Lightning Warrior: Maya art and kingship at Quirigua by Matthew G. Looper, University of Texas Press,$50, ISBN 0292705565 Reviewed by Nick Saunders
CLASSIC Maya civilisation flourished in the tropical rainforests of Meso-America between about AD 250 and AD 800. One of its defining features was a glyphic writing system that, together with elaborate art, marked the passage of time, and recorded the names of ruling dynasties and the historical events they acted out.
In Lightning Warrior, Matthew Looper investigates a mysterious paradox 鈥� the small Maya city of Quirigua that defeated a much larger neighbour, escaped retribution, then created some of the largest and most sophisticated of all Maya stone monuments.
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This is a story that takes us to the heart of the Maya world, where politics, art, and religion were never far apart. It is seen through the life and times of Quirigua鈥檚 most successful king 鈥� K鈥檃k鈥� Tiliw 鈥� who ruled for 60 years between AD 725 and 785. This erudite and convincing book reveals epigraphic and artistic evidence for this extraordinary ruler鈥檚 historical and political activities, and also his Machiavellian use of different personae manifested in spectacular stone sculptures.
K鈥檃k鈥� Tiliw鈥檚 full name translates as 鈥渇ire-burning celestial lightning god鈥�, a vivid indicator of the supernatural powers he claimed. His story is Quirigua鈥檚, and begins with a political-military alliance with the powerful city of Calakmul. He used this backing to capture and sacrifice the ruler of the great and nearby city of Copan in AD 738. As was normal in the Maya world, this victory was followed by commissioning a stunning range of propaganda monuments to his success.
Extraordinary sculptures were carved with consummate skill, carried eloquent glyphic texts, and extolled the virtues of Quirigua鈥檚 king by setting historical events in cosmological settings. Tall stone stelae and boulders carved with strange zoomorphic beings dotted the city鈥檚 landscape 鈥� a potent mix of Classic Maya visual culture and power politics 鈥� images of the numinous accessed through art and ritual.
This is a strange and powerful story, based on impeccable scholarship, and compellingly told. It is one of the few academic books on the Maya that I would recommend to everyone.