Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
The Early Years
His Own Man
Copán’s Place in the Maya World
The Incidents of 730/731
Later Years
The End
Epilogue
Postscript
List of Figures
Endnotes
Sources Cited
About the Author

Preface

It is difficult for me to believe that a mere twelve months ago I had never heard of Eighteen Rabbit. I had not imagined that I would ever be able to access the names and personalities of the enigmatic lords of the Maya. My image of them and their civilization was shrouded in mystery as dense as the jungle vines that strangled their stone cities. As a historian, I had up to now focused largely on medieval European land grants, written in the universal Latin tongue, and ably supported by exhaustive dictionaries and grammars.

Yet my long standing appreciation for history and languages had always extended to archeology as well. I have stood in England’s stone circles, clambered down inside Egypt’s pyramids, and gazed upon the foundations of Homer’s Troy, the Minoan palace of Knossos, and the temples at Delphi. So when the opportunity arose to visit the lost cities of the Maya, I jumped at the chance. I visited Copán, Quiriguá, Tikal, Cobá, and Chichén Itzá. Almost immediately upon arrival at each site, I abandoned the tour to scale the buildings and to drink in the sense of these magnificent pyramids and temples on my own. I was exhilarated with the thrill of learning, the excitement of adventure, and the desire to see as much as I could in the short few hours our visits allowed. I paid little attention to the stone monuments, impatient as I was to explore what I thought were grander structures.

It was only later when my traveling companions were talking, that I heard about somebody called Eighteen Rabbit. They told of the writings on the backs of the monuments, of names, dates, and activities recorded there. This was no longer impossible enigma—this was the stuff of history! This was documents in stone, the very bread and meat of the historian. Thus I was bitten and the result is this paper.

I returned to Copán in February this year, 2002, and stayed for ten days. During this visit I thoroughly explored every corner of the principal group, mapped out in detail the structures in the northeast corner and in the residential section known as El Cementario, and groped my way through the tunnels under the acropolis. I investigated the remains in the wooded area south of the acropolis known as El Bosque and I explored the courtyards, buildings, and tombs in the upper class residential area called Las Sepulturas. In addition I examined the contents of the museums at the park site and in the town of Copán Ruinas and I took the time to wander about in the valley and splash in the river which gave this marvelous city state its name. I tried to see Copán as Eighteen Rabbit saw it so I could better tell his story.

Anybody with a name like Eighteen Rabbit deserves to have his story told. In this first paper, I have attempted to examine the hard evidence only, the written record left behind by the Maya themselves inscribed on buildings and monuments. In a later effort I will attempt to weave these known points into a plausible tapestry of Eighteen Rabbit’s life. I make no pretense that the story I shall tell is provable. Nevertheless, I shall deal with what facts are known at this time with as much accuracy as my knowledge and skill enable me.

My efforts would be in vain were it not for the great women who broke the code of the Maya language and opened this spectacular civilization for historians to appreciate. It was Tatiana Proskouriakoff, architect and illustrator, who first demonstrated in 1960 that Maya hieroglyphics recorded history. She was followed by the brilliant and prolific Linda Schele whose detailed drawings of the Maya texts are still among the finest available to scholars. The drawings in this work are hers, courtesy of FAMSI, the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Schele’s interpretations have gone far to lift the veil from the world of Maya, particularly in the areas of religion and culture.

There are many other scholars to whom my small contributions owe so much and they are listed in the bibliography. In addition, I thank Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle, executive director of Asociacion Copán, and Oscar Cruz, director of the Copán park, for generously giving me their time for interviews. I thank the park security and maintenance staff for assisting my work and answering my questions. I appreciate the encouragement I received from Sandra Noble, director of FAMSI, for encouraging me to prepare this paper for publication on the organization’s website.

My gratitude would not be complete without also including Ariele Huff, my mentor and editor, who constantly hones my skills, and Kai von Sydow, my travel agent, who knew of my interests and booked my first voyage to the Maya lands. Finally, I must thank Eighteen Rabbit himself for leaving behind so much reading material.

Janice Van Cleve
janicevc@seanet.com

Introduction

The inventory of monuments, inscriptions, and references to Eighteen Rabbit is the richest yet discovered among the Maya for a single individual. He personally commissioned eight stelae or stone monuments, seven of which portray his image, and all of which promote his message. ¹   In addition, he dedicated Building 10L-22 at Copán with an inscription referring to himself, and he refurbished the ballcourt, and installed game markers with his name and image. He is mentioned on a contemporary incense burner and on a clay cylinder. Later rulers of Copán recalled Eighteen Rabbit by name or image on the famous Hieroglyphic Stairway, on a panel in Temple 26, and on Altar Q, Stela 11, and perhaps on an inscription on Building 8L-74. His father, Smoke Jaguar, mentioned him when he was still a baby on Stela 6.

Eighteen Rabbit is also prominently mentioned in Quiriguá, a city state in present day Guatemala. The Quiriguá stelae are the tallest in the Maya cultural region, some towering 35 feet, and they are covered with detailed glyphs. Five of these stelae and one carved boulder document Eighteen Rabbit’s untimely end.

In all, twenty-four references to Eighteen Rabbit that were carved or written somewhat contemporaneously by the Maya themselves have been so far discovered. Except for the incense burner and the Temple 26 panel, it has been my very good fortune to see all of these monuments and inscriptions in person or in detailed photos and drawings. ²   I have read as many of the texts as have been translated and I have read many of the sometimes conflicting interpretations of those texts. In some cases I have attempted to apply my own crude efforts to suggest an interpretation. Later investigations will certainly add to our knowledge and undoubtedly will change some of my conclusions, but that is what scholarship is supposed to do.

Given an inventory of twenty-four references, my first task was to order them chronologically. The Maya inscribed most of their monuments with a dedication date and sometimes made reference in the text to prior events, including those dates as well. The science of Maya calendrics has been thoroughly hashed out by scholars and there is now general agreement on the dating system. ³   That is not to say that there are not differences of opinion. Sometimes scholars differ as to the reading of the number on the monument, often due to damage of the piece caused by erosion or vandalism. ⁴   In other cases, scholars may mistake a date in the text for the dedication date or simply may have erred in their reading. ⁵   In these cases I have usually relied on Linda Schele’s analyses both because of her renown as a detailed epigrapher and because often she has considered the earlier readings before coming to her conclusions. Nevertheless, I have differed from her and others by using the 584,283 constant for converting dates from Mayan to modern.

