ABSTRACT
The chapter presents a remarkable wealth of detail concerning Maya courts, including the names and titles of rulers and lesser elites and their rituals, prestations, and entertainments. It discusses the more mundane questions about Maya court life. The ephemeral human associations constituting ancient Maya courts had to adapt, in most cases, to durable physical places, conforming to existing facilities while also altering them to suit their new, situational needs. There is thus a very dynamic relationship between court and place, each generating the other. Maya court and elite facilities were thus particularly obtrusive on their regal-ritual landscapes. The regal-ritual model posits that we can regard Maya settlement systems as hierarchies of households, from the small homes of rural commoners to the core establishments of kings. As in many other complex societies, among the Classic Maya, royal palace features, courtly activities, and courtly conventions were emulated or even co-opted by lesser people.
