


































Precolumbian syncretism among the Classic Maya, a review of Maya Gods 
of War

Review by Keith Eppich

KAREN BASSIE-SWEET, 2021, Maya Gods of War. Louisville: University Press of Colorado, 
340 pp., ISBN: 978-1646421312.

Religious syncretism, in a Latin American context, usually refers to the Colonial period and the
imposition of Old World deities on native belief systems. Yet the idea of comingled religions is
not limited to colonial settings. The concept can be applied, with great effect, to earlier blends of
religious  beliefs.  Karen  Bassie-Sweet’s  latest  book  focuses  on  one  such  Precolumbian
syncretism, the adoption of Central Mexican gods into Classic Maya pantheons. Specifically, she
discusses how the Classic Maya incorporated deities of Teotihuacán into their own religions.
They  did  this  for  distinct  political,  military,  and  theological  reasons,  not  wholly  importing
foreign gods, but fusing them with pre-existing ones. “The Teotihuacán Tlaloc God,” she writes,
“did not displace or supersede the local thunderbolt Chahks; rather, he was incorporated into
Maya cosmology…” (260).  This work is  Maya Gods of  War and,  with it,  Bassie-Sweet  has
written a particularly brilliant blend of iconography, anthropology, and art history. She uses these
to chart the introduction, modification, and spread of Teotihuacán deities across the Classic Maya
world and the means by which Maya rulers put such gods to use. In doing so, Bassie-Sweet’s text
consists of a deep dive into the complex cosmology of the period. The book strongly resembles
the great art histories of the 80s and 90s, and it is something of a throwback to the works of
Linda Schele and her collaborators. This is much to its credit and Maya Gods of War stands as a
prominent contribution and worthy successor to those landmark texts. One could say of this
book, that the “Blood of Kings” flows in its veins.1

The book itself is organized with an introduction and seven succeeding chapters, each addressing
Classic Maya Gods, as well as their uses, their iconography, their role in the politics of the day,
and  their  syncretic  aspects.  This  all  centers  on  the  goal  of  the  volume,  “…to  analyze  the
attributes and nature of the Teotihuacán deities found in the Maya region and to explore how
these gods were introduced into the Maya region and then incorporated into Maya worldview”



(4). The introduction frames the text, providing necessary background information on the nature
of these Mesoamerican gods and their place within Classic Maya civilization. This includes their
roles within the military conflicts of the day, the words, deeds, politics, and scenes of Classic
period warfare. After this, the seven following chapters consist of detailed essays on the blending
of Maya and Teotihuacán deities. This begins with a discussion of the Chahk Thunderbolt Gods
and  the  Fire  Deity  GIII,  Chapters  1  and  2,  through  the  Classic  Maya  Tlaloc  deities,  the
Kaloomte’ lords and their associated Tlaloc cult, Chapters 4, 5, and 6 respectively. It concludes
with Chapters 6 and 7, discussions of the critical role of women within the Tlaloc cult and the
place in the Maya cosmos held by God L and his many friends. The book then ends.

While  Maya Gods of War is  a  very good book, it  is  not  a  perfect one.  It  has three distinct
problems, and while not crippling, they do hamper the point that the book is trying to make.
They  are  organizational,  evidentiary,  and  illustrative.  Organizationally,  the  book  is  not
constructed around a single, focused thesis, but consists of seven loosely interconnected essays,
each forming its own chapter. Even within each chapter, the text meanders. In the middle of a
discourse on Classic Gods, Bassie-Sweet spends long pages discussing minor titles of nobility.
In the midst  of a  discussion on warfare,  the narrative will  pause for  a  lengthy treatment  of
ceremonial  helmets.  The result  is a text that wanders far afield,  resembling a lecture from a
brilliant professor who just cannot stay on a single subject for very long. This is most evident in
the introduction, which should have focused on the role of gods within Classic society and in
Classic military ideology, as well as the Maya cosmos and the historical sequence of Classic
civilization itself. Instead, it wanders in a long discussion of titles and offices, which would have
been better served in its own chapter. On opening the text, non-specialists are likely to be quite
baffled. There is no real conclusion, either, just a brief summary of the major themes of the book,
which would function as a better introduction than the actual introduction. Hence, this review
recommends that readers should actually read the last seven pages first.

The second issue with the text is  evidentiary.  The book restricts  itself  to  well-known,  well-
published Maya artworks, eschewing discoveries made within the past decade.  Maya Gods of
War is heavily slanted towards the sites that produced classic iconographic studies of the Classic
Maya, the art programs of Yaxchilán, Tikal, Copal, and Palenque. Largely absent are the art and
iconography of Calakmul, Cancuén, La Corona, Motul de San Jose, Chunchucmil, Naachtun,
among others. Even my own site of El Perú-Waka’ is given short shrift, despite being a major
player in the introduction of Teotihuacán to the region. Bassie-Sweet describes it  as being a
“small site” (169) despite that fact that, as a major Classic city, El Perú-Waka’ dwarfs Palenque
and many of the other places she discusses. The whole of Belize is mostly absent. Admittedly,
many of these newly-discovered texts are fragmentary and difficult with a scattered publication
history. Yet, these new-found texts played a vital role in the syncretism of Teotihuacán beliefs
into Maya cosmology. For instance, Chapter 6 addresses the role of women in the Tlaloc cult, yet



focuses on the relatively smaller, but well-published sites of Naranjo and Yaxchilán. The long
tradition of female Kaloomte’ associated with Calakmul, La Corona, and El Perú-Waka’ appear
slightly, if at all.