The Early Years

What mother would name her child Eighteen Rabbit? Well, actually she didn’t. It was archeologists attempting to attach identity to the hieroglyphic characters that make up his name who first dubbed him Eighteen Rabbit. Now that we know more about the pronunciation of Maya syllables we are able to render his name correctly as Waxaklajun Ubah Kawil. ⁶   Including a numeral in a name was a rare occurrence among the Maya. ⁷   Nor is it a mistaken reading. The three bar, three dot configuration in the inscriptions are bold and clear as the number 18. The "rabbit" part of the name is a bit more conjectural. The glyph looks more like a chipmunk to me, but the name Eighteen Chipmunk apparently did not catch on with the translators.

No evidence of Eighteen Rabbit’s birth date has yet been found. The first incident in which his name glyph appears is on Stela 6 at Copán. This stela was dedicated by his father, Smoke Jaguar, on May 8, 682. 8   The boy must have been at least a year old by then because the stela was not raised in his honor 9   but it is not likely his name would have been "carved in stone" on it until he had passed the dangers of infant mortality. This would make him at least thirteen years old when he acceded to the throne of Copán on July 7, 695.10  This date is recorded on the Hieroglyphic Stairway, an elaborate showcase of Copán’s dynastic history completed by Smoke Shell on May 6, 755, almost exactly seventeen years after Eighteen Rabbit’s death. The next evidence of Eighteen Rabbit is Stela J which was dedicated on January 24, 702. He had been in power six and a half years and was about twenty-two years old by then. It was the half katun, 9.13.10.0.0 in Maya notation, which was a normal occasion for ritual and erection of a monument. Eighteen Rabbit may either not yet have been quite sure of himself or not quite secure enough on the throne to have the stela carved in his image as his later monuments were. The side facing the plaza is arranged in the symbolic image of the earth monster with cauac grape cluster, bone in the nose, and no lower jaw which are symbols of mortality and partition. The side facing the town is carved in a mat pattern, which is a symbol of authority, thus emphasizing that he was in charge.11  In the text he alludes to the founder of the Copán dynasty, Yax Kuk Mo, and to his father, the great Smoke Jaguar. The carving and placement of Stela J appear to say to the people: "You are now entering the great square of the people, the holy place, where Eighteen Rabbit, legitimate successor to Smoke Jaguar and all the rulers of Copán back to the beginnings of the dynasty, will perform acts of ritual and magic which will ensure your lives and prosperity." On the west side, as they leave the plaza, the stela appears to say to the people: "You are now leaving the great plaza of the people to return to the mortal world which is ruled by the cycle of life and death." Thus he appears to be using this opportunity to declare his legitimacy and to proclaim his right to rule. Stela J may contain clues as well to Eighteen Rabbit’s political and religious thinking. As a boundary marker at the entrance to the great plaza, the stela sets the plaza apart and thereby elevates its status and his own importance as well. Perhaps Eighteen Rabbit already had an inkling at this time of the grand building program he was later to carry out in the plaza. Maybe he was forming in his mind how he was going to use religion and ritual as his main instruments of governance.12  He seems to be claiming with Stela J a unique and necessary role in the lives of his people; a role that justified his elevated status and right to claim their taxes, labor, and loyalty.

