Ek Balam Part 4 of 7: The North Plaza's Ball Court and Sweat Bath

Ek Balam's Ball Court, looking north. According to deciphered glyphs, the Ball Court was dedicated in 841 AD. It was built by one of the successors of Ek Balam's greatest ruler, Ukit Kan Lek Tok'. The court is located in the southwest corner of Plaza Norte (North Plaza). It stands less than 10m (30ft) north of the Twin Temples shown in Part 3. The corner of the north Twin can be seen on the right. This close proximity may be intentional. The Twin Temples are thought to be associated with the Hero Twins of Maya mythology. The ball game is central to the story of their triumph over the Lords of Xibalba (the Underworld). 

In the center of Plaza Norte is the Sweat Bath, another fascinating structure. It was used by Ek Balam's elites for purposes that included religion, health, and giving birth. It was also utilized by the ball players to ritually purify themselves before a game. In this posting, I will show the Ball Court and the Sweat Bath and explain the roles that they played at Ek Balam. 

See Part 1 of this series for a site map showing the locations of all the structures in Ek Balam's sacred precinct. 

Under the eyes of elite spectators, ball players focus intently on their game. The players moved the ball by striking it with their hips, elbows, or knees. The use of hands or feet during play was not allowed. The heavy rubber ball could cause injury or even death if it struck an unprotected part of the body. Consequently, the players wore protective gear, as you can see above. While these players don't wear protection for their heads, some depictions of ancient ballplayers show them wearing helmets. For example, the famous Olmec Heads, found in the State of Veracruz, appear to be wearing ballplayer helmets.

The Ball Game, which the Maya called "pitz"or "pok-ta-pok", originated as far back as 2000 BC. A rubber ball has been found that dates to 1650 BC and the oldest ball court dates to 1400 BC. While the Olmecs, known as the "Mother of Cultures", did not invent the game, they did spread it throughout Mesoamerica. Nearly every ancient ruin I have visited has contained at least one ball court and some had several. Cantona contains at least 27, a figure unmatched anywhere else. During the Classic era (100-900 AD), the game began to include human sacrifice, usually of war captives.

This solid rubber ball was made from latex. The latex was tapped from trees (Castilla elastica) found in the tropical areas of Mexico and Central America. Latex was turned into rubber by mixing it with Morning Glory (Ipomoea alba). Rubber strips were wound around a solid rubber core to create the ball. The Aztecs gave the Olmecs their name, which means "Rubber People" in the Aztec language of Nahuatl. The name refers to the tropical area where rubber was produced. However, the Olmecs had vanished 1600 years before the Aztecs arrived on the scene, so they only knew about the Olmecs through legends. 

The balls used in the game varied in size and weight depending upon the version being played. The smallest that archeologists have found are 8-10cm (3.1-3.9in) in diameter and weigh 170-280gr (6-10oz). These were probably used in a game similar to handball. The largest balls were used on courts like the one at Ek Balam. These are 20cm (8in) in diameter and weigh 3-4kg (6.6-8.8lbs). A hard rubber ball weighing that much could be dangerous. The Spanish chronicler Diego Durán witnessed ball games where players were sometimes killed by balls that "hit them in the mouth or the stomach or the intestines."

Estructura 8 forms the eastern half of the ball court. Ek Balam's ball court is one of the most fully-reconstructed parts of the city. The rounded corners of Estructura 8 indicate an architectural influence from the Petén area of northern Guatemala. A broad staircase leads up the eastern face of Estructura 8. At the top of the second level, the city's elite could stand or sit to watch the play on the field below. In a modern stadium, we'd call it a "skybox". 

The Ball Game was not just entertainment, but served religious, cultural, and political purposes. In terms of religion, it symbolized the eternal struggle between light and darkness and the cycle of regeneration, particularly of maiz, the Maya's most important crop. Hun Hunahpu, the father of the Hero Twins, was the god of maiz. In the Hero Twins myth, both the father and his twin sons were great ball players (see Part 3). The Ball Game was as important to the Maya world as the game of soccer (football) is to the modern world. As with modern soccer, the ancient game was culturally unifying public entertainment.

