1. Home

The Rigid Social Structure Based on Religious Beliefs in the Ancient Mayan Civilization

This is an informational essay about the ancient Mayan Civilization. The author mentions the caste system based on wealth, inherited rank, privilege, and profession. The author also notes that Mayans were very religious, and their belief in gods shaped their daily lives. The ideological function of religion was to comfort individuals, unify society, justify wars, and demonstrate authority. Maya consisted of city-states with independent governments that included a king that ruled for life. Crimes such as murder, arson, and acts against the gods were often punishable by death. Mayans did not use a form of currency. Instead, they used valuable cacao seeds, salt, obsidian, or gold. Adults and priests arranged marriages between 16-year-old boys and 12-year-old girls. The Mayans ate nutrient and protein-dense food such as squash, pumpkin, manioc, tomato, sweet potato, corn, beans, avocado, papaya, and guava. Mayans wore fabrics made out of hemp and cotton and played a ball game filled with ritual importance. The Mayan culture has a rich musical and art history. Instruments were mostly flutes and drums, and the art was primarily religious-based. The Mayans also had an elaborate writing system made up of 800 symbols.
PAGES
9
WORDS
2,907
  Cite
View Full Essay
About this essay
This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

More essays like this:

Not sure what I'd do without @Kibin
- Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University
Exactly what I needed.
- Jenna Kraig, student @ UCLA
Wow. Most helpful essay resource ever!
- Chris Stochs, student @ UC Berkeley
Generating Preview...
This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

More essays like this:

Not sure what I'd do without @Kibin
- Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University
Exactly what I needed.
- Jenna Kraig, student @ UCLA
Wow. Most helpful essay resource ever!
- Chris Stochs, student @ UC Berkeley

View other essays like this one:

Jenn's feedback:

"This paper is off to a very good start. It has an excellent foundation, and all it needs is a bit of cohesion to bring it all together. First, add an introduction that ends with a clear and concise thesis statement. The introduction will allow a reader to get a glimpse of what the paper will be about. The thesis statement will be a guide that lets the reader know what specific topics they will read about and why. Adding the introduction and thesis statement will improve the focus of your paper and make the purpose of it more clear. You already have an immense amount of factual content in your paper that supports the purpose of your paper, which is good. I do suggest that you make sure to follow any information that you obtained from another text with an in-text citation to avoid plagiarism issues, especially since you have a reference section. I also recommend adding transitional phrases and sentences to the end of your paragraphs, creating relationships between each topic you write about rather than just jumping from one topic to the next. Last, I suggest that you end your paper with a conclusion that summarizes the main points made in the document's body and relates them to the thesis statement. This will allow your writing to read as if it is well-rounded. There are very few formatting errors in your essay, which is good because the neatness improves reading comprehension. The main mistakes I noticed were inconsistency in how much paragraphs were indented and extra spacing between paragraphs. You also did a reasonably good job with the conventions on the paper. There are a minor number of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure errors scattered throughout that I am sure can be fixed with a round of proofreading."

Learn more about this feedback