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There's basically no surviving Mayan literature, thanks to the hard work of the Catholic church. So good luck finding more evidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/w

There's basically no surviving Mayan literature, thanks to the hard work of the Catholic church. So good luck finding more evidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Writing_and_literacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Writing_and_...

mustacheemperor 4y ago
Led by Bishop Diego De Landa, specifically. >We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction. The same individual of whom it's been said >ninety-nine percent of what we today know of the Mayas, we know as the result either of what Landa has told us in the pages that follow, or have learned in the use and study of what he told. So yeah, scholarship of the Maya civilization is extraordinarily challenging.
- tshaddox 4y ago
  That quote still shocks me every time I read it. Such depravity.
  - govolckurself 4y ago
    [dead]
  - labster 4y ago
    Dude, those indios were gonna go to hell if they kept reading those books. Letting them be tortured for all eternity would be truly depraved. I think the word you were looking for is “narrow-minded”. But even then, Landa thought he had gone through enough to see that there was nothing of value in the Maya books. Even tried to learn the language a little. He just didn’t have the mental and cultural framework to care about other perspectives.
    - hackernewds 4y ago
      You're giving a racist and close-minded Bishop too much credit IMHO
      - maweki 4y ago
        Or you're attributing malice when stupidity suffices. Hanlon's razor.
        mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
        Hanlon's razor is great and all. But sometimes there really is just a lot of malice and stupidity at the same time.
        CatWChainsaw 4y ago
        Stupidity is itself malicious. CatWChainsaw's Nastier Razor.
    - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
      You know they tortured people right? This wasn't some soft-minded priest who just wanted to save them from the devil, by offering them waffles and a nice little chat.
fooker 4y ago
It's a miracle that India was spared this fate. All thanks to the East India Company being a soulless megacorp devoted to profits instead of religious zeal like the other colonists.
- i67vw3 4y ago
  Even before East India Company, India faced several outsider attacks. From Alexander the Great to various Khan's, then Mughals, then Portuguese etc. Some important Indian texts were burned/destoryed in these attacks, For eg., the Nalanda University Still, a lot of texts remained both in written format and in Oral format.
  - fooker 4y ago
    >Nalanda University. I feel like the role of Nalanda in Indian history has been greatly exaggerated. The education system was very decentralized, and that's really why most things have survived. There is not much evidence of concrete knowledge/resources being lost at Nalanda.
    - hackernewds 4y ago
      Nalanda U operated for 600 years from 427 CE (!!!) holding over 9m texts [2] The importance of texts from that generation at that scale cannot be overstated [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20220120055253/https://www.patnauniversity.ac.in/e-content/social_sciences/aih/MAAIH53.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20220120055253/https://www.patna... [2] https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2017/09/11/nalanda-9-million-books-burnt/ https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2017/09/11/nalanda-9-million-...
      - fooker 4y ago
        The 9 million figure is exaggerated by a few order of magnitudes. Also, think about it in this way: if some of the manuscripts there was the only copy available, were those really impactful?
- blackoil 4y ago
otabdeveloper4 4y ago
Using the word "literature" is highly eurocentric here. These weren't really books, more like very specific manuals for an esoteric and very small caste of priests.

mustacheemperor 4y ago

Led by Bishop Diego De Landa, specifically. >We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction. The same individual of whom it's been said >ninety-nine percent of what we today know of the Mayas, we know as the result either of what Landa has told us in the pages that follow, or have learned in the use and study of what he told. So yeah, scholarship of the Maya civilization is extraordinarily challenging.

tshaddox 4y ago
That quote still shocks me every time I read it. Such depravity.
- govolckurself 4y ago
  [dead]
- labster 4y ago
  Dude, those indios were gonna go to hell if they kept reading those books. Letting them be tortured for all eternity would be truly depraved. I think the word you were looking for is “narrow-minded”. But even then, Landa thought he had gone through enough to see that there was nothing of value in the Maya books. Even tried to learn the language a little. He just didn’t have the mental and cultural framework to care about other perspectives.
  - hackernewds 4y ago
    You're giving a racist and close-minded Bishop too much credit IMHO
    - maweki 4y ago
      Or you're attributing malice when stupidity suffices. Hanlon's razor.
      - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
        Hanlon's razor is great and all. But sometimes there really is just a lot of malice and stupidity at the same time.
        CatWChainsaw 4y ago
        Stupidity is itself malicious. CatWChainsaw's Nastier Razor.
  - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
    You know they tortured people right? This wasn't some soft-minded priest who just wanted to save them from the devil, by offering them waffles and a nice little chat.

fooker 4y ago

It's a miracle that India was spared this fate. All thanks to the East India Company being a soulless megacorp devoted to profits instead of religious zeal like the other colonists.

i67vw3 4y ago
Even before East India Company, India faced several outsider attacks. From Alexander the Great to various Khan's, then Mughals, then Portuguese etc. Some important Indian texts were burned/destoryed in these attacks, For eg., the Nalanda University Still, a lot of texts remained both in written format and in Oral format.
- fooker 4y ago
  >Nalanda University. I feel like the role of Nalanda in Indian history has been greatly exaggerated. The education system was very decentralized, and that's really why most things have survived. There is not much evidence of concrete knowledge/resources being lost at Nalanda.
  - hackernewds 4y ago
    Nalanda U operated for 600 years from 427 CE (!!!) holding over 9m texts [2] The importance of texts from that generation at that scale cannot be overstated [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20220120055253/https://www.patnauniversity.ac.in/e-content/social_sciences/aih/MAAIH53.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20220120055253/https://www.patna... [2] https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2017/09/11/nalanda-9-million-books-burnt/ https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2017/09/11/nalanda-9-million-...
    - fooker 4y ago
      The 9 million figure is exaggerated by a few order of magnitudes. Also, think about it in this way: if some of the manuscripts there was the only copy available, were those really impactful?
blackoil 4y ago

otabdeveloper4 4y ago

Using the word "literature" is highly eurocentric here. These weren't really books, more like very specific manuals for an esoteric and very small caste of priests.