The ancient Maya world,” writes a major scholar of the region, “was a world of Maya art.”30 In magnificent architecture, carvings, pottery, ceramic figures, wall paintings, and illustrated books, Maya culture was suffused by a distinctive style of artistic expression, more complex, subtle, extensive, and innovative than any other in the Americas. Commissioned by Maya rulers, that art centered on life at court, depicting kings, nobles, warriors, and wealthy merchants together with the women, musicians, and artists who served them. The many deities who populated the Maya universe also appeared frequently in Maya art, which represents a major source for historians studying that civilization. While the Maya had writing, their literature was less extensive than that of Eurasian cultures, and much of it was tragically destroyed during the early decades of Spanish rule. The images that follow provide a window into the life of the Maya elite during its classical era (see Map 6.2).