His Own Man

	Eighteen Rabbit is apparently mentioned in connection with an incense burner dated May 1, 708, but I have seen only one reference to this item and no illustration.13  In 710, Eighteen Rabbit commissioned the renovation of Temple 26 which held the tomb of this father, Smoke Jaguar, and fitted it with the first rows of its famous Hieroglyphic Stairway.14  Sometime later, he encased Temple 16, the revered tomb of Yax Kuk Mo, intact within a new Temple 16.15  This indicated his special reverence for his dynastic founder while at the same time increasing the scale of Temple 16 to keep up with the expansion of buildings he was creating at the north end of the Jaguar Court, particularly Temple 10L-22. Stela C is the next monument in his name. It was dedicated on December 3, 711, on the katun ending date of 9.14.0.0.0, and placed in the central plaza of Copán.16  Not only is the katun ending date a key Maya religious occasion, this particular one marks Eighteen Rabbit’s coming of age. He was twenty-seven by now and ready to pass beyond the illustrious legacy of his father to stand on his own. The stela is two-sided, with Eighteen Rabbit facing east, where the new sun rises, and his father, Smoke Jaguar, facing west, where the old sun sets.17  The visages are remarkably lifelike and individual in spite of the stylized nature and purpose of the monument. The father stands before an altar representing the cosmic turtle from which life emerges and into which life descends. In this case, Smoke Jaguar standing behind the altar appears to descend into the earth as the western sun descends into the underworld at twilight. Eighteen Rabbit, on the other hand, stands before an uncarved altar symbolizing new possibilities as he faces the rising sun. The inscriptions refer to mythological events, one of which calculates over two million years before the erection of this stela. Eighteen Rabbit had two buildings, 10L-20 and 10L-21, raised along the east side of the Jaguar Court sometime early in his reign. Building 10L-20 is known as the House of Bats. Its cornices were crowned with killer bat statues and its door could be locked from the outside—which has led some scholars to associate this building with the House of Bats in the underworld of Xibalba as described in the Popol Vuh where the Hero Twins were imprisoned before they were sacrificed. Building 10L-21 is known as the House of Knives. It was lavishly decorated on the outside with carved vines and obsidian eyes and its cornices were crowned with sacrificial knife images. Both buildings were destroyed by erosion, but pieces have been retrieved and are preserved in the park museum.
In 715 his masons completed Building 10L-22, an ornate chamber high on the private acropolis of Copán. Eighteen Rabbit dedicated it on March 24 with an inscription on the entrance step which begins "On 5 Lamat18  my katun was finished…". This was not a normal period ending date; he was referring, rather, to the fact that he had completed twenty years since his accession.19		Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge	An enigmatic clay cylinder dated February 18, 718 is incised with Eighteen Rabbit’s name and title. It may record a "burning" of something, but it has not been translated as yet.20  Six years later, Eighteen Rabbit caused himself to be portrayed on Stela F in the guise of the Bearded Jaguar God in celebration of the half katun 9.14.10.0.0, or October 11, 721. The symbolism of the stela and its altar cast the ruler completely into his role as intermediary between the gods and the people through his own blood sacrifice.21  It also calls forth the story of the two patron gods of Copán, Kan Te Ahau and Bolon Kawil. This story did not survive into the post conquest literature of the Maya, but it evidently was popular throughout the Maya region. It involves the throwing down of a baby jaguar from a mountain and this theme is carried out in stone in the altar that stands before Stela F.22 Eighteen Rabbit was thirty-seven years old at the time Stela F was erected. He was at his prime, in full possession of his power as ruler in his own right and as the sacrificial king who bled for the continuation of the cosmic order and for the nourishment of the gods. He introduced a new art form, depicting himself in full round practically stepping right out of the stone in a realism dramatic for Maya monuments. This may be an indication that he was introducing a new school of art and maybe new ideas in other areas as well.
Stela 4 was raised on the quarter katun, September 15, 726, (9.14.15.0.0 in Maya long count)23  and marks the high point of Eighteen Rabbit’s rule. By this time he was forty-two years old and had been in power for thirty-one years. He had just installed Cauac Sky two years previously to be the new military governor of Quiriguá, a town on the Motagua River under Copán’s jurisdiction. Stela 4 continues the themes of Kan Te Ahau and Bolon Kawil, the patron gods of Copán. The image of the ruler, carved again in full round, grasps the black headdress of death and the white Ceiba flower of life. The altar in front of it is a carved globe with spiral drains for blood sacrifices. Eighteen Rabbit shows himself again as the self-immolating king whose repeated blood sacrifices keep in balance the forces of life and death. His altar symbolizes the need for blood to keep the sun revolving around the earth. The inscription harks back to the mythical beginnings of Copán on December 19, 159 CE (8.6.0.0.0 in Maya long count) when the god Bolon Kawil was said to have emerged from death. At the same time, Eighteen Rabbit resurrected Stela 5 which had been dedicated by his father, Smoke Jaguar, on July 26, 667.24  Stela 5 depicts his grandfather, Butz Chan, facing west and his father facing east, much like Stela C. Beneath both stelae, Eighteen Rabbit deposited rectangular altars bound with carved wrappings, and on the one he placed under Stela 4 he recorded the birth of his grandfather on April 28, 563. This may be very significant, because where he resurrected Stela 5 is very near Burial 36, which was an important royal tomb and may even have been the tomb of Butz Chan. So Stela 4 not only displays Eighteen Rabbit as the fulcrum between life and death, but directly relates back to the mythical beginnings of Copán. His actions relate as well directly back to his grandfather. I believe that Stela 4 represents Eighteen Rabbit’s definitive statement of his view of the cosmos and his place in it. It comes as close as anything to his credo.

Copán’s Place in the Maya World

Copán was not an isolated city state unto itself. The Maya region contained hundreds of city states during the classic period from 250-900 CE. There is ample evidence of lively commerce in luxury goods between cities, cultural and artistic connections, intermarriage among the elite class, and political ties.²⁵  Rulers and ambassadors visited each other and some cities dominated others in regional hegemonies.²⁶  Raids on neighboring sites were conducted to capture prisoners for blood sacrifices. Wars were fought to impose overlordship or declare independence, to gain control of trade routes, and to avenge real or imagined wrongs.²⁷

There was not, however, a central capital for the Maya region. El Mirador was the first and most prominent city in the preclassic period (100-250 CE). While it undoubtedly exerted a cultural, commercial, and perhaps even religious influence beyond its immediate zone of control, it never exerted a military or political dominance over the region. El Mirador was replaced by Tikal, the largest Maya city state, which played a similarly influential role during the early classic period (250-550 CE). Tikal suffering defeats at the hand of Calakmul in the mid-sixth century and fell into a period of silence for sixty years, during which time other centers asserted their independence.²⁸

Tikal resurrected its power under a new ruler, Lord Cocoa. However, by then it was impossible to attempt to reinstate the regional dominance the city had previously enjoyed. By 672 other city states had arisen whose economic prosperity and military might rivaled Tikal’s. Alliances, wars, raids and coups alternated with trade and cultural exchanges in the ever fluid contests for power. Overarching all was a deep and lasting competition between Tikal and Calakmul which grew to polarize the entire Maya world.²⁹

Copán began as an outpost of the Maya high in the mountains of western Honduras sometime during the protoclassic period (100-250 CE). The population of the Copán Valley was ethnically Maya since earliest times, although it was definitely on the southeastern frontier of the Maya population area. Non-Maya peoples immediately to the south and east interacted and traded with the Copán Maya and some even resided in the city.³⁰

In spite of its position on the periphery, Copán very early demonstrated its active and ongoing interaction with the rest of the Maya world. Its major cultural and trade connections were with Kaminaljuyú in the Guatemalan highlands to the southwest. This connection served to link Copán to the earliest awakenings of the Maya civilization which arose first along the Pacific coast and in the highlands before it spread to the central Petén area around Tikal. It was through this link that Copán received its first influences from Teotihuacán in México.

