“
It’s only here on earth, my friends,
We’re lent to each other, for at the end
We leave the beautiful songs behind…
We leave the beautiful blooms behind.
”
”
David Bowles (Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry)
“
Who could truly set His shield to rest?
His throne? His mighty spear?
Think on that. Remember it well, O princes.
Who could lay waste to Tenochtitlan?
Who dares assail the foundation of heaven?
”
”
David Bowles (Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry)
“
And so I just grieve, groaning,
'Let me not go
To the Place of the Shorn:
My heart is now precious...
For I, I am a poet—
And my flower is golden.
”
”
David Bowles (Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry)
“
In the place of the bells, where battle is waged,
The reeds all lie broken in Chalco today.
Dust yellows the air, our houses are smoking,
The sobbing is rising—from the lips of your Chalcans!
”
”
David Bowles (Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry)
“
Uncle Earl believes strongly in Jesus, Moses, the healing power of crystals, the Freemasons, the Illuminati, that aliens landed at Roswell but the government is suppressing it, secret histories, faith-healing, snake-handling, that there is an invention that will replace gasoline but the oil companies are suppressing it, chemtrails, demon-possession, the astonishing powers of Vicks VapoRub, and that there’s proof that aliens contacted the Mayans and the Aztecs and probably the Egyptians, but the scientists are suppressing it. He believes in Skunk Ape, Chupacabras, and he positively adores Mothman. He is not Catholic, but he believes in the miracle of Fatima, visions of Mary appearing on toast, and he is nearly positive that the end times are upon us, but seems to be okay with this, provided it does not interfere with museum hours.
”
”
T. Kingfisher (The Hollow Places)
“
He probably didn’t know Aztecs from Mayans. None of the gods, none of the mythology, none of the names she’d learned since childhood. There had been vampires in America before the Aztecs rose to power, and they had interacted with humans, of course. But the Tlahuelpocmimi had blended so seamlessly into Aztec culture it was difficult to determine who had influenced whom, whether the emphasis on blood and sacrifice had come from exposure to the vampires or whether the vampires had gravitated toward this tribe because it meshed with their worldviews.
”
”
Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Certain Dark Things)
“
At the collective level, pride is expressed in the conviction of being superior to others as a nation or a race, of being the guardian of the true values of civilization, and of the need to impose this dominant “model” on “ignorant” peoples by any means available. This attitude often serves as a pretext for “developing” the resources of underdeveloped countries. The conquistadors and their bishops burned the vast Mayan and Aztec libraries of Mexico, of which barely a dozen volumes survive. Chinese textbooks and media continue to describe Tibetans as backward barbarians and the Dalai Lama as a monster. It was pride, above all, that allowed the Chinese to ignore the hundreds of thousands of volumes of philosophy housed in Tibetan monasteries before they demolished six thousand of those centers of learning.
”
”
Matthieu Ricard (The Art of Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill)
“
FUCK IT, I’M BORED.”
“Here he comes.” Theo didn’t even look up when Miles rounded the corner and tossed his notebook onto the counter. “I don’t think cursing is going to help,” she told him.
“Maybe it fucking will.” Miles seethed. “I hate everyone in that gym. Pick someone.”
“No, I don’t want to play.”
“It won’t take that long.”
“That’s why I don’t want to play.”
“Can I do one?” I raised my hand. “It might actually take you more than five questions, too.”
Miles quirked his eyebrow. “Oh, you think so?”
“If you get this in five, I’ll be thoroughly impressed.”
He leaned over the counter, looking eager. Weirdly, weirdly eager. Not like he wanted to rub my face into the floor. Not like he knew he was going to beat me. Just . . . excited. “Okay,” he said. “Are you fictional?”
Broad question. He didn’t know me as well as he knew Theo, so it was to be expected.
“No,” I said.
“Are you still alive?”
“No.”
“Are you a leader?”
“Yes.”
“Was your civilization conquered by a European nation?”
“Yes.”
“Are you . . . a leader of the Olmec?”
“How’d you get there?” Theo blurted out, but Miles ignored her.
“No,” I said, trying not to let him see how close he’d come. “And the Olmec weren’t conquered by the Europeans. They died out.”
Miles frowned. “Mayan?”
“No.”
“Incan.”
“No.”
“Aztec.”
“Yes.”
The corners of his lips twisted up, but he said, “Shouldn’t have taken so many guesses for that one.” Then he said, “Did you found the Tlatocan?”
“No.”
“Did you reign after 1500?”
“No.”
Theo watched the conversation like a tennis match.
“Are you Ahuitzotl?”
“No.” I smiled. This kid knew his history.
“Tizoc?”
“No.”
“Axayacatl?”
“No.”
“Moctezuma I?”
“Nope.”
“Itzcoatl?”
“No.”
“Chimalpopoca?”
“No.”
“Huitzilihuitl?”
“What the hell are you saying?” Theo cried.
He’d cut off a chunk of the Aztec emperors and whittled them down until there was only one remaining. But now he had three questions left—two he didn’t need.
