During the first millennium A.D., one of the world's great civilizations appeared in the dense jungles of Mesoamerica. All over the Yucatan Peninsula, the Maya mastered sophisticated principals of mathematics, architecture, agriculture and astronomy and created scores of powerful city-states. At the center of this world was the city of Tikal.

Sprawling over twenty-five square miles, Tikal prospered from trade and military triumphs. Its rulers used its wealth to build a magnificent city of luxurious palaces, grand plazas and some of the largest stone pyramids ever seen in the Americas.

The story of this great city—from its humble beginnings, through its wars, to its "golden age"—illuminates the Maya world in all its grandeur, blood, glory and genius.

From the dust jacket