Maya Warfare
Archaeologists for
a long time believed the ancient Maya to be gentle and peaceful
people. We now know that Maya warfare was intense, chronic, and
irresolvable, because limitations of food supply and
transportation made it impossible for any Maya kingdom to
unite the whole region in an empire. The archaeological record
shows that wars became more intense and frequent toward the time
of the Classic collapse. That evidence comes from discoveries of
several types since the Second World War: Archaeological
excavations of massive fortifications surrounding many Maya
sites; vivid depictions of warfare and captives on
stone
monuments and on the ceramics and murals; and the decipherment
of
Maya writing, much of which proved to consist of royal
inscriptions boasting of conquests. Maya kings fought to capture
and torture one another.
Maya warfare
involved well-documented types of violence: wars among separate
kingdoms; attempts of cities within a kingdom to secede by
revolting against the capital; and civil wars resulting from
frequent violent attempts by would-be kings to usurp the throne.
The affiliation of several cities changed with time, being the
Naachtún
case the most dramatic, the city's geographic location, between
Tikal and
Calakmul, served even for "Peace Talking" between these Classic
"superpowers",
All of these events were described or depicted on monuments,
because they involved kings and nobles. Not considered worthy of
description, but probably even more frequent, were fights
between commoners over land, as overpopulation became excessive
and land became scarce.
The god
Bolon Yookte' K'uh
is associated with War and
Xibalbá, and is the one that will
descend on the end of this 5Th. Maya Era,
(Dec 21, 2012), he is depicted in the 7 and 11 gods Vases from
Naranjo. For description of the wars
in the
Petexbatún area.
See
Maya Collapse.
A council of gods
aiding in the setting of the jaguar throne. Here the main actor
is God L, the commerce and
trade god, while the
Jaguar Paddler, who is named in the
Quiriguá Stela C, (see
Cosmology for description of it's text), sits at the head of the upper row
of god, this vase along with the eleven gods mention the
war associated god Bolon Yookte' K'uh. The
text narrates that “on 4 Ahaw 8 Kumk’u it was set in order,
Black-is-its- Center,” (Chan Ahaw Waxak Kumk’u tzakhi Ek’-u-Tan).
The name of the location, Ek’-u- Tan, refers to the state of the
pre-creation universe as black because the sky had not yet been
lifted away from the Primordial Sea or Xibalbá.
A
"star war"
is a full-scale war planned in accordance with specific
astronomical events, usually the first appearance in the morning
sky of the planet Venus. The heliacal rising of the brilliant
"star" in the pre-dawn sky was considered by the Maya as a
highly evil portent. As such it was an appropriate
herald of
warfare, at least on the part of the attacker. (Schelle). Nu-Balam-Chak,
the "Watery Jaguar", with his head attached, is the image
hovering over King Hasaw-Chan-K'awil
on one of his lintels at Tikal. Two of the jaguarian divinities
intimately associated with Maya warfare of the Classic period, Kin Balam
"Jaguar Sun", and
Nu-Balam-Chak,
"Watery Jaguar", made their
appearance in the Late Preclassic period. At the enormous Late Preclassic community of
El Mirador in Petén, Guatemala,
walls enclosed strategic sectors of the ceremonial center,
so there is some evidence to suggest that war aimed at the
attack of ceremonial centers concerned some lords in the
Preclassic. However, these defensive works are still a rarity in
early Maya centers. Indeed, fortifications do not become a
commonplace until the Terminal Classic period, nearly a thousand
years later.
|
 
Pa' Chan (Probably Yaxchilán or
El Zotz) Lord, Son
of a Calakmul Lord,
captured by Hasaw Chan K'awil in 695
AD. Bone at Tikal museum
|
Warfare seems to have played a part in the ultimate downfall of
El Mirador (The Kan Kingdom), as a large wall surrounding the
western portion of the site appears to have been built in the
Early Classic. One of the only documented battlefields of the
ancient Maya world was found atop the Tigre pyramid where dozens
of
green obsidian
spear points were found scattered atop debris indicating that
the battle occurred after the pyramid had already fallen into
disrepair. This suggests that the forces of Siyah K’ahk’ of
Tikal
overran this area likely some time in the late fourth century
AD.