Much more direct influence from Teotihuacán came with the arrival of Yax Kuk Mo at Copán on February 4, 427. Yax Kuk Mo was a young lieutenant in Mexican general Sayaj Kak’s army which sacked Tikal forty nine years previously.³¹  He was inaugurated on September 5, 426 most likely at Tikal. It took him 152 days to travel to Copán³²  bearing the image of the new Mexican Kawil (feathered serpent) god to install the new dynasty.³³  In 435 he raised Stela 63, the first stela in Copán, to commemorate his accession and the beginning of his dynasty.³⁴

It was at this time that Copán likely received its name. The Maya pronunciation for Copán is "xukpi". "Xuk" means corner and "pi" means bundle.³⁵  Together they for a word that means "corner bundle." This is highly significant in that Tikal’s emblem glyph or coat of arms is a tied bundle. So Copán/Xukpi may literally mean "the corner of Tikal’s reach", or Outpost of Tikal. While too far away to become embroiled in the dynastic rivalries of the central Petén, Copán remained generally aligned to Tikal. The name "Xukpi" may also indicate that the Maya, or at least the elite, recognized themselves as a distinct people, different from peoples beyond their frontiers and perhaps even different from the lower classes they ruled.³⁶

Yax Kuk Mo was not the only graduate from the Tikal Class of ’26. One Tok Casper was also inaugurated on September 5 and given ruling power over the city of Quiriguá.³⁷  It is noteworthy that he was installed "under the supervision" of Yax Kuk Mo, indicating that the relationship between the ruling house of Quiriguá and that of Copán was to be one of vassal to master.³⁸

Copán’s influence first appears outside its mountain valley at Caracol in 534³⁹  but it reached its greatest extent under Butz Chan (578-628) and Smoke Jaguar (628-695). Monuments as far away as Pusilhá and Nim Li Punit in modern Belize bear their names,⁴⁰  while Río Amarillo, El Paraíso, and Los Higos to the northeast in Honduras also refer to Copán.⁴¹  Eighteen Rabbit records the sacrifice of a lord of Pusilhá on Stela F⁴²  and Copán is named with Palenque in a bone carving found in a Tikal ruler’s tomb.⁴³

The Incidents of 730/731

The next two monuments erected by Eighteen Rabbit are at once the most elaborate and most controversial of his entire reign. Stelae H and A pose more questions than they do answers, yet those questions lead us to the most interesting speculations about what may have been one of the most significant moments in Eighteen Rabbit’s career.

Click on image to enlarge	Stela H, erected by Eighteen Rabbit on December 3, 730, is singularly unusual.44  First, it is one of the most splendidly detailed and ornate carvings ever found, even in Copán, a city noted for the exceptionally fine sophistication of its carvings. Second, it depicts Eighteen Rabbit not in the customary "sacrificial ruler" role, but as a divine maize god in all his glory. Third, he is shown wearing the beaded skirt which has led many researchers to speculate that this monument may be of a woman.45  Fourth, it is a twin to Stela A. Both monuments refer to the same ceremony and they were erected only 60 days apart.46  Fifth, and most significant to my opinion, Stela H and its twin were not erected on any calendar anniversary date.47  Stelae throughout the Maya world and certainly in Copán were usually raised on twenty-year katun endings or subdivisions of katuns. Stelae H and A, in contrast, were erected around an event that must have been of such cardinal importance that Eighteen Rabbit felt compelled to commemorate it outside the normal time sequence.48
Stela H shows Eighteen Rabbit magnificently as the maize god, the central character in the mythical drama that explains birth and death through confrontation with the lords of the underworld. At this point he was 49 years old, having ruled for 35 years—at least 19 of them out from under the shadow of his illustrious father. The richly decorated monument leaves only a small section in back for an abbreviated inscription which reads (from Schele, 1998): "4 Ahaw 18 Muwan / it happened, divinity / it was erected, the stood-up thing / Kan ???49  / was its name / the lakam / tun of Eighteen Rabbit / Holy Lord of Copán / four gourd trees50  in the central plaza." My translation reads: "It happened on December 3, 730, under the auspices of the god [unknown] that this stela was erected. Yellow ??? was its name. This monument was commissioned by Eighteen Rabbit, Holy Lord of Copán, on November [day], 730, for the central plaza."51		Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge	Stela A was erected just 60 days after its twin, Stela H, on February 1, 731. On this stela, the imagery returns to the sacrifice and bloodletting themes which symbolize death and resurrection. The headdress is of the plaited mat pattern which is the quintessential symbol or ruling authority in Maya regalia.52 Alike to Stela H in many ways–artistry, timing, location, detail–Stela A is starkly different in that its entire back and sides are filled with inscriptions. The back recalls the events which were briefly noted on Stela H and adds significant details (from Schele, 1998): "4 Ahaw 18 Muwan / was erected the lakamtun / the stood-up thing / Kan ??? / is its name; he died / tzi pi k’a, Scatterer / tzi pi k’a, Nun [intermediary] / Three Monkey, Pu-wi Ahaw / Butz Chan, Ma Ahaw / bone … / festival, they cut / the bones of the dead one / he entered the road, he set up / the lakamtun / the image of Fire Sun Shield Snake / ??? / Eighteen Rabbit / Holy Copán Lord, the Representative." My translation reads: "On December 3, 730, the stela was erected whose name is Yellow ???. On that date was the [unknown] bone festival53  when [unknown] Lady Nun and Three Monkey, Pu-wi lord, cut the bones of the dead one, Butz Chan, esteemed lord, now dead, [unknown] who scattered his blood for the good of our city.54  Eighteen Rabbit, Holy Lord of Copán, entered the vault55  and raised a stela above it in the image of Fire Sun Shield Snake, whom he represents."56 The left side of Stela A records its dedication on February 1, 731, commissioned by Eighteen Rabbit. The right side speaks of a ritual in which the vault below Stela A was opened and then closed, presumably to deposit something inside.57  Most interesting, however, is that the text records that the lords of Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque were witnesses to this ritual along with the lord of Copán,58  and calls them the four prime examples of dynastic power.59

What do Stelae H and A tell us? The timing is, I believe, a critical issue. Stelae H and A captured in stone some event so important that it could not wait to be memorialized on the next regular katun date a mere seven months later. It is most unusual for two such spectacular monuments to be raised a mere 60 days apart, and for the later one to refer directly to the earlier one. The stelae obviously must be understood in conjunction, as two parts to a single message or a single event.

