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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.

One of the Maya warriors’ primary functions was to capture sacrifice victims for their particular city-state. Raids were conducted on opposing city-states and when a successful war-band returned to their city with captives, they were showered with praise and material goods by the nobles. During large religious festivals, where mass human sacrifice was a public spectacle, the warrior elite would lead their captive to the priests to be ritually killed. <ref> Coe, p. 222</ref> The nature of Maya religion clearly gave the warriors incentive to perform because the better one did, the more esteemed he was in the eyes of the nobility. Closely tied to Maya religion was the warrior code, which further propelled the Maya warriors.

====The Maya Warrior Code====