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The Mesoamerican Ballgame: Sport, Ritual, and Cosmic Struggle
Description
Long before the conquistadors arrived, the peoples of Mesoamerica played a game that was far more than sport. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the ullamaliztli, the Mesoamerican ballgame played with a solid rubber ball on stone courts from the Olmecs to the Aztecs. They discuss the game's rules, the distinctive hip-yoke and stone goal rings, and its deep ritual significance: in Aztec tradition, the ballgame was linked to the movements of the sun and the gods, and sometimes ended in human sacrifice. Lucas shares the story of the legendary ballcourt at Chichen Itza, the largest in Mesoamerica, and the Popol Vuh's account of the Hero Twins playing against the Lords of the Underworld. He also explains how the conquistadors, including Cortés, brought the game back to Europe, where it shocked audiences. The episode draws on Bernardino de Sahagún's Florentine Codex, sixteenth-century Spanish chronicles, and archaeological evidence to reconstruct a practice that defined Mesoamerican civilization for over 3,000 years.