THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 



91 



profile without the distortions seen in the Old World. 

 They were even able to make graceful approximations of 

 a three-quarters view, as maybeseen in Plate XVIII, 

 where the raising of the nearer shoulder has a distinct 

 perspective value. 



The Mayan Pantheon. AAV have seen that during 

 the earliest culture of Mexico and Centra] America 

 there were no figurines of individualized gods, simply 

 straightforward representations of human beings and 

 animals. With the Mayan culture, however, we enter 

 upon an epoch of rich religious symbolism. The ser- 



Fig. 31. The Ceremonial Bar. A Two-Headed Serpent held in the 

 Arms of Human Beings on Stelae: a, Stela P, Copan; b, Stela X. Copan. 



pent, highly conventionalized as we have just seen, 

 and variously combined with elements taken from 

 the quetzal, the jaguar, and even from man himself, 

 appears as a general indication of divinity. The 

 Ceremonial Bar, essentially a two-headed serpent 

 carrying in its mouths the heads of an important god, 

 is one of the earliest religious objects. The heads thai 

 appear in the mouths are usually those of a Roman- 

 nosed or of a Long-nosed god. Other representations of 

 divinities are combined with the Two-headed Dragon 



