Emblem Glyphs

Detail of a relief that dates to the 700s AD. Among
the glyphs, you can spot several emblem glyphs.

Rediscovered in the late 1950s, the emblem glyph (actually made of several glyphs) is an ancient Maya title. It is understood to translate as "holy lord of such and such place" -- with each city-state's/polity's name put in the "such and such place" spot. When used, an emblem glyph would be placed next to the ruler's name. As to their meaning, debate still exists as to the nuances this title held in ancient Maya thought.

Rediscovery
It was a man named Heinrich Berlin who began the rediscovery of emblem glyphs. In 1958, Berlin found that there were certain groups of three glyphs that only changed one glyph, the "main sign." He thought that these glyph groups, which he called emblem glyphs, seemed to be about founding families or the names of places. 

Setup
An emblem glyph, in one view, starts with the adjective k’uhul. This is made of the k’uh glyph (the god C glyph, which looks like a head) paired with a glyph that the Maya popularly drew as one or more curving rows of dots with a “k’an cross” on top. (A k’an cross is a cross surrounded by a circular border.) 

To the right of the k’an cross was a glyph for ajaw or “lord”. Under the ajaw glyph went the “main sign,” which the Maya tended to place “on top” of the k’uh glyph. 

Alternately, you may see that the glyph with the rows of dots is transliterated as k’ul or ch’ul -- with no mention of k’uhul or layering. A third alternate you may find is it being transliterated as k'uhul.

How They're Read

One of several known emblem glyphs for the Kaan,
or perhaps Kan, kingdom aka the "snake kingdom."

Even though the usual method for successfully reading Mayan inscriptions involves reading top, left, then right, that's not how emblem glyphs are read. Instead, it's understood that the ajaw glyph is really said last -- even though it is on top of the "main sign" glyph. For example, Tikal's emblem glyph is read ch'ul/k'ul mutul ajaw, with mutul being the reconstructed name for the site.

Who Used Them 
Both rulers of city-states that controlled other city-states as well as rulers of city-states that were controlled used emblem glyphs. And there are some sites that use the same emblem glyphs -- like Palenque and Tortuguero. (Which could mean different things, including the possibility that they were both ruled by rulers from the same royal family.)

Archaeologists have also found inscriptions where pairs of people -- brothers or sons and fathers -- both have the emblem glyph. However, the more important of the two has kaloomte' as part of their titles, while the less important one doesn't. One theory about this says that these were times where sites (such as Calakmul) were ruled by two people at once, with one being more powerful than the other. Another possible explanation is that the younger of the two people is being described as a future ruler.

As to their location in an inscription, that depends on the time period you look at. Before 500 AD, the ancient Maya would put it either before or after a ruler's name -- after 500 AD, they just did the latter.

Possible Meanings
It’s not entirely certain what emblem glyphs were referring to. They might be names for lineages, for a location or for dynasties.

There’s also a theory you might see that wonders if emblem glyphs main signs were names for “origin places” – and that an emblem glyph may have been a statement of power. That is, an emblem glyph was a ruler’s way of declaring that he or his ancestors were given the right to rule from his emblem glyph's origin place.

Consideration: Unidentified Emblem Glyphs
There are emblem glyphs that archaeologists do not know the sites for. One example is the Water Scroll emblem glyph. The Maya wrote about it in inscriptions that date to between the 500s and 700s AD. A theory suggests that the Water Scroll emblem glyph was the emblem glyph of the Belize site Altun Ha.

References
Cambridge Core: "Ancient Mesoamerica" Volume 29 Issue 1: "Kings of the East: Altun Ha and the Water Scroll Emblem Glyph"; Christophe Helmke, Stanley P. Guenter; Phillip J. Wanyerka; Spring 2018

Maya Decipherment: "Secrets of the Painted King List: Recovering the Early History of the Snake Dynasty "; Simon Martin; May 5, 2017

Google Books: "Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey (editor); 2016

Google Books: "Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul"; Andrew K. Scherer; 2015

The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago: Oriental Institute Seminars: Number 4; "Religion and Power"; Nichole Brisch (editor); 2008 (Second printing with minor corrections, 2012)

Google Books: "The Ancient Maya" Sixth Edition; Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006

Mesoweb: "PARI Journal" Volume 6, Issue 2: "Of Snakes and Bats: Shifting Identities at Calakmul"; Simon Martin; 2005

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Stela Fragment with Glyphs

Image Credit:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Relief with Enthroned Ruler

LACMA: Dynastic Vase (used as a model for the Calakmul emblem glyph image.)

Lady Yohl Ik'nal -- A Woman that Ruled Palenque

Her name means "Lady Heart of the Wind Place." Like Naranjo's Lady Six Sky, she was a ruler -- but there is a difference. Known by other names such as Kan Ik, Lady or Ix Yohk Ik'nal was a queen regnant. This means she was the official ruler of the polity/city-state of Baak/Baakal. (Palenque was a city inside it.) We know this because she had the title "Divine Lord of Palenque."

