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Yuknoom Chʼeen II (September 11, 600 – 680s), known as Yuknoom the Great, was a
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 ...
ruler of the Kaan kingdom, which had its capital at
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 ...
during the Classic Period of
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 ...
.


Biography


Birth

Yuknoom was born on September 11, 600. His parents were possibly King Scroll Serpent and his wife, Lady Scroll-in-hand.


Reign

As he acceded in AD 636 and his successor followed him upon the throne in 686, Yuknoom the Great is known to have ruled the Kaan kingdom for fifty years during the height of its power and ascendency over
Tikal Tikal (; ''Tik'al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the Pre-Col ...
. He took the name of the Early Classic king Yuknoom Chʼeen I upon his accession. As Tikal was showing strong signs of recovering from the defeat of its king Wak Chan Kʼawiil almost one hundred years earlier, Yuknoom exerted himself against Kaan's great rival; he accomplished this in the context of a division in Tikal's dynastic line whereby both Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil of
Dos Pilas Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, and was founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 6 ...
and his probable brother (or half-brother)
Nuun Ujol Chaak Nuun Ujol ChaakThe ruler's name, when transcribed is ?-(u)-JOL CHA:K, translated "?-headed CHAAK", Martin & Grube 2008, p.42. also known as Shield Skull and Nun Bak Chak (born before 657 – ), was an ''ajaw'' of the major Maya city of Tikal ...
of Tikal came to style themselves holy lords of Mutal. The initial circumstances of the relationship between Dos Pilas and Tikal are murky, but in 650 Bajlaj Chan Kʼawiil was attacked and driven from his city, and he came to acknowledge the Snake ruler as his overlord and ally in the factional dispute with Tikal. In 657 Yuknoom Chʼeen turned his attention to Tikal and vanquished it in a "
star war A star war was a decisive conflict between rival polities of the Maya civilization during the first millennium AD. The term comes from a specific type of glyph used in the Maya script, which depicts a star showering the earth with liquid droplet ...
" encounter, as a consequence of which Nuun Ujol Chaak must have pledged some form of fealty, because both he and Bajlaj Chan Kʼawiil subsequently attended a ritual performed by Calakmul prince Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ. But then in 672 the Tikal king asserted his independence by ousting Bajlaj Chan Kʼawiil from Dos Pilas and pursuing him as he sought refuge at other sites.
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 ...
then intervened in 677 and dealt Nuun Ujol Chaak a second defeat, which was followed in 679 by a decisive vanquishment at the hands of Dos Pilas, almost certainly with Calakmul aid. The following year brought turmoil to another region of Kaan's hegemony;
Naranjo Naranjo (Wak Kab'nal in Mayan) 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. ...
, which had defected from its vassal status after the death of Aj Wosal Chan Kʼinich and had been punished by the defeat of its thirty-sixth ruler, had recovered sufficiently for the thirty-seventh to attack Kaan's client Caracol. Retribution seems to have followed swiftly, however, as the royal lineage of Naranjo was terminated within two years, ultimately to be replaced by the grandson of Bajlaj Chan Kʼawiil. Yuknoom Chʼeen's superordinate status was recognized in inscriptions at a number of sites, while it is probable that a great many other such mentions are lost to us. He sponsored three generations of Cancuen rulers and oversaw the accessions of two of them in 656 and 677. And far to the west of Calakmul, the accession of a king at Moral-Reforma in 662 took place under the auspices of Kaan, an event apparently coordinated with an attack by
Piedras Negras Piedras Negras may refer to: * Piedras Negras, Coahuila, a city in the state of Coahuila, Mexico ** Piedras Negras Municipality, a municipality in Mexico, with the center in the eponymous city * Piedras Negras (Maya site) Piedras Negras is the ...
on Moral-Reforma's neighbor Santa Elena that same year — an inscription at Piedras Negras mentions Calakmul six days before this event. An emissary of Yuknoom Chʼeen also supervised a ritual at Piedras Negras in 685. Yuknoom the Great was well into his eighties when he died, and it is likely that many of the successes of his later years were actually the achievements of his successor, Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ.Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens by Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube (2008:56-57, 74-75, 94-95, 108-9) Relations with La Corona were enhanced when a daughter of Yuknoom Chʼeen married a lord of that site in 679.


References

{{Authority control Kings of Calakmul 7th-century Maya people 7th-century monarchs in North America 600 births 7th-century deaths