3-Week SASA Reading Group: The Wars of Lady Six Sky: Reading Hieroglyphs About a Maya Warrior-Queen

The lives of ancient Maya royalty are every bit as dramatic and exciting as their European counterparts, and in many cases their lives were documented by local scribes. Learn about one of the most important women in the ancient Maya world through translations of the hieroglyphic inscriptions in the city she ruled. Sometimes called a warrior-queen, Lady Six Sky was also a patron of the arts and astronomy--and may have even been an astronomer herself. Due to her large presence in Maya politics, the dramatic story of her family’s schism from Tikal, and the plethora of magnificent art commissioned during her reign, Lady Six Sky’s life has been well-studied. This makes her a fabulous topic for a deep dive into what it meant to be a female ruler in the ancient world and how it might have felt to live in the high-stakes and ever-shifting Maya political world.

In the…