Artist's rendition of the ancient Mesoamerican polity El MiradorWhile 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?
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
