A Man of Influence by Melinda Curtis

A Man of Influence by Melinda Curtis

In Maya Political Science: Time, Astronomy, and the Cosmos, Prudence M. Rice proposed a new model of Maya political organization in which geopolitical seats of power rotated according to a 256-year calendar cycle known as the May. This fundamental connection between timekeeping and Maya political organization sparked Rice's interest in the origins of the two major calendars used by the ancient lowland Maya, one 260 days long, and the other having 365 days. In Maya Calendar Origins, she presents a provocative new thesis about the origins and development of the calendrical system.

Integrating data from anthropology, archaeology, art history, astronomy, ethnohistory, myth, and linguistics, Rice argues that the Maya calendars developed about a millennium earlier than commonly thought, around 1200 BC, as an outgrowth of observations of the natural phenomena that scheduled the movements of late Archaic hunter-gatherer-collectors throughout what became Mesoamerica. She asserts that an understanding of the cycles of weather and celestial movements became the basis of power for early rulers, who could thereby claim control over supernatural cosmic forces. Rice shows how time became materialized--transformed into status objects such as monuments that encoded calendrical or temporal concerns--as well as politicized, becoming the foundation for societal order, political legitimization, and wealth. Rice's research also sheds new light on the origins of the Popol Vuh, which, Rice believes, encodes the history of the development of the Mesoamerican calendars. She also explores the connections between the Maya and early Olmec and Izapan cultures in the Isthmian region, who shared with the Maya the cosmovision and ideology incorporated into the calendrical systems.

Melinda Curtis is the USA Today bestselling author of light-hearted contemporary romance. In addition to her Sunshine Valley series from Forever, she's published independently and with Harlequin Heartwarming, including her book Dandelion Wishes, which is currently being made into a TV movie. She lives in California's hot central valley with her hot husband - her basketball-playing college sweetheart. While raising three kids, the couple did the soccer thing, the karate thing, the dance thing, the Little League thing and, of course, the basketball thing. Between books, Melinda spends time with her husband remodeling their home by swinging a hammer, grouting tile, and wielding a paintbrush with other family members.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780373367832
ISBN 10	037336783X
Title	A Man of Influence
Author	Melinda Curtis
Series	Harmony Valley Novel
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Harlequin
Year published	2016-04-19
Number of pages	384
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.