This dissertation examines the courtly elites of Classic Maya society (A.D. 250--900) to illuminate issues of political organization and class hierarchy among the ancient Maya. I integrate evidence from Maya hieroglyphic texts, archaeological excavations, and Colonial documents to investigate how the Maya structured the royal court and delineated the function and ranking of the elite individuals who composed it. I consider whether courtly elites can be described as a bounded identity group, and how such a group fit into the sociopolitical hierarchy, and explore how the elite class was strategically used. I complexify the foundations of elite status as part of understanding the factors that contributed to high standing.; Hieroglyphic texts reveal that the Classic Maya royal court was composed of formal titled positions. These titles, and the offices they represent, indicate a long-term political adaptation to include non-ruling individuals in the formal political structure of the polity. Ethnohistoric and historical linguistic evidence from Colonial documents suggests that political structures functioned as a resilient mechanism during periods of cultural change. Material evidence from my excavations at Piedras Negras and Cancuen, as well as other sites, allows for an examination of elite practice by investigating ways that courtly elites can be identified in the archaeological record in the absence of texts.; The results of this dissertation offer a new perspective on the court as a dynamic political institution of the Late Classic period. These findings allow for a more nuanced understanding of political hierarchy, suggesting that courtly elites formed a class clearly delineated from those below, though less clearly distinguished from the royalty above. The multiple status factors influencing the high standing of these individuals were composed of practice-oriented or performative traits, including control of people, information, and cosmological access, as well as material wealth. The roles of elites within the court varied significantly across the Maya realm, indicating the regionalism inherent in Classic Maya political structures. Nonetheless, courtly elites were present throughout the Late Classic as part of a larger political program that cast elite political offices as metaphorically connected to profoundly important agricultural and cosmological roles and processes.
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