Skidmore J., The Rulers of Palenque.pdf

(9323 KB) Pobierz
The Rulers of Palenque
By Joel Skidmore
With illustrations by
Merle Greene Robertson
Citation:
2010 The Rulers of Palenque. Fourth edition.
Mesoweb:
www.mesoweb.com/
palenque/resources/rulers/PalenqueRulers-04.pdf.
Publication history:
The first edition of this work, subtitled “A Beginner’s Guide,” was published in 2000.
The second was published in 2007, when the revised edition of Martin and Grube’s
Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens
was still in press; the third and subsequent
editions conform to Martin and Grube’s 2008 publication. To check for the most
recent edition, see:
www.mesoweb.com/palenque/resources/rulers/rulers.html
Copyright notice:
All drawings by Merle Greene Robertson unless otherwise noted.
Mesoweb Publications
The Rulers of Palenque
INTRODUCTION
The unsung pioneer in the study of Palenque’s dynastic history is Heinrich Berlin, who in three
seminal studies (Berlin 1959, 1965, 1968) provided the essential outline of the dynasty and explicitly
identified the name glyphs and likely accession dates of the major Early and Late Classic rulers
(Stuart 2005:148-149). More prominent and well deserved credit has gone to Linda Schele and Peter
Mathews (1974), who summarized the rulers of Palenque’s Late Classic and gave them working
names in Ch’ol Mayan (Stuart 2005:149). The present work is partly based on the transcript by Phil
Wanyerka of a hieroglyphic workshop presented by Schele and Mathews at the 1993 Maya Meet-
ings at Texas (Schele and Mathews 1993).
Essential recourse has also been made to the insights and decipherments of David Stuart, who
made his first Palenque Round Table presentation in 1978 at the age of twelve (Stuart 1979) and has
recently advanced our understanding of Palenque and its rulers immeasurably (Stuart 2005). And
this is by no means to overlook the definitive work on the Palenque dynasty by Simon Martin and
Nikolai Grube (2000, 2008), the essentials of which have been incorporated herein.
In a very real sense, history at Palenque begins with Pakal the Great. This renowned Palenque ruler
recorded vital information on his dynastic forebears on three large tablets in the structure atop
the Temple of the Inscriptions and on the lid and sides of his sarcophagus deep within the temple
mound. This tradition was carried forward and augmented by Pakal’s son K’inich Kan Bahlam (see
“Palenque’s Dynastic Texts” on Pages 4-5). We are fortunate indeed in having this written record
and, thanks in large part to the scholars named above and others cited herein, the ability to read it.
Figure 1.
Comparison of Olmec and Maya timelines (© 1994 Some Interactive).
“THE OLMEC”
The Palenque rulers named by K’inich Kan Bahlam in the inscription inside his Temple of the Cross
may be divided into the mythological, the legendary, and the historical. Clearly mythological is the
personage said to have acceded into rulership in 2325 BC at 827 years of age. Clearly historical is
the dynasty founder, who came to the throne in AD 431 at the age of twenty-two. But in between
are two others who are identified glyphically as lords of Palenque. Acceding in 987 BC is an indi-
vidual named Uk’ix Chan, whose lifespan is human—he became king at the age of twenty-six—but
2
The Rulers of Palenque
whose reign is so precocious that he has been dubbed
“The Olmec.”
1
Recent finds at San Bartolo in Guatemala may be said
to have closed the gap between the beginnings of Maya
civilization and that of the Olmec: The Maya timeline
in Figure 1 should be extended back to reflect sophis-
ticated mural paintings at about 100 BC and an already
developed writing system at about 300 BC. Meanwhile
increasing numbers of sites are being reported with
Middle Preclassic material. And recent investigations
at Palenque have documented a Late Preclassic (300 BC
- 250 AD) occupation substantial enough for Palenque
to have ranked as a regional capital (López Bravo et al.
2004:12). While the idea of a king at the site of Palenque
in 987 BC would still have to be considered the stuff of
legend, there remains an outside chance the Uk’ix Chan
is a dimly remembered Palenque lord who acceded else-
where, as Schele and Mathews (1993:33) suggested in
their Texas workshop.
This proposition is perhaps even more tenable with a an-
other “Divine Lord of Palenque” who first came to the
attention of scholarship in 2004, with the discovery of
carved stone tablet in Temple 21. Bearing the same name
as a later Palenque king (nicknamed Casper because
his name glyph cannot be read), he is said to have su-
pervised a “housing” ritual involving deities in 252 BC.
While this earlier Casper just fits within the Late Preclas-
sic time frame, it may be significant that he is not named
in K’inich Kan Bahlam’s dynastic record.
Figure 2.
K’inich Kan Bahlam impersonating
Uk’ix Chan on the sanctuary jamb panel of the
Temple of the Cross (drawing by Linda Schele).
Uk’ix Chan may be roughly translated as “The Bloodletter of the
Snake,” bearing in mind that
k’ix
is more of a nickname than a deci-
pherment for the ‘bloodletter’ portion.
1
MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY RULERS
?-Muwaan Mat
b: 12.19.13.4.0 8 Ajaw 18 Sek (3120 BC)
a: 2.0.0.10.2 9 Ik 0 Sak (2325 BC)
Uk’ix Chan
b: 5.7.11.8.4? 1 K’an 2 Kumk’u (1013 BC)
a: 5.8.17.15.17 11 Kaban 0 Pop (987 BC)
Casper
supervises ritual:
7.5.3.10.17 10 Kaban 5 Muwan (252 BC)
(Drawing by David Stuart.)
3
The Rulers of Palenque
PALENQUE’S DYNASTIC TEXTS
In Merle Greene Robertson’s atmospheric painting of Pakal’s tomb deep within the Temple
of the Inscriptions (above), note the glyphs carved on the edge of the Sarcophagus lid. These
record the death dates of a number of Pakal’s ancestral and dynastic predecessors. The sides of
the Sarcophagus were carved with ancestral portraits and name glyphs (below).
4
The Rulers of Palenque
The East and Central Tablets of the three Temple of the Inscriptions Tablets (the Central Tablet is depicted above)
expand upon Pakal’s dynastic record (drawing by Linda Schele). The Tablet of the Cross, the stone carving that graced
the innner sanctuary of K’inich Kan Bahlam’s Temple of the Cross (below), records the mythological, legendary, and
historical accessions of Palenque rulers. The accession of the mythological ruler best known in the literature as Lady
Beastie is recorded at F7-F8; that of the legendary Uk’ix Chan is at P1-P2; and the first historical accession—that of the
dynasty founder K’uk’ Bahlam—is recorded at Q7-P8.
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin