Yuknoom Chʼeen I was the first known

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 ...

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of the Kaan Kingdom. He was maybe a father of King

Tuun Kʼabʼ Hix Tuun Kʼabʼ Hix (Cu Ix, Ku Ix, Kʼaltuun Hix; "Bound-Stone Jaguar") was a Maya king of the Kaan Kingdom. Reign Tuun Kʼab Hix reigned from the year 520 to 546. He is known only from foreign references. A lintel at Yaxchilan describing the mili ...

Identity

Although nineteen Kaan kings are listed on the

Dynastic A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. Historians ...

Vase A vase ( or ) is an open container. It can be made from a number of materials, such as ceramics, glass, non- rusting metals, such as aluminium, brass, bronze, or stainless steel. Even wood has been used to make vases, either by using tree specie ...

s, some with the names of known historical rulers, clear discrepancies in their accession dates make it uncertain whether the nineteen names are to be considered historical or legendary. Thus Yuknoom Chʼeen can be said to be the first known, clearly historical ruler of Kaan. That kingdom's location in Yuknoom Chʼeen's time — roughly the years around AD 500 — is not certain; although

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 ...

is known to have been the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

in the Late Classic, there is a reason to doubt that this was the case earlier.

Dzibanche Dzibanche () (sometimes spelt Tz'ibanche),Martin and Grube 2000, p. 103. anciently called ''Kaanu'l'', is an extense archaeological site of the ancient Maya civilization located in southern Quintana Roo, Mexico.Martini 2010, p. 377. Dzibanche was ...

emerges as a strong possibility for the previous center because Yuknoom Chʼeen is repeatedly named there on a sculptured "captive stairway". Although this monument's interpretation hinges on a single problematic

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 ...

, it is likely that Yuknoom Chʼeen was a ruler of Dzibanche and the

captives ''Captives'' is a 1994 British romantic crime drama film directed by Angela Pope and written by the Dublin screenwriter Frank Deasy. It stars Julia Ormond, Tim Roth and Keith Allen. The picture was selected as the opening film in the Venetian ...

were his trophies.''Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens'' by Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube

References

{{Reflist Kings of Calakmul 6th-century Maya people 6th-century monarchs in North America