Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal
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Kʼinich Janaab Pakal I (), also known as Pacal or Pacal the Great (March 24, 603 – August 29, 683),In the
Maya calendar The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon ...
: born 9.8.9.13.0, 8 Ajaw 13 Pop; died 9.12.11.5.18, 6 Etzʼnab 11 Yax (Tiesler & Cucina 2004, p. 40).
was ''
ajaw Ajaw or Ahau ('Lord') is a pre-Columbian Maya civilization, Maya political title attested from epigraphy, epigraphic inscriptions. It is also the name of the 20th day of the ''tzolkʼin'', the Maya divinatory calendar, on which a ruler's ''kʼatu ...
'' of the
Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...
city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...
of
Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the Itza Language as Lakamha ("big water" or "big waters"), was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD ...
in the Late Classic period of
pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
Mesoamerican chronology Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian, prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BC ...
. He acceded to the throne in July 615 and ruled until his death. Pakal reigned 68 yearsIn the
Maya calendar The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon ...
: acceded 9.9.2.4.8, 5 Lamat 1 Mol; died 9.12.11.5.18, 6 Etzʼnab 11 Yax (Martin & Grube 2008, p. 162).
—the fifth-longest verified regnal period of any sovereign monarch in history, the longest in world history for more than a millennium,Pakal's record was surpassed in June 1711, by
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
of France; Louis's record still stands as of today.
and the second-longest reign of any monarch in the history of
the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...
. During his long rule, Pakal was responsible for the construction or extension of some of Palenque's most notable surviving inscriptions and monumental architecture. He is perhaps best known in popular culture for his depiction on the carved lid of his
sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...
, which has become the subject of
pseudoarchaeological Pseudoarchaeology (sometimes called fringe or alternative archaeology) consists of attempts to study, interpret, or teach about the subject-matter of archaeology while rejecting, ignoring, or misunderstanding the accepted Scientific method, data ...
speculations.


Name

Pakal's full name, ''Kʼinich Janaab Pakal'' ("Radiant Corn-Flower (?) Shield"), is rendered in
Classic Maya Classic Maya (or properly Classical Chʼoltiʼ) is the oldest historically attested member of the Mayan language family. It is the main language documented in the pre-Columbian inscriptions of the classical period of the Maya civilization. It is ...
as KʼINICH-JANA꞉B-PAKAL-la, KʼINICH-JANA꞉B-pa-ka-la, or KʼINICH-ja-na-bi-pa-ka-la. Before his name was securely deciphered from extant Maya inscriptions, Pakal had been known by various nicknames and approximations, including Sun Shield and 8 Ahau. In modern sources Pakal's name is also sometimes appended with a
regnal number Regnal numbers are ordinal numbers—often written as Roman numerals—used to distinguish among persons with the same regnal name who held the same office, notably kings, queens regnant, popes, and rarely princes and princesses. It is common t ...
,Maya rulership titles and name glyphs themselves do not use regnal numbers; they are a convenience only of modern scholars. to distinguish him from other rulers with this name who either preceded or followed him in the dynastic lineage of Palenque. Confusingly, he has at times been referred to as ''either'' "Pakal I" or "Pakal II". Reference to him as Pakal II alludes to his maternal grandfather (died c. 612), who also bore the name
Janahb Pakal Janahb Pakal also known as Janaab Pakal, Pakal I or Pakal the Elder, (died 6 March 612), was a nobleman and possible ''ajaw'' of the Maya city-state of Palenque. Biography Pakal’s dynastic position is not entirely certain, though he may have b ...
. However, although his grandfather was a personage of ''
ajaw Ajaw or Ahau ('Lord') is a pre-Columbian Maya civilization, Maya political title attested from epigraphy, epigraphic inscriptions. It is also the name of the 20th day of the ''tzolkʼin'', the Maya divinatory calendar, on which a ruler's ''kʼatu ...
'' ranking, he does not himself appear to have been a king. When instead the name ''Pakal I'' is used, this serves to distinguish him from two later known successors to the American rulership,
Kʼinich Janaab Pakal II Kʼinich Janaab Pakal II,The ruler's name, when transcribed is u-PAKAL-la-KʼINICH (KʼINICH-) JANA꞉B-pa-ka-la, translated "Shield of the Sun God Radiant ?-Shield". also known as Upakal Kʼinich, (fl. c.742), was an ''ajaw'' of the Maya city of ...
(ruled c. 742) and
Janaab Pakal III Janaab Pakal III,The ruler's name, when transcribed is 6-? ja-na-bi pa-ka-la, translated "6 Death ? Shield". also known as 6 Cimi Pakal, (fl. c.799), was an ''ajaw'' of the Maya city of Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently kno ...
, the last-known Palenque ruler (ruled c. 799).


