Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Volume 24 | Number 1 Article 5 1-1-2015 War Banners: A Mesoamerican Context for the Title of Liberty Kerry Hull Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Hull, Kerry (2015) "War Banners: A Mesoamerican Context for the Title of Liberty," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 24 : No. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol24/iss1/5 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. War Banners: A Mesoamerican Context for the Title of Liberty Kerry Hull The making of the title of liberty in the Book of Mormon is one of the more passionate episodes in the text. Moroni, as chief commander of the Nephite forces, rallied his people to defend the most cherished aspects of Nephite culture: their families, religion, peace, and freedom. What is sometimes overlooked in this event is the heavily martial con- text in which the title of liberty appears and functions. More than sim- ply an inspirational, tangible symbol of the rights that were in jeopardy, the title of liberty was profoundly linked to warfare. In this study I place the title of liberty within a Mesoamerican context to show numerous correspondences to what we know of battle standards in Mesoamerica. Through an analysis of battle standards in the iconography and epigra- phy of ancient Mesoamerican civilizations, I argue that the title of lib- erty fits comfortably in both form and function in this well-established warfare tradition.