Archaeology & History

What did the ancient Mayas prophecise ?

By T.K. Randall
October 2, 2012 ·  16 comments

Image Credit: Bruno Girin Many cite a belief in a global apocalypse on December 21st 2012 as a result of the end of the Mayan calendar, but did the Mayas ever actually make any predictions about the end times ? A group of experts met in southern Mexico on Friday to discuss the implications of the calendar's end date and other aspects of Mayan culture. While some subscribe to the notion that the Mayas were able to predict astronomical disasters far in to their future, others were more skeptical.

"The Mayas did make prophecies, but not in a fatalistic sense, but rather about events that, in their cyclical conception of history, could be repeated in the future," said archaeologist Alfredo Barrera who maintains that the Mayas were more likely to have prophecised about droughts and disease than about anything to do with the end of the world.[!gad]Many cite a belief in a global apocalypse on December 21st 2012 as a result of the end of the Mayan calendar, but did the Mayas ever actually make any predictions about the end times ? A group of experts met in southern Mexico on Friday to discuss the implications of the calendar's end date and other aspects of Mayan culture. While some subscribe to the notion that the Mayas were able to predict astronomical disasters far in to their future, others were more skeptical.

"The Mayas did make prophecies, but not in a fatalistic sense, but rather about events that, in their cyclical conception of history, could be repeated in the future," said archaeologist Alfredo Barrera who maintains that the Mayas were more likely to have prophecised about droughts and disease than about anything to do with the end of the world.

Source: Washington Post | Comments (16)

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