El Mirador has been only partly mapped, but the scale of its
central public
architecture is vast beyond anything undertaken
by Hasaw-
Chan-K'awil
of
Tikal
or his contemporaries during the Classic apogee of the
Maya
civilization,
although it has defensive walls that were made in a rushed
manner, indicating that during the Preclassic, they too had
their share of conflict. There are numerous other very large Preclassic
centers in
north central Petén, some of
which are fairly close to El Mirador. While these are impressive
concentrations of temples and plazas, they are dwarfed by El
Mirador and probably were subordinate to that center. To
put it
simply, the settlement patterns around El Mirador are beginning
to take on the appearance of large satellite communities near a
dominant
capitol, at least in Late Preclassic times. But if
El Mirador indeed constituted some sort of primordial hegemonic
state, it was the extraordinary exception and not the rule in
early Maya civilization. In later Classic Maya history, it might
have served as the half remembered glorious precedent for the
imperial ambitions of
Tikal,
Dos Pilas,
Naranjo and other Petén cities; but it did
not divert Maya society from its principal political form, the
relatively small polity ruled by a single major royal capitol.
For the ancient
Maya warfare,
(Jub'uy)
, "Star-Over-Shell"
glyph, was a two-step process:
warriors captured
the enemy on the battlefield and then brought the victims back
to the court for royal presentation. It is clearly seen in today's Kek'çhí
drama The
Rabinal Achí.
The Maya also went to war by the sky, triggered by the
planet Venus.
Venus war regalia is seen on
stelas and other carvings, and
raids and captures were timed by appearances of Venus,
particularly as an evening "star". Warfare related to the
movements of Venus is, well established throughout the
Maya world. The Maya timed certain military campaigns
to coincide with celestial events. Werner Nahm, has recently
proposed that Lunar Cycles can be linked to those of Venus to
produce many more stations at which such war events might occur.
Itz'am Ye, (Vucub Caquix) in the tree and Hunahpú
shoots at him with his blowgun
"Texts were a
medium through which kings asserted and displayed power, and
thus they and the scribes who produced them were targeted during
warfare for destruction." The fact that many of the captured
scribes were kinsmen of the conquered king and suspected of
continued loyalty might have contributed to their fate. But the
methods of public torture suggest that the conquerors also
intended to send an unambiguous message. "What captors chose to
emphasize in public documents was not the physical elimination
of the scribes through sacrifice but the destruction through
finger mutilation of their capacity to produce for rivals
politically persuasive texts," Johnston wrote. "Finger breaking
was a significant political act because it produced and revealed
the vulnerability of enemies and competitors." In the
Dos Pilas
hieroglyphic stairway a city's defeat is described as: Brought down were
the flint(s) and the shield(s).
Dos Pilas
hieroglyphic stairway, central section.
Also the triumph is
glorified with several titles like: In August 5, 695 A.D., Mutul (Tikal)
ruler Hasaw
Chan K’awil
brought down, (Ju-b'u-yi)
the
Tok’ Pakal
or
("flint-shield", or
war emblem, battle standard) of Yuknom Yich’ak K’ak’
of Kanal (Calakmul),
son of Yuknom Ch’en, as recorded in the text on the wooden Lintel 3 of
Temple I (Structure 5D-1-1st). Hasaw Chan K’awil
was the son of Nun Uhol Chak (Burial 116). In A.D. 711, some 32 years
after the defeat of Nun Uhol Chak of Mutul (Tikal) and 16 years
after his triumph over Yuknom Yich’ak K’ak’ of Kanal (Calakmul), on
Stela 16, comissioned by his son,
Yax k'in Ca'an Chak,
the builder on the Temples IV and
VI
and the
Acanaladuras Palace,
Hasaw Chan K’awil proudly boasted the Tikal dynastic
title (Unab’nal
K’inich. (By
adding K’inich to their name, these kings not only wanted to
evoke the protection of K’inich Ahau, but some may have also
believed that by doing so they then became the terrestrial
manifestation of the god himself). In
the text on this stela he also was entitled K
’uhul Mutal Ahaw
“God-like lord of
Mutul (Tikal)” and additionally he carried the
title Hux
Winikhab’ Kalomte’
“Three K’atun Kalomte’,” being kalomte’
one of the most prestigious and ancient titles linked to
ultimate and supreme dynastic power.
Kalomte’ Glyph
Nebaj Vase showing a Tok’ Pakal or battle standard
Archeologists find the aftermath of war and captive
taking in the dismembered or decapitated remains of sacrificial victims buried
under floors of public buildings and in stone images and inscriptions that refer
to such practices (when the names of the victims indicate their origin, they are
invariably from rival settlements). We don't know if the early Maya went
to war mainly to acquire territory, take
booty, control conquered groups for labor, take captives for sacrifice in
sanctification rituals, or a combination of these.
