Praxis CorePraxis Core Academic Skills for Educators

Passage: For centuries, the Maya of Mesoamerica tracked celestial bodies with extraordinary precision, constructing observatories aligned to the movements of Venus, the sun, and the moon. Their astronomical records, preserved in bark-paper codices, reveal sophisticated calculations of planetary cycles that rival modern measurements in accuracy. The Dresden Codex, one of the few surviving Maya texts, contains detailed Venus tables that allowed priests and astronomers to predict the planet's appearance as both morning and evening star across cycles spanning decades. This knowledge was not merely academic. Agricultural schedules, ceremonial calendars, and even military campaigns were timed according to celestial events. The crossing of Venus over the horizon, for example, was considered an auspicious moment for warfare in many Maya city-states. Scholars who have analyzed these codices argue that the integration of astronomy into governance and religion reflects a worldview in which the sky was not a passive backdrop but an active participant in human affairs. Despite the destruction of the vast majority of Maya books during the Spanish conquest, the remnants that survive continue to reshape scholarly understanding of pre-Columbian intellectual achievement. Question: What is the primary purpose of this passage?

• ATo argue that Maya astronomy surpassed all modern systems in accuracy
• BTo describe the role of astronomical knowledge in Maya civilization and its surviving legacy
• CTo explain why the Spanish destroyed Maya codices during the conquest
• DTo compare Maya celestial observations with those of ancient Greek astronomers