Popol Vuh: The Great Mythological Book of the Ancient Maya (English, Spanish and Mayan Edition)

The Popol Vuh is the sacred book of the Quiche Maya, one of the great New World civilizations. Like its counterparts the Gilgamesh epic, The Illiad and the Old Testament, the Popol Vuh is a classic n the oral tradition, a gathering together of the primal wisdom of an ancient culture in narrative form. It is also said to have been used like the I Ching in making predictions. This magnificently illustrated book provides the first English translation of Popol Vuh for the lay reader and for all readers interested in mythology and native American culture. "The ancient Maya were a people much preoccupied by death, a fact conveyed by what we know of their history and religion and lavishly confirmed by many brief, violent episodes in these loosely connected narratives. Yet there is here a consistent world-view and a truth unavailable to more abstract pondering. This is well explored by the translator in an introduction which fills almost half of the book's brief span, and it is placed in context right at the beginning with a cheat myth altho has (in this translation) uncommon beauty." Washington Post Book World