Early life

Kʼinich Janaab Pakal was a
Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the Itza Language as Lakamha ("big water" or "big waters"), was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD ...
native, born on 9.8.9.13.0 (March 603) to Lady Sak Kʼukʼ of the ruling Palenque dynasty and her husband Kʼan Moʼ Hix. Pakal's long birth came during a particularly turbulent time in Palenque's history. Palenque had been sacked by the powerful Maya state of
Calakmul Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya civilization, 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 w ...
just four years earlier, and another catastrophic attack was led by Calakmul ''ajaw'' Scroll Serpent during Pakal's early childhood in 611. The deaths the following year of both the ruling Palenque ''ajaw'' Ajen Yohl Mat and his heir
Janahb Pakal Janahb Pakal also known as Janaab Pakal, Pakal I or Pakal the Elder, (died 6 March 612), was a nobleman and possible ''ajaw'' of the Maya city-state of Palenque. Biography Pakal’s dynastic position is not entirely certain, though he may have b ...
(Pakal's maternal grandfather and namesake) triggered a crisis of succession; eventually Pakal ascended to the rulership of Palenque on 9.9.2.4.8 (July 615), at the age of twelve, after an interim regency by his mother Lady Sak Kʼukʼ.


Reign

Pakal expanded Palenque's power in the western part of the Maya states and initiated a building program at his capital that produced some of
Maya civilization The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writin ...
's finest art and architecture. On 9.9.13.0.7 (March 626), he married Ix Tzʼakbu Ajaw, a descendant of the former ruling Toktahn dynasty from Palenque's satellite settlement of Uxteʼkʼuh; during their long marriage, they had at least two sons— Kan Bahlam (b. 635) and Kʼan Joy Chitam (b. 644)—and probably a third, Tiwol Chan Mat (b. 648). In 628, one of Pakal's officials (''aj kʼuhuun''), was captured by Piedras Negras. Six days later Nuun Ujol Chaak, ''ajaw'' of Santa Elena, was captured and taken to Palenque. Santa Elena became a tributary of Palenque. Having been appointed ''ajaw'' at the age of twelve, Pakal's mother was a regent to him. Over the years she slowly ceded power until she died in September 640. In 659 Pakal captured six prisoners; one of them, Ahiin Chan Ahk, was from Pipaʼ, generally associated with Pomona. Another lord of Pipaʼ was slain by Pakal in 663; at this time he also captured six people from Santa Elena. In 647, at the age of 44, Pakal began his first construction project, but the temple today called El Olvidado (The Forgotten) in Spanish due to its distance from Lakamhaʼ. Of all Pakal's construction projects, perhaps the most accomplished is the Palace of Palenque. The building was already in existence, but Pakal enlarged it greatly by adding monument rooms onto the old level of the building. He then constructed Building E, called ''Sak Nuk Naah'' "White Skin House" in Classic Maya for its white coat of paint rather than the red used elsewhere in the palace. The east court of the palace is a ceremonial area marking military triumphs. Houses B and C were built in 661 and house A in 668. House A is covered with frescos of prisoners captured in 662. The monuments and text associated with Pakal are: Oval Palace Tablet, Hieroglyphic Stairway, House C texts, Subterranean Thrones and Tableritos, Olvidado piers and sarcophagus texts. Pakal was widowed when Tzʼakbu Ajaw, his wife of 47 years, died on 9.12.0.6.18 (November 672). Eight years later, Pakal also saw the death of Tiwol Chan Mat (his third son), and presided over his burial ceremony.