Throughout the Maya world, stelae erected outside the normal katun anniversaries involve a military victory, a birth, a coming of age, a change of dynasty, or accession to the throne. None of these apply to Stelae H or A. Nor does a particular celestial event⁶⁰  or special religious holiday⁶¹  appear to be the motive. In addition, it seems to have been an event for which Eighteen Rabbit felt it necessary to call for help from beyond the grave. While exhuming the bones of ancestors was not unusual in the Maya world, doing so at an odd time may indicate that Eighteen Rabbit sought to derive something from doing so–perhaps legitimacy, authority, or moral example–which he needed right then. Furthermore, it is curious that he did not exhume the bones of his very illustrious and powerful father, who was buried near at hand in Temple 26, but went instead to his grandfather.⁶²

This leaves only one other cause to which Stelae H and A can be attributed. That is the presence of the lords of Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque in the city. Were they really there? It was common enough for lords to visit each other’s cities or send their representatives. Copán, on the very southeastern frontier of the Maya world, was a bit out of the way place for three such powerful lords to assemble,⁶³  yet Palenque sent one of its noble daughters to marry the 15^th ruler of Copán not many years later.⁶⁴  It is unlikely that Eighteen Rabbit contrived these visitors as spiritual phenomena or outright fabrications, because the glyph "to witness" on Stela A is a formula verb used in similar circumstances throughout the Maya world.⁶⁵  Nor could the visitors have been traveling merchants/ambassadors from the named cities because the emblem glyphs on Stela A are all preceded by the blood scattering symbol which was reserved only for the "Holy Lord" of the city. Finally, in the tomb of Tikal’s Lord Cocoa, are bones carved with the death dates of foreign nobility, and others carved with references to Palenque and Copán.⁶⁶  It would seem difficult to place the lords of rival cities like Tikal and Calakmul together for the peaceful witnessing of Copán Stela A, but that’s what the evidence in stone indicates.

If we accept, then, that these three visiting lords actually gathered in Copán, could their presence have been the reason for the rituals commemorated by Stelae H and A? Could they have been the cause rather than merely the witnesses? Did Eighteen Rabbit invite them? Why? Why would he have done that and why would they have responded? Could it be that he called a summit meeting of these most powerful lords? Was he attempting to broker some kind of deal or treaty? Was he a protagonist of peace trying to end the vicious spiral of violence that was decimating the elite class to their impending doom? Did he have an oracle so dramatic that he had to share it with them in person? Was he attempting to elevate his status among or even above the other powerful lords? Or, on the other hand, was he attempting to elevate his status among his own growing nobility by inviting important outsiders? The stones have yet to yield up answers to these questions. The particular choice of maize god for Stela H and patron god of Copán for Stela A was surely deliberate, but interpreting their mythological significance is difficult at best. In addition, the stelae are not simple objective representations of events, but rather also serve as propaganda billboards for the ruler. What message did Eighteen Rabbit attempt to send to his immediate subjects and to posterity with these monuments? Until more data is uncovered and analyzed, we may be left only with questions.

Later Years

Eighteen Rabbit erected Stela B on August 20, 731. He was 50 years old and had ruled Copán for 36 of those years. The stela was raised in the central plaza, facing east, on the major katun ending date of 9.15.0.0.0. This date was commemorated in cities throughout the Maya world with monuments and dedicatory rituals.

Click on image to enlarge	Stela B is most remarkable in the political statement it makes which may even offer a clue to the messages projected from Stelae A and H. Stela B depicts Eighteen Rabbit fully decked out in the panoply of the blood sacrificing ruler. At his belt he wears sting ray spines and he is surrounded by images of dead ancestors displaying blood soaked ribbons. He carries the whistongue, the giant symbol of auto-sacrifice,67  and the double headed serpent bar, which is the main symbol of Maya authority.68  From out of his turban emerges the image of the maize god, surrounded by two large macaw heads. On the back of the stela is a huge depiction of the great mountain monster. In the monster’s right eye, is the glyph Mo Witz or "Macaw Mountain" and in the left eye is the glyph Kan Na Kan or four Na Skies, which also appears on Stela H in reference to the "four on high" or the four major dynasties of Copán, Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque.69  In the monster’s mouth is the glyph Baknal Ox Witik or "bone place three sources."70 The mountain, I believe, is a direct reference to Temple 16 at Copán. This was the mountain built by the Copán people, the holiest site in the city where the bones of the dynastic founder, Yax Kuk Mo (Queztal Macaw Lord) were interred. Macaw mountain is the tomb pyramid of Queztal Macaw. The "bone place" is the tomb itself and "three sources"71  was the specific location where Yax Kuk Mo declared his rulership of Copán in 427. The four Na Skies links the Copán dynasty, begun by Yax Kuk Mo and carried on by Eighteen Rabbit, to the other three major dynasties in the Maya world and relates the four to the quadripartite cosmic order of Maya ideology. In other words, Eighteen Rabbit is claiming his rightful place as heir to the founder of Copán and by extension his place in the natural cosmic order of the universe. This message is strengthened, then, by the appearance of ancestors on the face of the monument and by Eighteen Rabbit functioning in the role of bloodletting sacrificial ruler for the people. Stela B may, in fact, be a very graphic representation of a vision that Eighteen Rabbit invoked in a ritual he actually performed on or in Temple 16 itself with the bones of his illustrious forbearer. The inscription on Stela B textually confirms the message presented by the images. In it, Eighteen Rabbit proclaims himself to be the 13th in succession from the founder of Copán who commemorates the 300th anniversary of Yax Kuk Mo by letting blood and invoking the gods of heaven, earth, and Venus.
Stela B appears to make a strident case for Eighteen Rabbit’s legitimacy and right to rule. Did he perhaps feel threatened? There does not appear to be any evidence of outside threat of invasion or rivalry as indeed the other three "great powers" were witness to the raising of Stela A just seven months previous. Nor is there any evidence of internal revolt from any of Copán’s subsidiary towns. Was there a rival claimant to the throne or were his nobles getting out of hand? Was the gathering of great powers for Stela A a show of mutual support among Maya CEO’s in the face of internal challenges to the titular rule of single individuals? The next katun ending was the quarter katun on July 25, 736, when Eighteen Rabbit raised Stela D. He was 55 and in his 41st year as ruler of Copán. This monument represents Eighteen Rabbit in another ritual trance state, replete with bloodletting paraphernalia and surrounded by umbilical snakes. He is wearing a mask of death strikingly similar to the one worn by his father, Smoke Jaguar on Stela I. Both Stelae D and I are situated on the sides of the central plaza rather than in the middle with the rest of the monuments. The stela and its altar represent the ruler in his role of mediator and communicator between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The inscriptions on the back reveal little more than the date, the name of the stone, and the fact that Eighteen Rabbit commissioned it.		Click on image to enlarge

The End

Less than two years after he raised Stela D, Eighteen Rabbit was dead. The manner of his death and the events leading up to it are at once one of the most dramatic and best described events in Maya history. His last monument foreshadowed his coming doom.

