Synopses & Reviews
Icons of Power investigates why the image of the cat has been such a potent symbol in the art, religion and mythology of indigenous American cultures for three thousand years.
The jaguar and the puma epitomize ideas of sacrifice, cannibalism, war, and status in a startling array of graphic and enduring images. Natural and supernatural felines inhabit a shape-shifting world of sorcery and spiritual power, revealing the shamanic nature of Amerindian world views. This pioneering collection offers a unique pan-American assessment of the feline icon through the diversity of cultural interpretations, but also striking parallels in its associations with hunters, warriors, kingship, fertility, and the sacred nature of political power. Evidence is drawn from the pre-Columbian Aztec and Maya of Mexico, Peruvian, and Panamanian civilizations, through recent pueblo and Iroquois cultures of North America, to current Amazonian and Andean societies.
This well-illustrated volume is essential reading for all who are interested in the symbolic construction of animal icons, their variable meanings, and their place in a natural world conceived through the lens of culture. The cross-disciplinary approach embraces archaeology, anthropology, and art history.
Synopsis
Felines have had a profound effect on human sensibilities since the beginning of time. Throughout history, they have inspired fear, respect and emulation as the embodiment of supernatural power. In the Americas the jaguar and the puma were invoked in art, religion and mythology of Amerindians, from Amazonia and the Andes, to Meso- America and North America. Depicted in gold, pottery and stone, and conjured up in shamanistic visions, they were associated with sacrifice, cannibalism and war, and employed in the subtle symbolism of metaphor as icons of power and prestige.
In Icons of Power, contributors from the fields of anthropology, archaeology and art history discuss the role and meaning of the feline symbol in North, Central and South America. This volume not only advances our understanding of how different societies retained and adapted such symbols in a varied contexts, it offers to the reader critical insights into the issues of representation and identification.
Contributors include Elizabeth P. Benson, Richard Cooke, Alan Cordy-Collins, Tom D. Dillehay, James H. Gunnerson, George R. Hamell, Anne Legast, Peter G. Roe and Nicholas J. Saunders