Death and burial

Pakal died on 9.12.11.5.18 (August 683), at the age of 80, having ruled Palenque for 68 years and 33 days. After his death, Pakal was deified as one of the patron gods of Palenque. He was survived at least by his two sons Kan Bahlam and Kʼan Joy Chitam—each of whom subsequently also became Palenque's ''kʼuhul ajaw'' in his own right—and two grandsons, Ahkal Moʼ Nahb (successor of Kʼinich Kʼan Joy Chitam II as ''kʼuhul ajaw'' of Palenque) and Janaab Ajaw, a royal official inaugurated under the reign of Kʼinich Kʼan Joy Chitam II. Pakal was buried in a colossal sarcophagus within the largest of Palenque's stepped pyramid structures, the building called ''Bʼolon Yej Teʼ Naah'' "House of the Nine Sharpened Spears" in Classic Maya and now known as the
Temple of the Inscriptions The Temple of the Inscriptions (Classic Maya language, Classic Maya: Bʼolon Yej Teʼ Naah () "House of the Nine Sharpened Spears") is the largest Mesoamerican stepped pyramid structure at the pre-Columbian Maya civilization site of Palenque, loc ...
. Though Palenque had been examined by archaeologists before, the secret to opening his tomb—closed off by a stone slab with stone plugs in the holes, which had until then escaped the attention of archaeologists—was discovered by Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier in 1948. It took four years to clear the rubble from the stairway leading down to Pakal's tomb, but it was finally uncovered in 1952. His skeletal remains were still lying in his sarcophagus, wearing a jade mask and bead necklaces, surrounded by sculptures and stucco reliefs depicting the ruler's transition to divinity and figures from
Maya mythology Maya mythology or Mayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Maya tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles. The legends of the era have to be ...
. Traces of pigment show that these were once colorfully painted, common of much Maya sculpture at the time. Initially, it was hotly debated whether the bones in the tomb were really those of Pakal. The skeleton's comparatively minor degree of dental wear suggested the owner's age as some 40 years younger than the age recorded for Pakal in the inscriptional texts, leading some—including the tomb's discoverer Alberto Ruz Lhuillier—to contend that the texts must have referred to two people with the same name or used a non-standard method of recording time.
Epigraphers Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
, on the other hand, insisted that allowing for such possibilities would go against everything else that is known about the
Maya calendar The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon ...
and Maya written history, and asserted that the texts clearly state that it is indeed Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal entombed within, and that he did in fact die at the advanced age of 80, after reigning for 68 years. More recent morphometric analysis of the rest of the skeleton demonstrates that the entombed individual could not have lived less than fifty years and most likely died in their eighth or ninth decade of life, consistent with the textual evidence rather than the younger age estimates of early researchers. The disparity between the dental wear and the skeletal morphology is likely due to Pakal's aristocratic status, which would have allowed him access to a softer, less abrasive diet than the average Maya person so that his teeth naturally acquired less wear. Unusually large accumulations of dental calculus on his teeth are also consistent with such an interpretation. Further archaeological explorations have continued to shed light on Pakal's burial site. In 2016 an underground water tunnel was discovered under the Temple of Inscriptions; a stucco mask depicting an elderly Pakal was subsequently found in August 2018.


Pakal's sarcophagus

The large carved stone sarcophagus lid in the Temple of Inscriptions is a unique piece of Classic
Maya art Ancient Maya art comprises the visual arts of the Maya civilization, an eastern and south-eastern Mesoamerican culture made up of a great number of small kingdoms in what is now Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Many regional artistic tradit ...
. Iconographically, however, it is closely related to the large wall panels of the temples of the Cross and the Foliated Cross centered on world trees. Around the edges of the lid is a band with cosmological signs, including those for sun, moon, and star, as well as the heads of six named noblemen of varying rank. The central image is that of a cruciform world tree. Beneath Pakal is one of the heads of a celestial two-headed serpent viewed frontally. Both the king and the serpent head on which he seems to rest are framed by the open jaws of a funerary serpent, a common iconographic device for signalling entrance into, or residence in, the realm(s) of the dead. The king himself wears the attributes of the Tonsured Maize God—in particular a turtle ornament on the breast—and is shown in a peculiar posture that may denote rebirth.
Linda Schele Linda Schele in 1994. Linda Schele (October 30, 1942 – April 18, 1998) was an American Mesoamerican archaeologist who was an expert in the field of Maya epigraphy and iconography. She played a central role in the decoding of much of the Maya ...
saw Pakal falling down the Milky Way into the southern horizon.


Pseudoarchaeology

Pakal's tomb has been the subject of ancient astronaut speculations since its appearance in Erich von Däniken's 1968 best-seller '' Chariots of the Gods?'' Von Däniken reproduced a drawing of the sarcophagus lid (though incorrectly labelling it as being from
Copán Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. It is one of the most important sites of the Maya civilization, which was not excavated until the ...
) and compared Pakal's pose to that of
Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...
astronauts in the 1960s; he interpreted drawings underneath Pakal as rockets, and offered the sarcophagus lid as possible evidence of an extraterrestrial influence on the ancient Maya. Such an interpretation is almost universally denounced by archaeologists, epigraphers, and art historians of the Maya, who point out that von Däniken's claim relies solely upon visual inspection, paying heed neither to the broader archaeological context nor to a wealth of additional research on Classic Maya artistic conventions, symbolism, cosmology, and written history. Another example of this carving's manifestation in
pseudoarchaeology Pseudoarchaeology (sometimes called fringe or alternative archaeology) consists of attempts to study, interpret, or teach about the subject-matter of archaeology while rejecting, ignoring, or misunderstanding the accepted Scientific method, data ...
is the identification by José Argüelles of "Pacal Votan" as an incarnation named "Valum Votan," who would act as a "closer of the cycle" in 2012 (an event that is also significant on Argüelles' "13 Moon" calendar). Daniel Pinchbeck, in his book ''2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl'' (2006), also uses the name "Pacal Votan" for Pakal. Daniel Pinchbeck ''2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl'' (2006), p. 226


Notes


Footnotes


References

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External links


Mesoweb's description of the discovery of Pakal's tomb
(via Archive.org) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinich Janaab Pakal I 603 births 683 deaths Monarchs of Palenque 7th-century monarchs in North America 7th-century Maya people