ABSTRACT
In reversing the standpoint from the preceding chapters, this chapter examines how other Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples may have portrayed and engaged with various Mayas, showing how identities were also produced from abroad and reimagined through history. For Classic and Postclassic peoples living in western Mesoamerica, a youthful seated male ruler provided one of the most enduring allegories of Maya peoples that came to embody not only mythic lands in deep space-time, but also the precious green resources of Maya peoples: jade, quetzal feathers, and verdant forests full of life. In turn, Mesoamerican peoples’ experiences and understandings of the Maya were commonly filtered through those who did in fact travel to distant lands, such as merchants, or particular gods associated with Maya peoples. These limited experiences and images were part of the process of conflation whereby many different Lowland peoples were lumped together in relative abstraction.