But the
first war of which there is a readable record--fought some 1,600
years ago between
Tikal and
Uaxactún, two kingdoms in the center of Petén,
the northern region of Guatemala--laid a pattern for those that followed. The
epigrapher that break the code of the
Maya texts,
Tatiana Proskouriakoff
and years later Peter Mathews, of the
University of Calgary, were the first scholars to detect evidence
of their great conflict. In a study of early inscriptions, she noticed that
both Stela 5 at Uaxactún
(right) and Stela 31 at Tikal
(left), recorded the same date and action
by a Tikal ahau, or "holy lord" ,
a very rare
finding in the Maya Culture, (Two exact texts in different
sites). Mathews deduced that these texts recorded
an important interaction between the two towns, that Tikal was the dominant
partner, and that one of two political events was most likely involved--an
alliance by marriage or a conquest. Stela 31, erected long after the conquest,
describes
Siyaj K’ahk’
or Fire Is Born as Ochkin Kaloomté, or
Warlord of the West. Some Maya experts have also suggested that
Siyaj K’ahk’ or
"Fire
Is Born"
represented a faction that had fled to the west—to
Teotihuacán—after a coup d'état by Great Jaguar Paw's father
years earlier and had now returned to power. The military
expedition most likely set out, on January 8, 378 AD, for Tikal,
from
Waka', in war canoes,
(it can hold up to 50 men and their weaponry), heading
east, up the San Pedro River. Reaching the headwaters, the
soldiers disembarked and marched either along the river or on
the canyon rim overlooking it. Garrisons probably dotted the
route. News of the advancing column must have reached Tikal, and
somewhere along the stretch of riverbank and roadway, perhaps at
a break in the cliffs about 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the
city, Tikal's army tried to stop Fire Is Born's advance.
Inscribed slabs, called stelas, later erected at Tikal suggest
that the defenders were routed. Fire Is Born's forces continued
their march on the city. By January 16, 378—barely a week after
his arrival in
Waka'—the conqueror was
in Tikal, and Tikal's king , " Great Jaguar Paw I",
whose Mayan name was Chak Tok Ich'aak,
or "Great
Burning Paw", died that very day,
Structure 5D-46, the palace of
Jaguar Paw,
was preserved throughout the occupation of Tikal. Schele and
Mathews see this as a sign that Chak Tok Ich'aak
continued to be venerated down through the years. (Some scholars
suggest that
Siyaj K’ahk’
came from
Kaminaljuyú, a site in the
Central
Highlands, with strong
economic ties with
Teotihuacan).
|
Structure 5D-46, the palace of Chak Tok Ich'aak
Jaguar Paw |
The three glyphs on this section of the lid of
the inauguration of St 5D-46, cache pot
read "holy
building, Chak Tok Ich'aak, Tikal Lord".
|
The text on the back of the stela records the date of the
commemorated event, 8.17.1.4.12 11
Eb' 15 Mac,
(see Calendar), or January 16, A.D. 378, and names
Siyaj K’ahk’, a lord of Tikal, as the protagonist.
11Eb' in
Stela 31.
The front of the stela
5,
shows
Siyaj K’ahk’ holding an obsidian-edged club and a halab'
spear-thrower (or throwing stick, used to launch darts
[hul] with great impetus) and wearing a
uniform that in later monuments epitomizes a war of conquest. Only in
defeat could Uaxactún have accorded a lord of a rival city such recognition.
Stela 31 at Tikal, erected fifty years later, provides no pictorial
representation of the conquest, but the inscription repeats the same date,
actor, and event. It also registers that the reigning king of Tikal at the
time was Great-Jaguar-Paw,
and that he celebrated the victory by an act of bloodletting
from his genitals. From other inscriptions, we now know
that Great-Jaguar- Paw was one of the most celebrated of Tikal's
early rulers and that
Siyaj K’ahk’
was his brother, and, very probably, his war chief. Later events
confirm this was a war of conquest. A year after his
victory,
Siyaj K’ahk’
succeeded his brother, but he ruled not from Tikal but from Uaxactún. His
empire now included both cities, and it was under his authority that a 'K'atun' lord
(less than 20 year
old), his nephew, the son of Great-Jaguar-Paw,
Nun Yax Ayin was installed as the new lord of
Tikal, that carried conquest as far as Palenque and in 426 AD,
Tikal's ruler Siyah Chan K'awil
II ("Stormy
Sky"), the
Grand son of the queen Lady Baby Jaguar, took over Copán, 170 miles (274 kilometers) to the south
in present-day Honduras, and crowned its own king, Kinich Yax Kuk Mo,
(Shining Quetzal Macaw), who became the founder of a new
dynasty. (Recently ADN test of his remains, prove that he came
from Tikal)
The name of "Spearthrowing
Owl", is
mentioned but scholars debate about his role, suggesting that he
could be the King of Teotihuacan at this time, and
that
Siyaj K’ahk’
acted in his name, others see this name as a War Title, no image
of him is known to date. It is widely asserted that the Maya,
independent and self-sufficient, had merely appropriated symbols
of prestige and legitimacy from Teotihuacan.A few think that
Siyaj K’ahk’
came from
Kaminal Juyú,
am important
Central
Highlands Maya site.