Royal Descent
Once there was a man named K'uk' Balam. In 431 AD he became Palenque's ruler, and because of this became the founder of a line of rulers -- though he only reigned until 435 AD. The last male ruler in this line was Kan Balam I. was either Yohl Ik'nal's father or brother. It seems that when this ruler died, there wasn't another male that could follow him. So Yohl Ik'nal became ruler.

Ascension Date
Yohl Ik'nal officially became Palenque's ruler on December 21st, 583 AD. (Mesoweb's Encyclopedia gives the day as December 23rd.) As far as archaeologists have found, her ascension makes her the first woman to rule Palenque.

Reign
There aren't a lot of things known about Lady Yohl Ik'nal's reign. Two events currently known were attacks. In 603 AD, on May 16, Bonampak attacked Palenque. Four years before that, there may have or actually was an attack by the Kaan or Snake polity/city-state, on April 21 -- though The Historical Dictionary of Mesoamerica gives April 23. (Kaan might not sound like a familiar city-state, until you find out that at it's center city at one point in its history became Calakmul -- however, in the reign of Lady Yohl Ik'nal, it might not have been yet.)

But archaeologists do know something about Lady Yohl Ik'nal's reign that may not have been about war.Lady Yohl Ik'nal "supervised" an accession of some kind for a "K'an Tok lord," but no one knows when. (There is no agreement about what a K'an Tok lord was.) The "when" of this is pretty fuzzy though. The closest that archaeologists have gotten is that the event happened basically almost anywhere in her reign, between 587 AD and 604 AD.

Lady Yohl Ik'nal may have been married. There is a man in the records that we know as Janaab Pakal who was either her son or her husband. The ruler who came after her, Ajen Yohl Mat, may have been their son. (If Janaab Pakal was actually a son of Lady Yohl Ik'nal, it seems that Ajen Yohl Mat would have been his older brother.)

Death
After a reign just shy of twenty-one years, Lady Yohl Ik'nal died in 604 AD, on November 4th. Ajen Yohl Mat became the next ruler in 605 AD, on New Year's Day. As to where this queen of Palenque was buried, there's an idea that a building at Palenque called Temple XX is her tomb. (This idea came from an archaeologist named Merle Greene Robertson.)

It seems that Yohl Ik'nal's family found her memorable. On her well-known descendant Pakal's sarcophagus, artists drew members of his family and fruit trees -- and some members are put on twice. One of the family members put on twice is Yohl Ik'nal. On the sargophagus's west side, she's drawn standing by a sapodilla, a tree that the ancient Maya used various parts of -- including harvesting its sap for different uses. On the east side, she's coming out of an avocado tree.

Another Consideration: A Theory on a Headdress

An old artistic rendering of the Oval
Palace Tablet. Some artistic license
has been used. From the NYPL
Digital Collections.

There is a certain headdress that archaeologists call the "drum major headdress." A theory in Parallel Worlds on this headdress wonders if the Maya in Palenque thought that whenever there was a war, this headdress would keep them safe somehow. This theory also wonders if the drum major headdress belonged to Janaab Pakal -- the possible younger son or husband of Lady Yohl Ik'nal -- and that perhaps have been created five years into Lady Yohl Ik'nal's reign, in 598 AD.

An artifact that shows this headdress is the Oval Palace Tablet. On this tablet, the famous Pakal is being given the headdress by his mother, Lady Sak K'uk'.




References:
Google Books: "Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey (editor); 2016

Google Books: "Parallel Worlds: Genre, Discourse, and Poetics in Contemporary, Colonial and Classic Maya Literature"; Kerry M. Hull, Michael D. Carrasco; 2012

"Historical Dictionary of Mesomerica"; Walter R.T. Witschey, Clifford T. Brown; 2012

Maya Decipherment: Ideas on Ancient Maya Writing and Iconography: "The Temple XX Tomb"; September 20, 2012; David Stuart

Mesoweb: "The Rulers of Palenque"; Joel Skidmore; 2010

Google Books: "Daily Life in Maya Civilization" second edition; Robert J. Sharer; 2009

The University of Texas at Austin University of Texas Libraries: "Framing the Portrait: Towards an Understanding of Elite Late Classic Maya Representation at Palenque Mexico"; Kaleyy Rae Spencer; May 2007

Mesoweb Encyclopedia: Lady Yohl Ik'nal

Mesoweb Encyclopedia: Ajen Yohl Mat

Mesoweb: Palenque: The Oval Palace Tablet

Image Credits:
Pixabay: Mexico, Palenque, Ruins, Archaeology, Palace, City

NYPL Digital Collections: Two seated figures and two-headed dog within a circle, over bench decorated with figures and abstract elements.

