Cioffi-Revilla and Landman state that while the number of polities did fall at the end of the first cycle of collapse around 900 CE, the politics did not completely vanish. The first cycle involved a longer period of time for economic, political, and population development. The cycles involved an initial period of rise and fall, then a so-called “rebound” time which was shorter than the first period, but still followed the normal patterns of the cycle and went on until the late Post-Classic Maya period. Researchers have understood that the Maya underwent two cycles of politics. The increased trade of the Classic states contributed to the politics of the Maya. Because these polities would trade with each other as well as non-Maya polities and were independent from each other, the Maya civilization is seen as an internationally trading civilization. The 72-polity figure doesn't include the smaller, less politically stratified units, however. The researchers posit that about 50 polities existed together at one point. These polities did not all exist simultaneously. The Classic period is considered by Cioffi-Revilla and Landman to have had about 72 major political units. The same can be said for the celebrated Classic Maya period. Throughout the Maya era, the Maya remained in separate polities and did not unite as one empire. Once a king had achieved the honor of being on the Sacred Round, the depiction became an actual personification of the king and time. Each day of the month was represented by a specific god Ahau day was specifically for kingly rituals. The Sacred Round was a 260 day calendar which consisted of 13 20-day months. Kings would have an effigy of themselves carved on the Sacred Round. According to Martin, rulers could assert their status as king or lord on Ajaw or Ahau (lord) day. On occasion, women would rule when the king wasn't yet of age, when a king was away at war, or if a king was unavailable for some other reason. Men weren't the only people who were allowed to rule. The rulers of the various Maya city-states were thought to be a kind of human-god hybrid. Much of the political systems in the Maya polities began in the late Pre-classic period around 300 BCE. Maya politics did not begin with kings in the early Pre-classic period. Follow us on YouTube! Politics of the Maya
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