The seeds of this war were apparently sown centuries
earlier, when the Maya in this lowland region first built pyramids and formal
public buildings in their towns. As archeologist Richard Hansen has
reported, large public architecture, complete with the symbolism of political
power, appeared at the site of
Nakbé
in The
Mirador
Basin, between 2,600 and 2,300 years ago (Natural
History, May 1991). As it developed in the following two centuries, this
symbolism came to include depictions of severed heads, apparently referring to
the decapitation sacrifice that became so prominent in later Maya
ritual. Images of kings have also been found from these early times,
although by the large the rulers remain anonymous because so far we have found
no readable texts.
During the Classic period, warfare was
conducted on a fairly limited, primarily ceremonial scale. Maya rulers, who were
often depicted on stelas carrying weapons, attempted to capture and sacrifice
one another for ritual and political purposes. The rulers often destroyed parts
of some cities, but the destruction was directed mostly at temples in the
ceremonial precincts; it had little or no impact on the economy or population of
a city as a whole. Some city-states did occasionally conquer others, but this
was not a common occurrence until very late in the Classic period when lowland
civilization had begun to disintegrate. Until that time, the most common pattern
of Maya warfare seems to have consisted of raids employing rapid attacks and
retreats by relatively small numbers of warriors, most of whom were probably
nobles.
The wars of the eight and ninth century collapse were, as Culbert notes, not the
precipitate of temporary crisis, but the culmination of a long, creative and
destructive engagement of Maya people with the forces of violence. Maya war
neither began nor ended with the collapse, we can only know when the Maya are
addressing warfare in their many of their texts and images--a rich source of
Pre-Columbian evidence--if we understand their military concepts. The so
called "Star Wars", Between
Tikal
and it's allies, and Calakmul
and it's allies is the best documented long war of the Classic
Maya. Iconography suggests that these two rival cities had a lot
in common. They shared the same protector deity in the form of
the Jaguar god and both cities had dynastic leaders with related
lineage names, Jaguar Paw at Tikal and Fire Jaguar Paw at Calakmul. These convergences suggest an even closer affiliation,
perhaps based on family ties that may have once connected the
patrons of the two cities. It would not be the only time that
enmity between cities was based on an earlier family connection.
Not enough information is available yet from Calakmul to point
to a common dynastic origin for the two opposing politics. Even
if deteriorated family ties had been a factor, the most likely
explanation for a rivalry that escalated into bloody warfare
lasting a couple of centuries is commercial: competition for
control of trade routes. The jaguar was also connected to the
warriors and hunters of the Maya, those who excelled in these
areas were allowed to adorn themselves with pelts, teeth or
claws and were considered to possess feline souls
The woman's role as warlords is well documented by recent discoveries at
The Hix Witz Polity,
formed By la Joyanca, Zapote Bobal and Pajaral,
Waka'
and
Dos Pilas.
The famous Lady warrior Wac' Chanil Ahau or
"Lady Six Sky" that regain
the Power in
Naranjo (Saal) to the east,
and leading the wining wars against
Ucanal
and Caracol, was born
in Dos Pilas.
WEAPONS
AND TACTICS
War parade, showing shields and weapons
The Maya did not maintain standing
armies. Rather, they assembled militia of able-bodied adult men and boys. From
centralized arsenals kept in public buildings,In The Classic, they armed
them with shock (B'aj) weapons like: Stone
clubs, with leather strings or wooden handle, short stabbing spears and wooden
(hardened
with fire)
axes edged with Flint or Obsidian blades,
and also with
projectile (Jul) weapons like:
blowguns, throwing sticks and javelins,
slings, and, in
the latest period, the
Jatz'om or 'white heat'
(spear thrower), bows
and
arrows.
Maya soldiers typically carried long
flexible shields of hide or smaller rigid round shields.