Carole strolls by the northeastern corner of Estructura 8. In the background, above Carole, are the Twin Temples (Estructura 17). I was intrigued by the large doorway on the northern side of Estructura 8 (right center). Out of curiosity, I Googled up an image of Estructura 9, on the opposite side of the court. Sure enough, its northern side has an identical doorway. Each door leads into a long narrow room. The most likely explanation is that these were the "locker rooms" of the opposing teams. Their locations would have been perfect for this.

In addition to the religious and cultural functions of the Ball Game, it also had a political dimension. Ball games were sometimes conducted to settle conflicts between city-states or between internal factions within a given state. The game could thus be a proxy for war. According to legends told to the Spanish, the Toltec ruler Topiltzin played against several rival kings. By winning, he became their ruler. The number of ball courts within a given state appears to have been negatively correlated to its degree of centralization. The Aztecs had few and were highly centralized, while Cantona had scores but was internally weak.

North side of Ball Court's Estructura 9, showing its "locker room" door. This half of the Ball Court has a large door that is a duplicate of the one on Estructura 8. It also has a staircase on its back side that is similar to the one on Estructura 8. The stairs lead up to the top of the structure, allowing access to elite spectators. This staircase is definitely less impressive than that of Estructura 8 and its "skybox" is not as large. Consequently, I suspect that Estructura 9 was intended for use by the visiting team and its entourage, while Estructura 8 was set aside for Ek Balam's "home" team and its nobility. 

The far end of Estructura 9's locker room has several narrow horizontal windows, which is an unusual feature. I have seldom found windows in the rooms at ancient Maya sites. Another interesting feature is the cornice decoration along the wall just above the door. This consists of short columns set side-by-side in a long row. I saw similar columns at the great palace at Sayil, in the Puuc area of northwestern Yucatan. This shows that there were some Puuc architectural influences at Ek Balam. (Photo from Google Street View).

View looking south along the playing area. Estructura 8 is on the left and 9 is on the right. The Twin Temples rise in the background. The playing field included the vertical walls and sloping areas, as well as the flat ground in between. There are no stone rings mid-way down the court, like those found at Chichen Itza and Uxmal and some other sites. However I found damage to the court walls on each side at the approximate places where rings would have been. Various sources I have consulted provided contradictory information about whether stone rings were ever present at the court and, if so, what happened to them.

The games were a contest between two teams, generally with two-to-four players on a side. Some ancient depictions of games show an additional person, who might have been a referee. The object of the game was to keep the ball in the air, somewhat like volleyball without a net, but using only the hips, elbows, or knees. A team lost points if they allowed the ball to touch the ground, although there was apparently no penalty if it bounced off the vertical or sloping walls. Assuming the court did once have stone rings, a team could win by passing the ball through one of them. However, this was very difficult to accomplish.

A small altar stands a short distance north of the court. The altar, known as Estructura 6, is about 1.5m (5ft) square with a small step on its southern side. It is located about 10m (30ft) north of the court, and faces directly down the playing field. There was no informational sign to explain the altar's presence, but the proximity of the altar to the ball court suggests an obvious purpose. The rituals that were conducted here must have been related to the beginning or end of the games. As I have remarked before, the ancient Maya did not do things randomly, particularly when positioning and orienting their architecture.

The Sweat Bath

The ruins of the Sweat Bath are located in the center of Plaza Norte. The terrace and steps of the rectangular, two-level Estructura 4 face north toward the Acropolis (Estructura 1).  Behind Estructura 4 is a U-shaped structure that was once attached to it. There was no informational sign, so I initially thought this small complex might be a residential platform. Later research revealed it to be the ruins of the Sweat Bath. This was confirmed to me when I found a drawing of a sweat bath from the pre-hispanic Codex Magliabechiano. A pre-hispanic codex is a hieroglpyphic text that is largely pictures. 

The Classic-era Maya word for sweat bath was pib' naah, meaning "oven house". The oldest sweat bath yet found dates back to 900 BC, during the Pre-Classic period. It was discovered in Belize, south of Yucatan. Sweat baths have been discovered throughout the Maya world as well as elsewhere in Mesoamerica. The Aztec name for it was temazcal. The Maya built pib' naah in ceremonial centers, such as the sacred precinct of Ek Balam. Others were built close to homes. Two gods were associated with sweat baths. The moon goddess "O" was depicted as an old woman, while an earth god called Pauahtun was shown as elderly man.