The third issue is illustrative, being that the book simply does not have enough drawings and
photographs of the art and iconography referenced in the text. To do its subject justice,  Maya
Gods of War needed double its number of illustrations. This is admittedly an unfair criticism and
it is one that Bassie-Sweet herself addresses. Nevertheless, it is one that readers should be aware
of, given that readers will need internet access to fully appreciate this book in order to look up
some of the monuments mentioned in the text.

On the whole, though, these are minor issues in a major work on Classic Maya religion.  This is a
complex,  layered  subject  requiring  a  strong familiarity  with  the  iconography of  the  Classic
period and an appreciation of the multivocality of Maya imagery. This is an art program where a
sky-band can also be jade illuminated with thunderbolts, where an axe in the forehead can also
be a smoking obsidian mirror and both can be references to godly luminosity. This is in addition
to the idea that mortals, during performance, can take on the aspects of gods and that gods can
also perform and take on aspects of other gods. Thus, a Maya Chahk deity can perform as a
Teotihuacán war-serpent and mingle the iconography of both. Performance itself functioned as a
type of conjuring magic, with gods summoned through theatrical acts. Writing and iconography
seems to have functioned in a similar way, with the depiction of a deity serving as a way that
tombs and temples can themselves “perform” as the god whose image they bear. Bassie-Sweet
handles  such  intricacy  and  complexity  very  well  and  her  text  is  able  to  explain  how such
performative  magic worked and created the icon-covered architecture known for  the Classic
Maya.

A distinct strength of the text is her treatment of a suite of images and individuals that she terms
“the  Tlaloc  Cult,”  making  use  of  the  much-later  Nahuatl  term  for  this  serpent  god  of
Mesoamerica. The cult itself seems to have consisted of a series of religious practices centered
on the Teotihuacán war-serpent and the special importance held by the practitioners of that cult.
These  are  the  royal  kaloomte’  lords  long-noted  in  the  Maya  epigraphic  corpus.  Usually
interpreted  as  “emperor”  or  “over-king,”  Bassie-Sweet’s  research  suggests  that  the  political
authority of the kaloomte’ was likely secondary to their role in sacred cult. “High Priest” rather
than “High King” would be the better  translation. After all,  the title extended to both kings,
queens, and non-royals alike. This would fundamentally alter what we know the Teotihuacán
Entrada of the 4th century with the appearance of Mexican imagery being less of a political
conquest and more of an influx of religious-military ideologies. The use of the kaloomte’ title by
the 7th century hegemony of Calakmul would then be that of newly-fashioned state-sanctioned



cult,  not  the  appropriation  of  foreign  titles  from  an  earlier  era.  This  is  an  astute  piece  of
iconographic analysis, which will take scholars years to fully appreciate. Yet, it is only one of
several novel perspectives on Classic Maya religion in the book. Chapter 7, focusing on the
obsidian/merchant deity God L is equally masterful, although a much less contentious subject.

The whole book is as such, a close reading of the complex iconography of the Classic Maya that
results in a new understanding of, and deep appreciation for, Classic religion. It is packed with
this evolving interplay of icon and imagery. Maya gods could perform as Teotihuacán deities and
Maya nobility, in theatrical display, could appear as both, simultaneously. A Maya artist could
portray a Thunderbolt Chahk with the serpentine aspects of Teotihuacán god, blending the two.
Maya  rulers  could  appear  as  high  priests  of  a  Tlaloc  cult  and  conjure  alien  gods  with
performative magic. Such deities would be novel and potent yet contain familiar aspects. This
sheds new light on the very concept of religious syncretism itself and how two different religions
can co-mingle, transforming into a single, blended entity. Maya Gods of War is a book that could
have easily been twice its length and, perhaps, should have been. However, this is a very rich
subject and, I suspect Bassie-Sweet will explore such topics in forthcoming volumes. They will
be eagerly anticipated.  Maya Gods of War is highly recommended and deserves a place on the
shelf of any serious Maya scholar.

1Schele, Linda, and Mary Ellen Miller, The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art 
(1992)

Keith Eppich has been a professional archaeologist for twenty-five years, and has worked across 

the continental United States as well as in the Republic of Guatemala. He has worked at the site 

of El Perú-Waka’ since 2003, focusing on the Classic traditions there. He has published 

numerous reports, articles, and chapters on the subject, including co-editing the volume Breath 

and Smoke, Tobacco among the Maya. He teaches in Texas.

© 2022 Keith Eppich


