Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ () or Yuknoom Ixquiac (; October 6, 649 – December 15, 697) 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 ...

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 The Kaan kingdom (''Snake Head kingdom'') was a Maya kingdom ruled by the Kaanu'l dynasty of Dzibanche and later with capital in Calakmul that dominated the central Maya Lowlands, Maya lowlands during the Classic period of the Maya civilization. ...

, 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 ...

Reign

This king acceded in his thirty-sixth year, but there are indications that he may have effectively governed the kingdom for a substantial period before this on behalf of the previous king, Yuknoom the Great. The latter, who may have been Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼahk's father, lived well into his eighties and may have been incapacitated in his later years. CanulImage2

The inscription of

Stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

9, from 662, goes into great detail about the birth of Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ and accords him a full royal title; thus military victories in the following years, as well as successful assertions of Kaan's hegemony, might tentatively be ascribed to Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ. These include military triumphs 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 ...

in 677 and (quite probably) 679; supervision of the accessions of kings of Moral and Cancuen in 662 and 677 respectively; the dispatching of

Lady Six Sky Lady Six Sky (possibly Ix Wak Chan Jalam Ajaw Lem? in ancient Mayan), also known as Lady Wac Chanil Ahau or Wak Chanil Ajaw (d. 741 CE), was a Maya queen of Naranjo who was born in Dos Pilas. She lived in Naranjo from 682 to her death (or shor ...

from

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 ...

to re-seed the

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

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. ...

in 682, and a lieutenant's action expressive of Kaan overlordship at

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 ...

in 685. Yichʼaak Kʼahk's accession was recorded at El Perú by local ruler Kʼinich Bahlam and at Dos Pilas by

Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil (15 October 625 – ??) was a Maya king of Dos Pilas. He is also known as Ruler 1, Flint Sky God K and Malah Chan Kʼawil. Early years He was born in Tikal on 15 October 625 A.D. His father was K'inich Muwaan Jol II, ...

. At Naranjo, the son of Lady Six Sky,

Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Chaak Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Chaak (born January 4, 688 CE), alternatively known by the nickname Smoking Squirrel bestowed before his name glyph was deciphered, was a Maya ruler of Naranjo. He led the city during an extensive military campaign against Yaxha ...

, acceded in 693. In 695 Calakmul suffered a military defeat at the hands of Tikal and it was believed that the king was killed or captured in that battle. A stucco scene at Tikal shows a prisoner being "adorned" for sacrifice and names the Kaan king in a related caption; the text is damaged and in its current condition it allowed for the possibility that it referred to Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ himself instead of him being the overlord of the prisoner to be killed. A new find at

La Corona La Corona is the name given by archaeologists to an ancient Maya court residence in Guatemala's Petén department that was discovered in 1996, and later identified as the long-sought "Site Q", the source of a long series of unprovenanced limes ...

has revealed that the king survived at least until 696, when he made a visit to that town. There are reasons to believe that Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ is buried in Tomb 4 within

's Structure 2. Yichʼaak Kʼahk's monument program does not even begin to compare with that of his immediate predecessor, and the two stelae that still stand (including Stela 105 from 692) are located far from the site core in the Northeast Group. :es:Tikal

References

{{Maya Kings of Calakmul 7th-century Maya people 7th-century monarchs in North America 649 births Year of death unknown