As armor, many wore
cotton vests stuffed with rock salt. Eleven hundred years later, the Spanish
conquistadores shed their own metal armor in the sweltering rain forest in favor
of these Maya "flak jackets.". The
"Kohaw", was a war helmet
made of stone as pyrite, wore only by
Ajaws and Kaloonte's. An example
was found in a Queen's tomb in
Waka'.
Military Titles, Examples from
Piedras
Negras
"They surrounded the town, crying out loudly, armed with arrows
and shields, beating drums, giving war whoops, whistling,
shouting,
inciting them to
fight, when they arrived in front of
the town"....."the four gourds which were at the edge of the
town were
opened and the bumblebees and the wasps came out of
the gourds; like a great cloud of smoke they emerged from the
gourds. And thus the warriors perished because of the insects
which stung the pupils of their eyes 2 and fastened themselves
to their noses, their mouths, their legs, and their arms...."
Popol Vuh,
Part 4, Chapter 4, p. 152.
Militias from particular towns or provinces, or perhaps as
recruited by particular lords, followed
battle standards that consisted of tall spears with large
square
or round shields attached to the tops. These shields carried
various decorations and devices and were usually edged with
bright feather work. In addition to
allowing some effective coordination of maneuver on the
battlefield, the battle standards were powerful sacred objects
housing or focusing terrifying supernatural beings. The officers
in armies consisted of members of the ruling houses, the urban
greater nobility and the lesser nobility from allied provinces
and towns. These officers decked themselves out in glorious
finery representing supernatural beings. In this way, they stood
out on the field to allow effective signaling of commands and to
draw attention from their counterparts in the enemy armies.
Veterans of battle often wore more prosaic armor as well,
consisting of short cotton jackets packed with
rock salt--the
equivalent of the modern "flack jacket" and tight bindings of
leather or cloth on forearms and legs. Cotton armor is so much
more effective than any other protection
Prisoners being presented to Ruler
Pictured battles all look like
free-for-alls in which principle lords and warriors are challenging each other
in heroic duels. The
Ceramic and Mural paintings give the impression that
important individuals fought accompanied by one or more close companions
protecting their rear and flanks. No doubt there was general slaughter on the
Maya battlefields, but a clear object of engagement was the capture of enemies
alive for later rituals of sacrifice.The warfare also was carried in lakes and
rivers, the best documented example is
Tayasal, the last conquered
Maya city in 1697 AD, where Spaniards were attacked from canoes
with spears and arrows.
Vase showing a Canoe
Strategically,
Classic Maya battles apparently ended not simply when the enemy was driven from
the field, also in the event that the king or other principal people were
captured by their counterparts.
All this chaos and confusion was
accompanied by wooden drums and trumpets, conch shell trumpets, whistles and
frantic shouting.
Pre-Columbian combat in Maya art,
depicts Maya
armies, witch were probably quite large during really important campaigns, that is,
numbering in the thousands. But they were not maintained for long periods of
time; and, as militia, they were logistically sustained through temporary
appropriations of food and other materials from unhappy peasant villagers.
Although, in the
Highlands,
all the main Post Classic sites, such as
Iximché,
Mixco Viejo,
Gu'marc'aj and
Zaculeu, were located in very well defensive positions,
opposite to the Classic sites, perhaps influenced by the
memories of the
Classic Maya Collapse
In sum, ancient Maya wars probably
consisted of a series of brief and deadly encounters culminating in the decisive
capture of principal leaders, their imprisonment and eventual sacrifice. Another
probable form of victory consisted of the capture and destruction of
strategically located border towns with the consequent loss of control over
larger frontier regions. Given the enormously dense and widely scattered
agrarian populations of the Classic period, warfare typically skirted direct
attack of villagers, the destruction of crops on the ground, or other damage to
the peasants upon whom all ultimately depended for prosperity. The rewards of
victory sometimes included the opportunity to wreck havoc on the stelas
portraits and temples of the enemy in their centers and the
right to extract humiliating tribute according to Spanish
Conquest period accounts. At the height of the Classic period, wars of conquest allowed the temporary
creation of wealthy and powerful, if rather small, imperial hegemonies.
Classic Vase showing weaponry and shields
The Maya did not perceive combat as a clash of people and weapons alone, but
rather as a complex confrontation of spiritual and material forces. When, for
example, the Conqueror of Guatemala, Pedro de Alvarado, engaged the forces of
the K'iche'
Maya culture hero Tecún Umán in 1524, the Maya lord and his
companions flew at him in the guise of eagles and lightening, according to
native accounts, only to be defeated by the Spaniards superior spiritual forces
in the form of "footless birds", holy ghosts, and a "floating maiden", the
Virgin.
