Abstract
This article deals with the problem of military and political alliances of the ancient Maya in the Classic period. The failure to use the terms of modern political science to the ancient world in general and the ancient Maya in particular will be demonstrated. Military and political alliances were widespread long before the formation of political science as an independent science, and therefore many defi nitions are incorrectly formulated without refl ecting the diversity of alliances throughout the history of mankind. It is through criticism of the defi nitions of the military-political alliance as a phenomenon given by G. Snyder, S. Walt, and G. Liska, and on the basis of some examples illustrating the functioning of the military-political alliances of the ancient Maya, a study will be conducted to try to identify universal elements of a militarypolitical alliance in the ancient world. On the basis of the sources read, the author identifi es the most signifi cant aspects of the military and political alliances of the ancient Maya. The military and political alliances from different Maya regions have been chosen as examples to demonstrate a certain universality of the conclusions drawn in this article. Using universal criteria for the defi nition of military and political alliances, S. Bergsmann, the author of the article adapts them to the realities of the ancient world, trying to create his own list of elements typical for the military and political alliances of the ancient Maya of the Classic period. Of course, it is not possible to consider all the military and political elements within the framework of a short article, but it is quite possible to single out examples to illustrate this or that thesis and, on their basis, to show the main types of military and political alliances.
Keywords
Ancient History, Mesoamerica, military and political alliances, ancient Maya.
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