Tikal's Ballcourts and the Ancient Maya Ballgame

  Five ball courts have been discovered in Tikal.  The smallest is found on a North-South axis alignment, just South of Temple I.  It displays features common to this type of construction during the Late Classic Period, such as its alignment and its open design with no terminal walls or enclosure.

  The ballgame was a sacred ritual closely related to the Underworld and to the myth of the Twin Brothers, Hunahpu and Ixbalanque, narrated in the Postclassic Book of the Council of the Quiché, or Popol Vuh.  A Monkey Mask in the North Acropolis is also related to this myth, as in Maya art, the monkey is often associated with naughty behavior. Monkey Gods were also shown as gods of writing, calculations, and art.  The Hero Twins from the Creation Myth had two older brothers who were also twins. The Hero Twins tricked them into climbing a tree, which started growing taller. The Hero Twins told them to take off their loincloths. The older brothers could not climb down, so Hunahpu and Ixbalanque turned them into monkeys, while they turned their loincloths, which trailed behind them, into their tails.

  The Group of the Masks 6C-XVI is located south of the Lost World.  Some of its buildings exhibit the talud tablero architectural style.  This was an area dedicated to ballgames, as evidenced by the ballplayers depicted on its wall’s paintings.  A slightly modified ball game was presumably played here, against polychrome-painted steps.  This place shelters a building decorated with masks, which depict the relationship between the natural and the supernatural.  Best-used metaphor is the duality associated with the Rising Sun as a chief deity and the Jaguar of the Underworld as its aspect of a nocturnal power.

  Also interesting is the Lord of the Mirrors, not a deity but a deceased historical personage, who now forms part of the supernatural realm.  This group was abandoned and buried by the Maya in the Early Classic Period until archaeologists unearthed it in 1981.

  The Plaza of Seven Temples, so called because of the seven Late Classic Period temples, is one of the most attractive in Tikal, although the origin of the group may be traced back to the Preclassic Period.  Many palaces to the south and west surround this spacious plaza; being quiet and secluded it is a great spot for birdwatching, as is the adjacent Lost World.  Access to this group is by passing through a triple ball court, unique in the entire Maya World.  Facing the ball courts are three Late Classic Palaces.  The largest of the Seven Temples, the middle one, is decorated with crossed bones in the back and has a plain stela in front.

  We spoke of five ball-courts, and the fifth one is possibly located behind Temple I, just west of Group F, but this still has not been confirmed, like the others have been.

Reading: The The Rubber Ball Game, A Universal Mesoamerican Sport (recommended article)

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