ing themselves at the public’s expense. Even so, even aft er
the general public had lost faith in government leaders, there
were still the midlevel public servants, organizing tax collect-
ing, maintaining roads, and seeing to it that the poor received
food. Aft er the Western Roman Empire collapsed, these pub-
lic servants continued to work, serving the Germanic tribes
that established kingdoms in Europe and North Africa.THE AMERICAS
BY KIRK H. BEETZ
When people gather to live in groups, there tends to be scan-
da l, and where t hey have governments, t hey tend to have cor-
ruption. Still, the nature of scandal and corruption in the
ancient Americas north of Mexico is a mystery because there
are no written records. In general, written records are the
best and oft en the only way to learn the specifi cs of scandals
and corruption. It is likely that well before 5000 b.c.e. North
Americans had diversifi ed enough that what constituted
scandal in one tribe did not necessarily constitute scandal
in another. For example, in some societies a man could have
as many wives as he wished. Scandal would attach to him
only if he had more wives than he could support. In another
society, however, having more than one wife would in itself
be scandalous. Th e ancient civilizations of South America
also left virtually no records related to particular scandals
or corruption.
When one looks at Mesoamerican cultures (those ancient
societies of Central America and Mexico) that did have writ-
ten records, another problem appears. Modern people may
have very diff erent views of what constitutes scandal or cor-
ruption than what might have been held by people living in
ancient Mesoamerica. For instance, the torture and slaugh-
ter of people in religious rituals would horrify many modern
people, but to most Maya torture and execution ennobled
victims, turning them into honored off erings to the gods that
satisfi ed the gods’ needs for human blood for nourishment
and thus staved off disasters the gods could cause if they were
hungry. A chink in this confi dence might be found in the sac-
rifi ce of powerless children. Children without families to pro-
tect them were commonly made slaves and sacrifi ced, mostly
because they had no one to protest their murders.
A prominent Mesoamerican center was Teotihuacán, a
city in Mexico that was not Mayan but through its military
power forced many Maya cities to pay tribute to it. Rumors of
scandals probably traveled quickly through the city, because
most people lived in apartments that each housed three fami-
lies and the apartments were tightly packed together in a grid
pattern. Any scandal would have passed by word of mouth
rapidly in such a place where people had little privacy and
cou ld be easi ly overheard. Of sca nda ls a nd corruption in Teo-
tihuacán there are few details, though an ever-increasing gap
between the prosperity of the ruling elite and the common
people probably was viewed as a sign of corruption by some
commoners.In Mayan culture every person was supposed to know
his or her place and duty in society. Th ose who did not have
places became slaves. Th e social contract of the Maya meant
that even the k’uhul ajaw, or “divine king,” had duties that he
had to perform or risk losing his mandate to rule. He was ex-
pected to speak to the gods on behalf of his people. Members
of his family were expected to join him in tormenting them-
selves with thorns. His wife would pull a rope with thorns
through a hole in her tongue. She and others would pierce
their ears and tongues to spill their blood, and the king and
his fi rst son would pierce their penises and draw their blood,
all because the Maya believed that royal blood was the most
nourishing blood for the gods. Giddy from blood loss and de-
lirious from taking drugs, the king and his family might cross
the divide between physical life and the spirit world and seem
to speak directly with supernatural beings. If such communi-
cating with the gods failed to alleviate a natural disaster, for
instance, a drought that lasted for a few years, people might
believe the king no longer had divine authority.
Knowing this can help one understand how scandalized
the ancient Maya probably were by events in the late 300s c.e.
In cities such as Tikal and Uaxactún, an increase in trade
was generating wealth, but the wealth was going primarily
to the nobility; this was creating social instability because
commoners no longer perceived their leaders as sharing the
risks of Mayan life in the way they were supposed to do. To
hang on to their authority, the ahauob, or “nobility,” tried to
enhance their prestige by raiding their neighbors and bring-
ing home goods that could be used for the city as a whole.
Most important, they brought home captives for sacrifi ce,
with captured nobles being particularly important because
their blood was especially desired by hungry gods. Raiding
for people to sacrifi ce had been a part of Mayan life for centu-
ries, but Chak Toh Ich’ak I, known as King Great Jaguar Paw
(fl. 376 c.e.), of Tikal changed the rules of warfare. Instead
of trying to capture just enemies, he chose all-out killing; he
chose conquest.
His brother Siyah K’ak’, known as Smoking Frog, led
an army to attack Uaxactún. Th is was no ordinary raiding
party: It was a force drawn from Tikal’s many communities;
it may have been the largest Mayan army up to that time.
One problem the Maya may have had with this event was
that the king himself apparently stayed home. For the Maya,
there could have been few excuses for this. Th us, his position
at home would have been weakened. Meanwhile, Smoking
Frog led his forces to victory, capturing the city of Uaxactún
and seizing the king of the city. Th e sacrifi ce of a king was a
special event because a king’s blood was sacred and therefore
most desired by gods. Kings were occasionally captured in
battle, but they ruled their cities as divine monarchs; some-
one from their line was expected to replace them, perhaps
paying tribute to the victors. In the case of Tikal and Uaxac-
tún, Smoking Frog’s forces exterminated the nobility and the
royal line of Uaxactún, leaving the people of Uaxactún with
no one to speak to the gods for them. Th is would have been918 scandals and corruption: The Americas0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i918 918 10/10/07 2:30:26 PM