The Divine Rite of Kings: An Analysis of Classic Maya Impersonation Statements
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research
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The Divine Rite of Kings : An Analysis of Classic Maya Impersonation Statements. / Nehammer Knub, Julie; Thun, Simone; Helmke, Christophe.
The Maya and their Sacred Narratives: Text and Context in Maya Mythologies. ed. / Geneviève Le Fort; Raphaël Gardiol; Sebastian Matteo; Christophe Helmke. Markt Schwaben : Verlag Anton Saurwein, 2009. p. 177-195 (Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 20).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research
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TY - CHAP
T1 - The Divine Rite of Kings
T2 - An Analysis of Classic Maya Impersonation Statements
AU - Nehammer Knub, Julie
AU - Thun, Simone
AU - Helmke, Christophe
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Impersonation rituals were undoubtedly one of the most important rites of divine Maya kingship in the Classic period. While such rituals are attested in both the iconographic and epigraphic corpus of the Classic Maya, our focus here is on the latter. In their most common form these expressions are rendered hieroglyphically as u-B'AH-hi-li-AN-nu, though a variety of abbreviations and associated spellings have been documented. While the phonetics of these impersonation statements are relatively clear, the semantic dimension remains somewhat opaque. In order to refine our understanding we have conducted an extensive review of the hieroglyphic corpus so as to obtain a comprehensive sample of impersonation expressions. This research has subjected the sample to a series of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The most promising results of this research are presented in this article. The salient trends of impersonation statements are reviewed in light of their temporal distribution, diachronic spelling, the deities involved and associated imagery, the timing of these rituals and concurrent events, as well as the gender of the agents.
AB - Impersonation rituals were undoubtedly one of the most important rites of divine Maya kingship in the Classic period. While such rituals are attested in both the iconographic and epigraphic corpus of the Classic Maya, our focus here is on the latter. In their most common form these expressions are rendered hieroglyphically as u-B'AH-hi-li-AN-nu, though a variety of abbreviations and associated spellings have been documented. While the phonetics of these impersonation statements are relatively clear, the semantic dimension remains somewhat opaque. In order to refine our understanding we have conducted an extensive review of the hieroglyphic corpus so as to obtain a comprehensive sample of impersonation expressions. This research has subjected the sample to a series of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The most promising results of this research are presented in this article. The salient trends of impersonation statements are reviewed in light of their temporal distribution, diachronic spelling, the deities involved and associated imagery, the timing of these rituals and concurrent events, as well as the gender of the agents.
M3 - Book chapter
T3 - Acta Mesoamericana
SP - 177
EP - 195
BT - The Maya and their Sacred Narratives
A2 - Le Fort, Geneviève
A2 - Gardiol, Raphaël
A2 - Matteo, Sebastian
A2 - Helmke, Christophe
PB - Verlag Anton Saurwein
CY - Markt Schwaben
ER -
ID: 20171931