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In the ancient Americas, power was told through objects and objects told of power. Portraits rendered a king’s visage in stone while mural programs depicted formidable deities. Towering pyramids were climbed by rulers and the open plazas below were structured spaces for spectacles. Hieroglyphic texts could picture authoritative narratives. Literacy was controlled by those who wielded power, yet pictographic literacy could place power in the hands of the viewer. But how did powerful images or places of power come into being? And how were these works of art received, and challenged, by those not in power? Extending geographically from North to South America, this course explores how power was imaged during the ancient period (beginning in the 2nd millennium BCE). The last third of the course will be devoted to exploring not only how powerful images were received by Spanish invaders but also how the Indigenous elite continued to garner power through art under the rulings of New Spain.