We all know who the Egyptians are, and we know that they had massive pyramids in which they buried the Pharaohs and where the famous idea of the creepy “Mummy” comes from but there is another civilization that lived in Central America, the Maya Civilization. The Mayans had some things in common, even at 11,857 kilometers and 2,300 years of difference the Egyptians coming first and the Mayan coming second, both of the Egyptians and the Mayans are isolated from the world, having to create and be creative they create languages, religion and many other things to survive. As I mentioned before Egyptians had pyramids but the Mayan civilization developed its own pyramids. If you compare and Egyptian pyramids with Mayan pyramids you can see that they don’t look much alike but the way they were used and the purpose they served was similar in some ways. The uses for the pyramids are similar in both of these different cultures the Gods were important to them both had different gods but both the Mayans and the Egyptians would praise them, in different ways, but they both praised them using the pyramids they built and pray to them inside them, they had a very religious meaning that was important to both of the cultures.
As you may know the Egyptians had many gods and appreciated them a lot, the Mayans also had a lot of gods and just as the Egyptians they also had sanctuaries where they would speak to the gods and pray to the gods, the only difference is that the Mayans had the sanctuary on the actual pyramid while the Egyptians didn’t have them on the pyramid they had them separately. The Mayans placed the sanctuary on the top part of the pyramid, that is why it was flat on the top and had a room like shape on the top. The first Egyptian pyramids such as the Djoser were stepped like the Mayan ones they would have a stepped pyramid shape and the Mayan pyramids would always be like so. Later on the Egyptians make more triangular pyramids and more pyramidal shape, instead the Maya always would have their pyramids in the same stepped pyramid shape.
The facing of the pyramids was important in both of the cultures, the Mayan pyramids would be facing certain things, most of the main Mayan pyramids would face the sun, while the smaller ones were normally facing the main pyramid or the center of the plazas. It was important to the Mayans that the pyramids in the plaza were facing straight and not angled toward different directions, most of the times the main pyramid ruled and the rest of the smaller ones would be faced based on how the main one was. Many of these pyramid facing importances were done on their astronomy and was not guessed randomly. The Egyptians also had an astronomical facing method for the pyramids, normally they faced constellations or would be perfectly aligned with the stars, they just like the Mayans had a way of facing their pyramids on a logical way that would make sense and was important. The alignments on the pyramids were both close to perfect because all of the methods they had to measure the angles were precise and very inventive.
And last but not least the Mayans and the Egyptians both buried the kings or pharaohs inside the pyramids, most of the pyramids contained one of these rulers inside them to preserve them and nowadays the archeologists have found huge amounts of Mayan and Egyptian rulers inside these pyramids. Both the Maya people and the Egyptian people would conserve their kings inside their pyramids. Now we can see that both the Egyptians and Mayans had similar ways of building their famous pyramids. So next time you see an Egyptian pyramid picture or something about them remember that the Mayans had some similar beautiful structures that you can as well see.
Bibliography:
Judith Fein (2011) Maya and Egyptian Pyramids: A Hidden Connection?, Retrieved March, 1 2015https://www.
psychologytoday. com/blog/life-is-trip/201110/maya-and-egyptian-pyramids-hidden-connectionWilliam (2003) Mayan and Egyptian Pyramids Retrieved March, 1 2015http://willsproject. 8m. com/c&c. htmDee Shneiderman (2006) Ancient Egyptian vs.
Mayan Culture, Retrieved March, 1 2015http://classroom.synonym.com/ancient-egyptian-vs-mayan-culture-21883.htmlChris Loethen Pyramids Schmeramids: Why the Pyramids of Egypt and MesoamericaDo Not Share a Common Source, Retrieved March, 1 2015http://anth507.tripod.com/pyramids.htmhttp://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/47283.html
