Palenque royal lists of the 7th-8th centuries

Abstract

Since the middle of the 5th century AD, the territory of the archaeological site of Palenque (Chiapas, Mexico) was the capital of the Baakal state, the city of Lakamha’. A large number of monumental texts have been discovered here, which are of particular interest for the study of the organization and functioning of the royal court of the ancient Maya. The main objective of this work was to examine in detail the royal lists preserved in the monumental texts in order to reconstruct the kinship ties between the Palenque rulers and to reveal the peculiarities of the local political system. One of the main features to be considered about these written sources is a retrospective character, which in theory could give the rulers who created them wide opportunities for manipulation. The lack of detailed information about the rulers of the 5th-7th centuries, which is mainly limited to the dates of accession and death, is no less difficult. Although in the written tradition the royal dynasty is presented as a continuous one, the analysis of the texts reveals several lineages. Study also shows certain peculiarities of the system of power transmission in Baakal. In general, ancient Maya used patrilineal tradition, but the history of Palenque records cases different from this pattern. The throne there was once occupied by a woman, other cases show successive rule of several siblings. These data reveal the flexibility of the political system of the ancient Maya.

Keywords

• mesoamerica
• pre-columbian america
• royal power
• palenque
• maya epigraphy
• ancient maya
• dynastic history
• royal lists