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====The Spiritual Beliefs of the Maya Warrior====
The Maya religion was very similar to many pre-modern cultures’ spiritual systems in that it was polytheistic and ritually based. The Maya pantheon had up to 166 deities with a few of the most important being the following: Itzamnaaj, the creator and god of writing and science; Kukulkan, who was the god of the nobles; and Hun Ixim, the maize/corn god. <ref> Coe, p. 214-17</ref> One of the most common attributes among the Maya deities was a desire for human blood. Maya blood rituals took many forms – from the blood-letting that the nobles performed on themselves to the more well-known act of human sacrifice. Since the act of human sacrifice played such an important role in Maya society, those who captured the victims were given special status.