The Classic Maya Ceremonial Bar

The basic varieties of the Classic Maya ceremonial bar are described; its formal histories outlined; and its iconographic potentials are delimited. The significant gestures used to hold the bar are traced, along with the bar, to the Middle Preclassic Olmec culture. With this genealogy, with regional...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Flora S. Clancy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 1994-01-01
Series:Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas
Online Access:http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36906501
Description
Summary:The basic varieties of the Classic Maya ceremonial bar are described; its formal histories outlined; and its iconographic potentials are delimited. The significant gestures used to hold the bar are traced, along with the bar, to the Middle Preclassic Olmec culture. With this genealogy, with regional differences in Classic representations, and in certain iconographic reflections, the Classic cermonial bar is shown to represent a kind of allegory through which various "origin stories" were anciently told and interpreted to explain, thus to rationalize, royal power and action
ISSN:0185-1276
1870-3062