Mesoamerican ballgame

E647878

The Mesoamerican ballgame was an ancient ritual and sport played by pre-Columbian cultures using a rubber ball on stone courts, often imbued with religious, political, and cosmological significance.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Statements Referenced by

Statements (65)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Mesoamerican cultural practice
ancient team sport
ball game
ritual game
associatedWith human sacrifice
myth of the Hero Twins
ritual bloodletting
warfare symbolism
continuedAs modern game ulama
documentedIn Popol Vuh NERFINISHED
earliestEvidenceDate circa 1400 BCE
earliestEvidenceSite El Manatí NERFINISHED
forbidsUseOf feet
hands
hasArchaeologicalEvidence ball courts
ballplayer figurines
ballplayer reliefs
rubber balls
hasCourtFeature end zones
markers along the court
sloping walls
stone rings
vertical walls
hasCourtType I-shaped court
T-shaped court
hasNotableSite Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza NERFINISHED
ballcourts at El Tajín
ballcourts at Monte Albán
hasPoliticalSignificance used for diplomacy between polities
used to display elite power
used to resolve disputes
hasProtectiveGear arm guards
knee pads
leather belts
padded yoke
hasReligiousSignificance associated with fertility rituals
associated with sun and planetary cycles
associated with the underworld
linked to Mesoamerican cosmology
hasSocialFunction community ritual
elite entertainment
public spectacle
hasVariant football-like variant
handball variant
hip-ball game
stickball variant
influenced contemporary interpretations of Mesoamerican religion
originatedIn Mesoamerica NERFINISHED
playedOn stone court
playedUsing buttocks
forearms
hips
thighs
playedWith rubber ball
practicedBy Aztec civilization NERFINISHED
Maya civilization NERFINISHED
Mixtec civilization NERFINISHED
Olmec civilization NERFINISHED
Teotihuacan culture NERFINISHED
Toltec civilization NERFINISHED
Zapotec civilization NERFINISHED
symbolizes conflict between life and death
cosmic struggle between day and night
movement of celestial bodies
usedMaterial natural rubber

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Dainzú associatedWith Mesoamerican ballgame
Classic Veracruz culture practiced Mesoamerican ballgame
Maya peoples traditionalGame Mesoamerican ballgame
Great Ball Court usedFor Mesoamerican ballgame