Why hadn’t he cut it down again? Surely he could have shortened his options and not guessed his way through all the emperors. Was this some kind of test? Or was . . . was he showing off?
“You’re Acamapichtli.”
There was a fanatical gleam in his eye, another smile playing on his lips. Both were gone as soon as I said, “Almost twenty. Not quite, but I almost had you.”
“I’m never playing this game again,” said Theo, sighing and returning to her homework.
”
”
Francesca Zappia (Made You Up)
“
Maya were largely farmers, growing domesticated crops, such as maize, all kinds of exotic fruits, cacao, and root crops. But their diet (one of the healthiest diets you could have in the ancient world) still depended largely on hunting and fishing in the lush fields and waters that surrounded them.
”
”
Captivating History (Ancient Civilizations: A Captivating Guide to Mayan History, the Aztecs, and Inca Empire (Exploring Ancient History))
“
if you were born with a very small organism in the Olmec or the later Maya culture, you’d be seen as a magical being, touched by the gods. You’d be enjoying all kinds of luxuries, often appearing in the king’s court. This may be something to do with their belief that the sky was held up by four dwarves, and so they gave them special treatment.
”
”
Captivating History (Ancient Civilizations: A Captivating Guide to Mayan History, the Aztecs, and Inca Empire (Exploring Ancient History))
“
in 7000 BC a new shift began—the hunter-gatherers who lived in Mesoamerica discovered something that would change their region forever. They began planting crops.
”
”
Captivating History (Ancient Civilizations: A Captivating Guide to Mayan History, the Aztecs, and Inca Empire (Exploring Ancient History))
“
The Maya saw life as a continuum—a series of birth and death cycles.
”
”
Captivating History (Ancient Civilizations: A Captivating Guide to Mayan History, the Aztecs, and Inca Empire (Exploring Ancient History))
“
Fractal shapes were being expressed intuitively by artists long before they were recognized in science. Self-similar patterns appear in Celtic artefacts, like the spirals and circles within circles of the exquisitely crafted illuminated pages of the early 9th-century Book of Kells and the Densborough mirror made in the 1st century A.C. Mathematical awareness, particularly fractal awareness, reveals itself in the art of the Romans and the Egyptians, and in the work of the Aztec, Inca and Mayan civilizations of Central and South America. Shapes highly reminiscent of the Koch curve were used to depict waves by the Hellenic artist in a frieze in the ancient Greek town of Akrotiri.
”
”
Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon (Introducing Fractal Geometry)
“
I’ve always liked Greek and Roman mythology,” I say. “I can do Apollo and Helios.” “I can do Norse mythology,” Blaze says. “And Egyptian.” “I’ll take Aztec and Mayan,” Morgan volunteers. “That works.” Damien glances around the chamber. “I’ll focus on Hindu and Japanese.
”
”
Michelle Madow (Fading Sun (Star Touched: Vampire Bride #3))
“
You see, the ancestral horse died out here—well, in the ‘here’ that is my real-life home, but not in the world of Temilún. When the great empires of the Americas arose in the real world—the Toltec, Aztec, Mayan, Inca, our own Muisca—they had several handicaps the civilizations of the Tigris Valley or the Mediterranean did not have—slower communications, no large wagons or sledges since there were no animals capable of hauling them, less need for broad flat roads, hence less pressure to develop the wheel, and so on.” He began pacing again, but this time with an air of happy energy. “In the real world, the Spanish came to the Americas and discovered them ripe for plucking. Only a few hundred men with guns and horses subjugated two continents. Think of that! So I built America again. But this time the horse did not die out.” He took off his feathered crown and set
”
”
Tad Williams (City of Golden Shadow (Otherland, #1))
“
The Maya found that these three plants, when grown together, would help each other develop. Tall and viny, beans climbed up the maize stalks. The squash, in turn, helped to reduce soil erosion.
”
”
Captivating History (Ancient Civilizations: A Captivating Guide to Mayan History, the Aztecs, and Inca Empire (Exploring Ancient History))
“
Maya were early scientists, for they discovered quickly that a trio of vegetables that later became known as “the three sisters” grew very well together.
”
”
Captivating History (Ancient Civilizations: A Captivating Guide to Mayan History, the Aztecs, and Inca Empire (Exploring Ancient History))
“
The Chinese for pay is pei, and the Farsi Iranian word for bad is bad. The Uzbek for chop is chop, and in the extinct Aboriginal language of Mbaram a dog was called a dog. The Mayan for hole is hole and the Korean for many is mani. When, in the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an Afghan wants to show you something, he will use the word show; and the ancient Aztecs used the Nahuatl word huel to mean well.
Any idiot can deduce from this that all the languages of the world are related. However, anyone of reasonable intelligence will realize that they are just a bunch of coincidences. There are a lot of words and a lot of languages, but there are a limited number of sounds. We're bound to coincide sometimes.
”
”
Mark Forsyth (The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language)