Why was there no “Mayan Empire”?

With Ancient Maya Politics Prof. Martin (U. Penn Museum), the author of several earlier works on Maya history and culture, has written a comprehensive overview of Maya political institutions in order to better understand Mayan society and to address the curious absence of an all-encompassing “Mayan Empire”. This is a rather contentious subject, with numerous and usually conflicting interpretations, many of which say more about the ideological bent of those who pose them than they do about the Maya; e.g., “Given all the imagistic evidence for Maya militarism it is confounding that a generation and more of scholars were persuaded, or simply acquiesced to the idea, that this was a peaceful society” (p. 197).

Martin reviews past interpretations of Maya society, often rooted in agenda, and how our growing understanding of the Mayan written language offers insights into the political life of their civilization.

One of the more difficult “problems” with Maya history is why the numerous Mayan polities (perhaps as many as 800, about as many as in Classical Greece) did not eventually fall under the control of a single encompassing “Empire”, such as had happened to the other early civilizations in the Mediterranean basin, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. Martin suggests that due to religion, dynastic interrelations, local politics, and other reasons, a “dynamic equilibrium” evolved that maintained a balance among the network of states, even as some became more powerful while others declined.

Although primarily concerned with Maya society, in Ancient Maya Politics Martin offers some valuable insights likely to be of use to those with an interest in comparative history and the global evolution of political institutions, diplomacy, war, and conflict.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium