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Mythology of the Mayas

Visit the links below to learn about Mayan myths related to objects in the sky, and aspects of their world.

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Maya astronomers had a remarkably accurate knowledge of the apparent motion of <a href="/venus/venus.html&edu=elem">Venus</a>. They knew on what day Venus would appear again in the east after it had disappeared in the west. Venus, the morning star, was the patron planet of warfare.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Windows to the Universe</em></small></p>

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Explore Mythology of the Mayas

The Earth: Bacabs

The Maya believed the Earth was flat with four corners. Each corner was a direction shown by ...Read more

The Rain: Xib Chac

Xib Chac was the Mayan rain god. He was a fair god, and was shown by many colors. He was often ...Read more

The Moon: Ix Chel

Ix Chel, the "Lady Rainbow," was the Moon goddess in Mayan mythology. The Mayans associated ...Read more

Venus: Kukulcan

The ancient Mayans used the doorways and windows of their buildings to look at things in space. ...Read more

The Planet Mars

Mayans were sophisticated observers of the sky. Mayans used their astronomical knowledge to ...Read more

The Milky Way

Mayans seem to have thought of the Milky Way as the road along which souls walk into the underworld. ...Read more

Historical Events

4/18 Great San Francisco Earthquake, estimated magnitude of 7.8, on San Andreas Fault in 1906
4/19 F5 tornado hits Brownwood, Texas on this date in 1976
4/19 Soviet Union launces Salyut 1, First Space Station, in 1971

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xQuaternary : The Quaternary is the geologic time period comprising about the last 1.65 million years.

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Caribbean Coral Reef Protection Efforts Miss the Mark

Corals in the Caribbean are threatened by global warming and climate change. Most of the efforts to conserve corals in this area have focused on the most diverse corals in the center of the Caribbean....Read more


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