Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahkʼ (Ta Batzʼ) (died October 1, 630) was a

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines. Variants Rulers have long ...

of the Kaan kingdom. He became a

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

on March 28, 622.

Reign

This ruler's accession is recorded on

Caracol Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District, of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau, ...

Stela A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

22. It is not known where the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

took place, and it may have been before the Kaan polity became centered at

Calakmul Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the large ...

Stelae A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

28 and 29, the first Late Classic monuments at that site, date to AD 623, but the names of the royal couple depicted do not survive, nor is there any sign of the

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

-head

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

glyph A glyph () is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A g ...

of Kaan. At some point following the demise of Aj Wosal Chan Kʼinich in about 615,

Naranjo Naranjo is a Pre-Columbian Maya city in the Petén Basin region of Guatemala. It was occupied from about 500 BC to 950 AD, with its height in the Late Classic Period. The site is part of Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park. The city lies along the ...

repudiated the long-standing overlordship of the Snake kingdom. This may have come about as the result of the death of the powerful Kaan monarch

Scroll Serpent Scroll Serpent (Uneh Chan) was a Maya ruler of the Kaan kingdom. He ruled from AD 579 to 611. He acceded on September 2. Reign Inscriptions at Palenque record two long-range attacks by Kaan during the reign of this powerful king in the years fo ...

and the temptation of client states to test the mettle of his successors. It may have taken place under Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahk's immediate predecessor Yuknoom Tiʼ Chan, who is known to have been on the throne by 619. It almost certainly had taken place by 626, in Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahkʼ's fourth year of

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Andorra), of a people (e.g., the Franks, the Zulus) or of a spiritual community (e.g., Catholicism, Tibetan Buddhism, N ...

, when Kaan client Caracol waged two victorious battles against Naranjo. Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahkʼ himself may have been involved in a warfare event the following year, but any efforts to rein in the rebellious Naranjo were cut short by his death in 630. Like his accession, his demise is recorded at

, where an inscription also records a gift that he made to the Caracol ruler in 627.''Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens'' by Simon Martin and

Nikolai Grube Nikolai Grube is a German epigrapher. He was born in Bonn in 1962.Houston et al 2001, p.486. Grube entered the University of Hamburg in 1982 and graduated in 1985. His doctoral thesis was published at the same university in 1990. After he received ...

References

{{Reflist Kings of Calakmul 7th century in the Maya civilization 7th-century monarchs in North America