Ix Wak Chan Ajaw (Lady Six Sky)

Author's note: The names of places refer to specific cities that are now archaeological sites, but they also refer to city-states that existed at the time.

Guatemala colored in blue.
From the CIA World Factbook.

When you see her name in English, it's Lady Six Sky or Lady Six Sky Queen. When written down in its original form you'll see Ix Wak Chan Ajaw or Ix Wac Chanil Ahau -- and there's also the mixture of English and Mayan, Lady Wac-Kan Ahaw. A child of Lady B'ulu' and a ruler named B'alaj Chan K'awiil, she became part of Calakmul's desire to keep a hold on Naranjo.

How she helped achieve this goal makes her and the politics of the time something of a mystery. Though it seems she always kept her connection to her home, this royal lady is known for being one of Naranjo's rulers, her reign taking place in the Late Classic (around 600 AD to 800 AD.) Which wasn't that common for when she lived.

Origin
Ix Wak Chan Ajaw came from the family that ruled Dos Pilas, located in the south of the Peten region, in Guatemala. Calakmul controlled Dos Pilas and B'alaj Chan K'awiil -- Ix Wak Chan Ajaw's father -- seems to have been completely fine with this.

Meanwhile, Naranjo wasn't. It had also been under Calakmul's power, but two rulers (the 36th and 37th) had tried to rebel. However, neither of these two rulers won their wars.

Because of their actions, Ix Wak Chan Ajaw was sent all the nearly 94 miles to Naranjo. She was to bring it properly back into Calakmul's hands. This is the mystery of Ix Wak Chan Ajaw, because from what archaeologists understand, ancient Maya rulers following tradition wouldn't have sent her. They would have ordered their second sons to go, not their daughters.

To achieve the goal of making Naranjo's acceptance of Calakmul's authority permanent, Ix Wak Chan Ajaw may have married someone who belonged to a different branch of Naranjo's royalty. This would have made that branch more impressive -- and whoever agreed to marry her would, of course, be agreeing to do what Calakmul wanted. Either that or her status was enough to start a royal line with whoever she married.

Yet it wasn't simply as a wife that she went. Ix Wak Chan Ajaw ruled.

Reign
Though you won't find her name in Naranjo's list of rulers, Ix Wak Chan Ajaw's reign began in 682 AD. From what this author can tell, this date is thought to be the start of her reign because of an inscription that says she arrived at her destination that year, on August 27th. This record may or may not be literally true, due to nuances around the word "arrive." (Apparently, there's a nuance connected to this word about starting royal lines.) At any rate, five years after she "arrived" at Naranjo, the future ruler of Naranjo was born.

The name of this future ruler name was K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak, and he became Naranjo's ruler officially in 693 AD, even though he was five years old. K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak (who is also known today by a number of names including Smoking Squirrel) may or may not have been Ix Wak Chan Ajaw's son -- the likelihood of this depends on who you talk to. But just because Naranjo had a new "real" ruler, it doesn't mean that Ix Wak Chan Ajaw's power ended.

(On a side note, one possible piece of evidence that she was his mother involves monuments. K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak would always have a monument made for her each year -- each time he had a yearly monument made to mark his becoming Naranjo's ruler. These monuments seem to have been made to say that her lineage was the reason he deserved to be the ruler, which could mean he was her son.)

For instance, a stela at Naranjo called Stela 22 lists eight war-related events, starting in 693 AD -- these events seem like they must have been brought about through the orders of Ix Wak Chan Ajaw. (Though K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak was ruler in title and was the one given the credit, he would seem to be far too young, at five years old.) K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak seems to have eventually started ordering his own military actions, though.

Why did Ix Wak Chan Ajaw go to war so much? Some actions may have been for the sake of Calakmul. Others may have been because other nearby city-states thought they'd try their luck warring against Naranjo when a woman was ruler.

Death and Considerations
Ix Wak Chan Ajaw may have passed on in 741 AD, possibly on either February 11th or February 10th.  (A record of her passing was found at Dos Pilas.) No one knows whether or not K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak ruled Naranjo after that, because he may have died before she did.

If she did live longer than K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak, then she may have kept his successor from taking his place, continuing to rule Naranjo until she died too. You may even see 741 AD as the year listed for the end of her reign. However, since the death dates aren't nailed down, nothing is for sure. (On a related note, the successor, Yax Mayuy Chan Chaak, was taken in a war started by Tikal in 744 AD.)


References:

Mesoweb Encyclopedia: Lady Six Sky

Mesoweb Encyclopedia: K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak

"Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey (editor); 2016

"Ancient Maya Women"; Traci Arden (editor); 2002

"The Maya Tropical Forest: People, Parks, and Ancient Cities"; James D. Nation; 2006