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No Country Will Exist Forever
A lesson hidden in ruins of an ancient Mayan kingdom
Once upon a time in Mexico, before the Spanish invasion, the land was alive with people who, like us, worked to feed their families, shared the joys and pains of life, and paid homage to the gods and leaders whom they believed made their existence possible. In the earliest days of human settlement in Mexico, which sprang in part from the development of a nutritious corn plant, people explored their talents, creating huge sculptures, delicate pottery, and jewelry from seashells that traders spread far and wide.
Like people today, these communities developed stories about where they came from and why they existed on earth. Their gods controlled the natural world — the sun, the moon, the birds and snakes. Leaders emerged, we don’t know for sure why or how, but many were endowed with the power to speak directly to the gods and they used this power to bring individuals together in a controlled community.
Take the Mayan kingdom of Pakal the Great who took power early in the 7th century AD. His kingdom emerged after an earlier society built the mighty pyramids of Teotihuacan further to the north. Some 500 miles to the south, Pakal and his elite followers must have considered their buildings, their art, their society to be another step up in the creation of a sophisticated kingdom that built on…