"At midnight the
Indians went to Xel'juh, and the captain of the
Indians who had transformed himself into an eagle
became anxious to kill the Adelantado Tunathiú
[Alvarado] and he could not kill him because a very
fair maiden defended him; they were anxious to
enter, but as soon as they saw this maiden they fell
to the earth and they could not get up from the
ground, and then came many footless birds, and those
birds had surrounded the maiden, and the Indians
wanted to kill the maiden and those footless birds
defended her and blinded them." The attackers were
paralyzed and blinded by the "Way'ob" of the
Spanish [the
 Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit or
perhaps angels who looked to them like footless
birds]. The next day, February 22, 1524, 1 Q'anel in the Maya calendar, Tecún Umán himself came
against the Spanish in his eagle "Way". "And
then Captain Tecún flew up, he came like an eagle
full of real feathers, which were not artificial; he
wore wings which also sprang from his body and he
wore three crowns, one was of gold, another of
pearls and another of diamonds and emeralds."
Tecún Umán went forward with the intention of
killing Alvarado and thus defeating the battle
beasts and the way of the Spanish. He struck at the
great man-beast with all his power, hitting
Alvarado's horse and taking its head off in a single
blow. According to the K'iche, his lance was not
made of metal, but of shiny stone which had a magic
spell on it. When Tecún realized he had killed only
the battle beast and not the man, he flew upward and
came at Alvarado. The Spaniard was ready and impaled
the charging king on his lance. (Totonicapán
Title)
|
Included among realistic and detailed scenes of siege warfare, hand-to- hand
fighting in towns, the capture of warriors and the flight of civilians, there is
a battle in which the lords are fighting in the sky, standing upon feathered and
scaled war snakes, illuminated by bright red and blue doorways, their portals to
the Otherworld. There is no reason to doubt that this scene was, for the Maya,
just one more realistic view of combat.
Vase showing Supernatural ("Way") clash of lords
Understandably we often characterize Maya warfare in dire and fatalistic
terms, so that a nobleman's "capture" as recorded in history quickly becomes, in
our own analysis, a "capture and sacrifice." Yet it is important to keep in mind
that the consequences of Maya warfare are never clearly spelled out in the
inscriptions. Perhaps one's "capture" should be taken at face value when further
elaboration is missing. Abducted nobles surely met violent and perhaps even
prolonged deaths, but high kings, once captured, might have been more highly
valuable alive as political hostages or vassals.
Epigraphers have long known of the "star war" waged against
Ceibal
by Ruler 3
of
Dos Pilas on 9.15.4.6.5 9 Chikchan 18 Muwan. This resulted in the capture and
subsequent display of the Ceibal ruler Yich'aak B'alam six days later, at which
time he is portrayed as a bound and altogether defeated figure on two
Petexbatùn
(Akul),
monuments. However, it is clear that
Yich'ak B'alam did not die at the time of
Ceibal's military defeat. Later records at Ceibal make it clear that that he was
alive as late as 9.15.15.0.0, at which time he witnessed a period-ending ritual
involving Ruler 4 of Dos Pilas.
Yich'ak B'alam had in fact outlived
his captor, and he was actively ruling Ceibal for several years, though probably
still under the political control of Dos Pilas. The portraits of the bound ruler
at Dos Pilas and
Aguateca are images of a living
ajaw
who
would retain some degree of local power
at
Ceibal
for many years to come. After a war, a monument prepared by a loyal
scribe-painter soon went up in the victor's city. The triumphant
king is shown standing heroically on the backs of prostrate
captives -- the Mayan version of a photo op.
The Ceibal ruler Yich'aak B'alam, shown
postrated on lower fragments of Dos Pilas, Stela
2.
The "quick death" view for the treatment of captured kings – and there are
not many cases to compare in Maya history – has perhaps been heavily influenced
by the history surrounding the defeat and beheading of Copan's Ruler 13,
Waxaklahun Ubah K'awil or 18
RabbitQuiriguá ruler Butz' Tiliw or Cauac Sky. At Quiriguá we do have clear records
of the Copan ruler's sacrifice, but it is an almost unique case, significantly different
from other Maya records of conquest.
18 Rabbit Copan´s Ruler In the Mouth of a Jaguar, Representing Butz' Tiliw, Monument
D in Quiriguá
