familiar Greco-Roman, Hindu-Buddhist, and Egyptian deities.
The authors show how this powerful cosmology informed some of the
greatest creative achievements of Maya civilization, represented here
from the monumental to the miniature through more than 140 works in
jade, stone, and clay. Thematic chapters supported by new scholarship on
recent archaeological discoveries detail the different types of gods and
their domains, the role of the divine in the lives of the ancient Maya,
and the continuation of these traditions from the colonial period
through the present day.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale
University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(November 21, 2022-April 2, 2023)
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX
(May 7-September 3, 2023)