Kʼinich Popol Hol also known as Kʼinich II (died 470) was a king of the

Maya city Maya cities were the centres of population of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica. They served the specialised roles of administration, commerce, manufacturing and religion that characterised ancient cities worldwide.Sharer & Trax ...

Copán Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. This ancient Maya city mirrors the beauty of the physical landscape in which it flourished—a fert ...

. Popol Hol's main achievement was to cement the mythology and institutions of Central Peten kingship at Copan, which lasted 400 years. He was co-ruler with his father for the

baktun A baktun (properly bʼakʼtun ) is 20 ''kʼatun'' cycles of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar. It contains 144,000 days, equal to 394.26 tropical years. The Classic period of Maya civilization occurred during the 8th and 9th baktuns of the cur ...

(calendrical period) ending rites of December 9, 435 as shown on the Motmot Marker (a structure in Structure 10L-26). He declared himself the son of Kʼinich Yax Kʼukʼ Moʼ on Stela 63 and he claimed succession as the second king of Copan on the Xukpi Stone.

Works

Popol Hol was a major builder. He planned the layout of the Copan acropolis, grand plaza,

ballcourt A Mesoamerican ballcourt ( nah, tlachtli) is a large masonry structure of a type used in Mesoamerica for over 2,700 years to play the Mesoamerican ballgame, particularly the hip-ball version of the ballgame. More than 1,300 ballcourts have been i ...

, and temples with his father. He buried his father in the Hunal structure that had been his home and court and built over it the Yehnal temple to honor him. Later he built the Margarita temple over Yehnal. Both were decorated with

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

images of Yax Kuk Mo's name in a determined effort to create a

cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...

and aura of sanctity around his father which he and his progeny would inherit and thus justify their

dynastic rule A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...

. Popol Hol also finished the ballcourt and built the Papagayo temple over his father's Motmot temple. He was careful, however, to preserve the Motmot shrine and place stela 63 inside it. In addition to the Motmot Marker, the Xukpi Stone, and stela 63, Popol Hol is responsible for stela 28 and probably stelae 50, 53, and 20 and he appears with his father on stela 35. He also commissioned Altar A' which commemorates the completion of Yehnal in 441. Popol Hol's body has not been found. Burial 95-1 is a candidate but intriguing excavations are ongoing under the Oropendola temple where another ancient burial has been found.

Timeline

A reasonable timeline for the life of Popol Hol, based on the evidence so far, is: {, class="wikitable" , - ! Years !! Event , - , 410-416 , , Birth , - , 432-434 , , Motmot burial , - , 430-435 , , Accession to co-ruler , - , 435 , , Baktun ending ceremonies with his father , - , 437 , , Death of Yax Kuk Mo , - , 437 , , Xukpi stone , - , 437-441 , , Yehnal constructed , - , 441 , , Altar A' , - , 443-446 , , Motmot marker , - , 440-450 , , Margarita constructed , - , 455 , , Stela 50 , - , 465 , , Papagayo constructed , - , 465 , , Stela 63 , - , 460-470 , , Tzapah platform and Chilan constructed , - , 470 , , Death

Notes

*Andrews, E. Wyllys & Fash, William, eds: Copan: History of an Ancient Maya Kingdom. 2005 *Bell, Ellen et al.: Understanding Early Classic Copan. 2004 Copan Notes #56, 70, 82, 96, 113, 114, 116, 117. *Morley, Sylvanus: An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs. 1975. *Sharer, Robert: Early Copan Acropolis Program 1995-1997. *Van Cleve, Janice: Who Was Popol Hol? 2014 *Van Cleve, Janice: The Founder - The Life of Yax Kuk Mo, Mover and Shaker in the Maya World. 2013 5th-century monarchs in North America Kings of Copán 5th century in the Maya civilization 470 deaths