On January 8, 738, Eighteen Rabbit renovated the central ballcourt which lay just north east of, and adjacent to, Temple 26 in which his father was buried. It was his 42nd year in office at age 56. The Maya ballgame was a ritual reenactment of the epic struggle between life and death. It harked back to the myth of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who defeated the lords of death in Xibalba, the Maya underworld.72  Eighteen Rabbit commissioned three markers for the ballcourt. The north marker shows death receiving homage from one of his teammates; the central marker shows Eighteen Rabbit facing the lord of death in a ballgame to decide the future of the world; the south marker shows the defeated underworld team paying homage to the maize god who is the representation of resurrection and the continuance of life. The maize god wears Eighteen Rabbit’s emblem, implying the latter’s victory. The timing of this construction is significant in that Eighteen Rabbit was killed just four months later. It is tempting to imagine that this renovation was no ordinary public works project, but on the contrary, that he knew that a life or death challenge loomed on his immediate horizon. Given that the markers make a rather direct statement about his personal triumph over death, it is conceivable that he had the court rebuilt and a ritual game played as an augury for a battle he knew he would soon face.73 To understand what might have been the source of Eighteen Rabbit’s concerns, we can turn to two stelae at Quiriguá, across the mountains from Copán in modern Guatemala. Quiriguá Stela E, erected January 22, 771, records, among other things, that one Cauac Sky received the emblems of office to rule there under the supervision of Eighteen Rabbit on December 31, 724.74  Thus Quiriguá was still under the control of Copán in 724 as it had been since 424. It is most likely that Eighteen Rabbit knew the young man75  whom he appointed on that day and that he personally presided over the investment ceremony.

Click on image to enlarge

The other stela, Quiriguá Stela I, erected August 19, 800, records a visit to Quiriguá by a lord from Calakmul in 736. The text reads in part "and then it happened on July 25, 736,⁷⁶  that Cauac Sky [unknown title], holy lord of Quiriguá, [verb] Wamaw Kawil, holy lord of Calakmul."⁷⁷  It would be disturbing for the ruler of one major power to hear about a visit by another major power to one of his dependencies. This visit cannot have gone unreported to the ruler of Copán. Stela I goes on to relate the capture and destruction of the idols of Eighteen Rabbit on April 25, 738, just six days before he himself was killed. The juxtaposition of the visit from Calakmul and the demise of Eighteen Rabbit on one monument strongly hints that the two events are directly connected.⁷⁸

What happened to him is recorded on five stelae and one zoomorph, a carved boulder, at Quiriguá. On Quiriguá Stela J, dedicated on April 10, 756, the quarter katun, Cauac Sky briefly notes that Eighteen Rabbit was beheaded on May 1, 738. Cauac Sky also notes that he is the 14^th in line from the founder of Quiriguá and he recounts his inauguration on December 31, 724, calling himself the holy lord of Quiriguá.⁷⁹  Stela F, dedicated on the half katun of March 15, 761, repeats the formulaic declaration of Cauac Sky’s accession, his position as 14^th in line, and the capture of Eighteen Rabbit on April 25, 738.

Stela E, dedicated on the next full katun on January 22, 771, contains substantially more information. The east side contains an uncertain text that may refer to a lord of Pusilhá. The west side records the accession of Cauac Sky on December 31, 724, under the auspices of Eighteen Rabbit. The text goes on to list an untranslated subsequent event, then the sacrificing of Eighteen Rabbit on May 1, 738. Cauac Sky then records that he received (read: seized?) the palanquin of a "bat lord" on November 26, 762.⁸⁰  The rest of the text of Stela E is not clear but it names Cauac Sky as a "lord of Copán", more likely a black lord,⁸¹  then something 18 smoking dog, bat lord witnessed bat lord, 6 shell-in-hand. I believe that translation of these final glyphs on Quiriguá Stela E is critical to understanding the relationship of Quiriguá and Copán after the death of Eighteen Rabbit.

Click on image to enlarge

Stela A of Quiriguá records a bloodletting by Cauac Sky on December 27, 775 on the occasion of the quarter katun. The inscription also appears to name Cauac Sky as the "black lord of Copán", followed by the emblem glyph of Quiriguá and later a mention of Eighteen Rabbit, but this time without reference to a capture or execution. Cauac Sky died on July 25, 785. It was left to his successors to supply the remaining bits of information about the events surrounding Eighteen Rabbit’s untimely end. Sky Xul described the death and burial of his predecessor on Zoomorph G, a large boulder carved in the shape of a crouching jaguar with Cauac Sky emerging from its mouth. The text includes mention that Cauac Sky decapitated the images of Eighteen Rabbit,82  that is, the carved wooden images of the patron gods of Copán which the latter carried into battle. This interpretation is supported by Quiriguá Stela I, which was erected by the 16th ruler of that city, Jade Sky, on August 19, 800. The text there reads in part: "… 14th in line from the founder. On April 25, 738 he captured [or defaced] the wood of [several entities] of the Ceiba Flower lord, the gods of Eighteen Rabbit."83

In Copán, the capture and death of Eighteen Rabbit had mixed results. His successor, Smoke Monkey, acceded to the throne just 39 days later on June 10, 738. He dedicated Building 10L-22A at Copán on June 2, 746, to serve as a council chamber where he and his chief lieutenants could confer on governing the city, which may imply that he was not sufficiently powerful to govern alone.⁸⁴  This increase in overt power by the local nobility was further evidenced by an inscription on the outer façade of a noble’s house at location 8L-74 which was dedicated just two days after Eighteen Rabbit’s death.⁸⁵  The next Copán ruler, Smoke Shell, completely missed the major katun ending on May 7, 751, with nary a stone marker to commemorate it.