A Sweat Bath, as depicted in the Codex Magliabechiano. It consists of a rectangular structure with a tall cylindrical tower attached to it. There is a single low door on the front side. Above the door is a face, possibly representing Goddess O. The cylindrical tower is  surrounded by wavy lines indicating heat. At the tower's base, a worker feeds fuel into a fire. Below the door is a supply of faggots, ready to burn. Just inside the door is a small circle rising up with a dot in its center which represents steam. The figures on the right represent two of the most important functions of a sweat bath, healing and religion.

The squatting man at the top right is a shaman or priest. The two little symbols in front of him represent speech, probably a prayer or a ritual incantation. The two figures in the lower right are a sick man, who is reaching out for a bowl. He is teary-eyed and covered with spots. The woman is probably a curandera (healer). Steam rises from the bowl she is holding. This indicates a hot liquid, perhaps an herb broth. In addition to their religious and healing functions, sweat baths were also used by women during the birthing process and by ball players to purify themselves before a game.

The U-shaped structure above may be the base of the cylindrical heating tower. It was in this structure that volcanic stones called tezontle were heated and then sprinkled with water to create steam. The steam was channeled through an aperture into the area where the sweat bathers were gathered, while the smoke from the fire rose up and exited from the top of the tower. The naked and heavily-sweating participants sat within the rectangular structure. They swatted themselves with leaves or corn husks to open their pores. The effect of the heat and steam in this closely constricted area could create an hallucinogenic state. 

One of the other uses of the sweat bath was during the birthing process. An elderly mid-wife presided, probably acting the part of Goddess O. During the sweat bath, the pregnant woman's stomach was massaged and she was fed special foods. After the child was born, its afterbirth was buried in the floor of the sweat bath. The Maya believed that the afterbirth continued to be part of the individual. It was important to know the place where it was buried because, during an illness or other life crisis, a person could return and symbolically reconnect to his/her origin. It was seen as a way to cure illness or solve a life problem.

To the right of the main sweat bath is a separate, two-level circular structure. This is Estructura 5, which appears to have been the base of a dome-shaped version of a sweat bath. The dome would have been made of masonry, with one low door. The most likely place for the door would have been on the front side of the base (left center), facing the Acropolis. The function of the smaller circular structure on top is unclear. It may have been a seating area, or possibly where the hot tezontle rock was placed when it was ready to be sprinkled with water.

Why are there two sweat baths with completely different designs? One may simply pre-date the other. Often, the ruler of a new dynasty would decide to make his own architectural statements. Or, a popular new sweat bath style may have been imported from elsewhere. Another possibility involves a Classic era sweat bath that was recently found in Guatemala. About 600 AD, an individual was interred in its doorway, after which the whole structure was buried. Three hundred years later, at the end of the Classic era, the sweat bath was unearthed and  re-opened as a shrine. Archeologists found various burned offerings inside. 

Design of a dome-shaped sweat bath. In the top drawing, you can see how it would have been necessary to crawl through the door. The Maya believed that the doors of temples and sweat baths carried important meanings. Entering through the door symbolized being consumed by a deity, while exiting represented a re-birth. The lower drawing shows the firebox on the rear of the dome. In the drawing, the box is directly connected with the dome. However, in some cases fireboxes were separate from the sweat chamber.

When the Spanish arrived at the end of the Post-Classic period, they strongly disapproved of the native people's use of sweat baths. The Spaniard Diego Duran wrote that "mingled and naked as they are, there cannot fail to be great affronts and offense to our Lord." He and other Spaniards assumed that all sorts of sexual practices were happening inside the sweat baths. While this may have been the case in some instances, the primary purposes of purification, healing and childbirth remained. It should also be noted that the Spanish disdained baths in general and considered them unhealthy.

This small structure stands a few yards to the west of the two-level circular structure. Like the other parts of the sweat bath complex, this one lacked any informational sign. It couldn't have been another sweat bath because it is only about the size of a small closet. However, it is almost certainly related to the complex because of its proximity to the domed sweat bath. I came to the conclusion that this must be the firebox, because the domed sweat bath's circular base does not contain one. Tezontle rocks would have been heated here and then brought inside the domed structure. 

This concludes Part 4 of my Ek Balam series. I hope you have enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question, please include your email address so that I may respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim