5 ms·
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 a
by mustacheemperor 3y 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 3y agoThat quote still shocks me every time I read it. Such depravity.
- govolckurself 3y ago[dead]
- labster 3y agoDude, 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 3y agoYou're giving a racist and close-minded Bishop too much credit IMHO
- maweki 3y agoOr you're attributing malice when stupidity suffices. Hanlon's razor.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y agoHanlon's razor is great and all. But sometimes there really is just a lot of malice and stupidity at the same time.
- CatWChainsaw 3y agoStupidity is itself malicious. CatWChainsaw's Nastier Razor.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y agoYou 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.