However on May 6, 755, Smoke Shell dedicated his expansion of the famous Hieroglyphic Stairway which mounts the burial pyramid of Smoke Jaguar, Temple 26. This major work is the longest single text in the Maya world and was started during Eighteen Rabbit’s reign. The scope of the latter’s intentions is not known, but Smoke Shell’s intentions are clear: to demonstrate his legitimacy from a long line of illustrious rulers and to proclaim the continuous majesty and power of Copán, irregardless of the demise of Eighteen Rabbit. The stairway chronicles the dynastic history of Copán from Yax Kak Mo to Smoke Shell whose Stela M stands at its foot. Five figures sit carved in full round with spears and shields up the center of the stairway in order from the bottom: Smoke Monkey, Eighteen Rabbit, Smoke Jaguar, Butz Chan, and finally Moon Jaguar. Eighteen Rabbit is also mentioned on a panel in the sanctuary of Temple 26. The risers of the stairway record the deeds and dates of the rulers. This is only one of two places in Copán where the death of Eighteen Rabbit is mentioned and there it says only that he died in battle.⁸⁶  There is no mention that he was taken, tortured, and ultimately sacrificed on a foreign altar by an erstwhile subordinate. The stairway, like the stelae, is a propaganda billboard in this case extolling the proud and unbroken continuity of the dynasty.

Smoke Shell’s death is not recorded. However, he dedicated Stela N on March 15, 761, and so presumably he was still alive then. His successor, Yax Pac, came to the throne on July 1, 763. However, it is recorded three times in Quiriguá, on Stela E and Altars O and P, that Cauac Sky seized a palanquin from a bat lord on November 26, 762, a date between the last time Smoke Shell was heard from and before the accession of Yax Pac. The bat lord is referred to only as "6-shell-in-hand" which has not been identified definitively with Smoke Shell. Was this action related to the death of Smoke Shell? Was Smoke Shell the "bat lord?" Did another Copán ruler fall to the violent ambitions of Eighteen Rabbit’s nemesis?⁸⁷

Cauac Sky was succeeded by Sky Xul on October 13, 785. The latter also attacked Copán. On March 22, 786 he "felled" a bat-hand lord who may have been a Copán noble.⁸⁸  Then he attacked a bat lord again on October 30, 786, and seized a palanquin.⁸⁹  If these bat lords refer to nobles of Copán, then it appears that for almost 50 years Quiriguá continued to attack Copán.

Smoke Shell left a widow, the Lady Chak Nik Ye Xook from Palenque, and her son, Yax Pac, who became the 16^th ruler of Copán. The latter’s famous Altar Q, which stands at the base of Temple 16, records around its sides, all sixteen of Copán’s rulers in order, including Eighteen Rabbit. He also left a bench in Temple 11 which includes the sixteen rulers and some of the patron deities. The last mention of Eighteen Rabbit is on Stela 11. The stela shows an aged and bearded ruler replete with death signs. The short inscription on the back begins with an abbreviated date which has been calculated to refer to May 6, 820, making this the latest monument in Copán.⁹⁰  The text begins with "founder of the dynasty", followed by seven glyphs, then the names of Yax Kuk Mo, holy lord of Copán, and Yax Pac, its last ruler. The eight glyph appears to be Eighteen Rabbit’s name and there is a reference to obsidian and flint, which may relate to his having been killed in battle.⁹¹

Epilogue

Twenty four monuments record the history of Eighteen Rabbit. They range from spectacularly carved stelae to a one line notation on a stairway. They reveal much about the life and the death of one of the brightest stars in the Maya world. They also leave hanging many intriguing questions which even further epigraphy and archeology may not fully answer.

What really happened during that fateful week of 738 when Eighteen Rabbit met his end? From the direct evidence of the relevant texts, to inferences gathered from similar episodes in other Maya conflicts, to general knowledge gleaned from an understanding of Maya politics, religion, and geography, and a good deal of circumstantial logic, we may be able to construct a plausible narrative.

We know when Eighteen Rabbit was captured—April 25, 738. We also know when he was killed—May 1, 738, just six days later. We know that the idols he carried with him were destroyed when he was captured. Where did these actions take place? There is no evidence to point to a direct assault by Quiriguá on the Copán metropolitan area itself.⁹²  Yet the final killing most certainly was done as a ritual sacrifice in Quiriguá.⁹³  The two cities are 50 miles apart in direct line and more like 80 miles apart along the jungle trails through the mountains that separate them. In order for Eighteen Rabbit to be sacrificed at Quiriguá just six days after he was captured, the battle must have taken place somewhere on the trail between Quiriguá and Copán.⁹⁴

There are several trails between Copán and Quiriguá.⁹⁵  The western trail passes through Llano Grande and Agua Sucia and then follows the Río Managua over the hills and across empty countryside to Quiriguá. The eastern trail passes up the Copán basin through the major towns subject to Copán, including El Raizal, Río Amarillo, Piedras Negras, El Cafetal, and El Paraíso, descending then down the north side of the mountains along the Río Morja to Quiriguá. There are several trails that link these two through the hills but these have no major settlements along them.

Why would Eighteen Rabbit be out on a trail where he could be captured? This, I believe is the key to understanding the fateful week of 738. He must certainly have been aware of Cauac Sky’s growing independence. He must have heard that Cauac Sky used the Quiriguá emblem glyph on a carving in the latter’s city in 734.⁹⁶  He must also have heard of the visit there by the lord of Calakmul in 736.⁹⁷  Perhaps Cauac Sky gave other provocations such as delaying or stopping tribute, interfering with the flow of trade, or refusing to appear before his overlord when directed.⁹⁸  In any event, it appears that the conflict was growing to a crisis over a period of several years and that Eighteen Rabbit finally decided to deal with it.⁹⁹  I believe that is why he rebuilt the ballcourt and dedicated new markers showing him as victor just four months before marching off to battle.¹⁰⁰

