Batab

Batab was the title of local governor or city prince of the Maya .

The position of a batab is already known from classical music , for example from Tikal . In the principalities ( Mayathan : kuchkabal ) the Postclassic in Yucatán ., Such as the Hocabá , Sotuta or Maní were dominated centralized, the Batab took the position of a local governor of halach uinik and was often related to this. In those jurisdictions that did not have central power, the Batab had sole decision-making power. This happened cooperatively in Cupul or Ah Kanul , for example . These provinces were dominated by the ruling families of the same name, that is, they also made up the majority of the Batab. Unlike, for example, in Chikinchel, where the Batab also fought each other.

A batab was a secular, military, and religious leader over a place. He accepted tributes , worked as a judge and often as a priest and general. In larger warlike ventures, however, he was u. U. subordinated to the Halach Hunik or a Nacom in military authority.

The position of batab was reserved for the nobility and was inherited patrilinearly .

In the time after the Conquista , the position or the designation of the Batab often changed to a cacique or governor. The majority of the long-established families were able to hold onto their position, sometimes up to the 18th century, whereby the function of a batab gradually changed to that of a mayor .

literature

• Sergio Quezada: Maya Lords and Lordship: The Formation of Colonial Society in Yucatán, 1350–1600. Oklahoma 2014
• Berthold Riese : The Maya: History - Culture - Religion. Munich 2006, pp. 112–116 ( preview in Google book search )
• Berthold Riese: History of the Maya. Stuttgart 1972, pp. 42–45 ( preview in Google book search )
• Frauke Johanna Riese: Contributions to Central American Ethnology , issues 16–18, Hamburg Museum for Ethnology and Prehistory, Hamburg 1981, pp. 182–185 ( preview in Google book search )
• Ralph L. Roys : The Political Geography of the Yucatan Maya. Washington 1957, p. 170