Polities and Power in the Book of Mormon and Ancient Mesoamerica

Artist's rendition of the ancient Mesoamerican polity El Mirador

While the Book of Mormon may primarily be a religious text, it does offer quite a bit of background information about the type of civilizations that the Lehites created. This information can be utilized for comparative purposes to ancient Mesoamerica. We can ascertain very basic elements of this civilization such as social complexity, political power, and type of warfare, to name just a few. So how well does the civilization described in the Book of Mormon correlate to ancient Mesoamerica?

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What Mesoamerican polities could qualify as the "City of Nephi"?



What kind of class division existed in ancient Mesoamerica, as compared to the Book of Mormon?



How do the endtimes described in the Book of Mormon correlate with the timeline from ancient Mesoamerica?



How does the extended political control described in the Book of Mormon correlate with ancient Mesoamerican polities?



How well does the story of the land of Jershon correlate with ancient Mesoamerica?



How well does the description of Lamanite warfare correlate with ancient Mesoamerica?



Can one infer the existence of pre-existent "others" in the Book of Mormon?



How well does the description of war provisions in the Book of Mormon correlate with ancient Mesoamerican practices?



How well does the social complexity described in the Book of Mormon correlate with ancient Mesoamerica?



How well do the armies described in the Book of Mormon correlate with warfare practices of ancient Mesoamerica?



Does the territorial expansion described in the Book of Mormon correlate with ancient Mesoamerica?



How well does the destruction described in the Book of Mormon at the time of the death of Christ correlate with ancient Mesoamerican history?



How well does the warfare described in the Book of Mormon correlate with the warfare practices of ancient Mesoamerica?



What ancient Mesoamerican polities could qualify as "Zarahemla"?



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Polities and Power

Holy Lords - Religion and Politics in Ancient Mesoamerica

Lady Xoc Bloodletting

Politics in ancient Mesoamerica was completely enmeshed within the pan-Mesoamerican religious world-view. Kings were religious leaders who participated in sacred rituals, including human sacrifice and bloodletting. The most powerful polities heavily influenced other, less powerful polities. Where would Book of Mormon polities fit into this world?

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How important were ancestors and lineage to the ancient Mesoamericans?



What was the animal spirit companion of royals in ancient Mesoamerica?



What was the significance of the ballgame in ancient Mesoamerica?



What was royal bloodletting in ancient Mesoamerica?



What kind of polity would the City of Nephi be?



What social differences existed in ancient Mesoamerica and how did the culture deal with this issue?



Who were the early Olmec?



What kind of political power did ancient Mesoamerica polities possess?



How would the Jaredites have fit into ancient Mesoamerica?



How would a Judeo-Christian culture have fit into ancient Mesoamerica?



What did ancient Mesoamerican kings do?



What kind of luxury items did ancient Mesoamerica have?



Did ancient Mesoamerican polities imitate more powerful polities?



What was ancient Mesoamerican mythology?



What about John Sorenson's claims about ancient Jaredites?



How would Zarahemla fit into ancient Mesoamerica?