Warfare between Maya cities was usually a matter of raiding parties seeking loot and victims for sacrifice, often triggered by a celestial event.¹⁰¹  Such, however, was not the case in the conflict between Copán and Quiriguá. This was a serious rebellion by a major vassal with foreign entanglements. Therefore it is likely that Eighteen Rabbit planned a considerable force for the campaign, including his chief nobles and their retainers, his own retinue, and probably a number of mercenaries.¹⁰²  Since he did not maintain a standing army at Copán, he most likely took the eastern trail through his most populous vassal towns to pick up more troops, to secure their continued loyalty, and to show them that he was taking the threat from Quiriguá seriously. In all, he probably commanded 300-500 troops, but certainly less than 1,000. This would have been more than enough to punish a rebellious subordinate (unless the latter had allies, which Cauac Sky did.)¹⁰³

The trail from his last outpost of El Paraíso winds down through the jungle valley of the Río Morja, frequently looping back and forth through river shallows. Anywhere along this river would make a perfect ambush location. The marching army would be strung out along the path. Flank reconnaissance would be limited by the thick undergrowth on either side. Maya combat doctrine focused on hand to hand fighting, not set piece formations on an open field, making ambush preferable to open battle. Finally, Cauac Sky was appointed to rule Quiriguá partly because of his military skill¹⁰⁴  which was undoubtedly reinforced by the experienced soldiers he received from Calakmul. He would not have missed the opportunity to seize the advantages of ambush.

Whether or not the attack was a surprise, the presence of a large number of veteran Calakmul troops certainly must have surprised the Copán forces. Eighteen Rabbit, even at 56 years old, would have jumped down from his throne palanquin to fight Cauac Sky hand to hand and to defend the other palanquin which carried the Copán gods. When the rebel forces fought their way through to the latter and seized the god images, Copán’s troops broke and fled, taking the throne palanquin with them. Eighteen Rabbit was either already in rebel hands or was captured while bravely fighting to defend the idols.¹⁰⁵

Following the customary treatment of captured lords, Eighteen Rabbit would have been stripped on the spot and held down by the hair as he was forced to kneel before his captor. His wrists and arms would have been tied behind his back to a pole. He would have been taken back to Quiriguá where he faced public humiliation before the people and the rebel troops. He would be tortured, mutilated, and forced to give his blood to the gods of Quiriguá. Finally on May 1, 738, he would have been decapitated at the top of the stairs above the ballcourt. His head may have been used in a triumphal ballgame. His body may have been cast down the stairs to the waiting skinners. In fact, Cauac Sky himself may have dressed in the skin of his former overlord in a macabre dance to demonstrate that he had fully consumed the latter’s power.¹⁰⁶  Thus, I propose, ended the fateful week of April/May 738 and the reign of Eighteen Rabbit.

Postscript

Before I visited Copán the first time, 3 baktuns, 3 katuns, 19 tuns, 7 uinals, and 4 kins (March 15, 2000) since the death of Eighteen Rabbit, I had harbored visions of dank jungles, large snakes, and brooding temples strangled in vines. I had thoughts of a vanished race, inspired, some say, by Atlantis, Egypt, or aliens from another world. I had imagined an advanced people with science, astronomy, and peaceful government who took their secrets with them to the grave.

Much the same reaction was experienced by John Stephens who first visited the ruins of Copán in 1839. He wrote: "I am entering abruptly on new ground… Who were the people that built this city?… The place where we were sitting, was it a citadel from which an unknown people had sounded the trumpet of war? or a temple for the worship of God in peace?… All was mystery, dark, impenetrable mystery… In Egypt the colossal skeletons of gigantic temples stand in unwatered sands in all the nakedness of desolation; but here an immense forest shrouds the ruins, hiding them from sight, heightening the impression and moral effect, and giving an intensity and almost wildness to the interest… Here were the remains of a cultivated, polished, people, who had passed through all the stages incidental to the rise and fall of nations, reached their golden age and perished, entirely unknown."¹⁰⁷

This image was challenged when I realized that these graven figures with their detailed hieroglyphics were in fact the actual historical record of this amazing people. Here they left us names, dates, drama, and accomplishments carved in plain sight for us to read once we deciphered the characters. Much has been accomplished by Proskouriakoff, Schele, Berlin, Fash, Marcus, Grube, and many other archeologists and epigraphers who have painstakenly unlocked one key after the other. Their work has made the lives and deaths of the Maya people accessible to readers from the 21^st Century.

Their work has made it possible for me, in my own imperfect way, to focus on one particular individual and to gather enough data about him that I might string together a plausible biography. Perhaps, if I am successful, I may be able carve him free from his stone monuments to walk alive among us as an understandable human being. Such will be my goal in a future work based upon the research outlined in this paper.

Janice Van Cleve
April 24, 2001

List of Figures

Figure   1.  Two spellings for Eighteen Rabbit
Figure   2.  Stela J, back
Figure   3.  Stela C, north side
Figure   4.  Entrance to Temple 10L-22
Figure   5.  Stela F, back
Figure   6.  Stela 4, back
Figure   7.  Stela H, back
Figure   8.  Foldout drawing of Stela H
Figure   9.  Stela A with vault
Figure 10.  Stela B
Figure 11.  Stela D
Figure 12.  Copán ballcourt
Figure 13.  The author at Cauac Sky’s quarters at Quiriguá

Drawings by Linda Schele and photographs by Janice Van Cleve.

Endnotes

1. The erection of stelae was a political cult practice of the Maya which archeologists have used as a definer for the Classic Period in Maya history (250-900 CE). Stelae were not in general use before that time and ceased to be used after that period. The raising of new stelae is taken as an indication of a new or revived dynasty asserting its independence and power. The failure to erect new stelae for a period of time is generally considered among archeologists and historians as an indication of political unrest or dominion by another city state (Culbert, 1993). Marcus (1976) used the emblems on the stelae to discover links between Maya city states and to discern larger regional polities. Stelae also served as propaganda billboards for the local ruler to project his message to his people, in much the same way as Soviet monumental art was used in the 1930’s. The hieroglyphic messages on the backs or sides of the stelae usually named the dedication date, the various gods or moon phases that applied, an abbreviated account of the ritual or activity for which the monument was erected, and the name of the ruler who had commissioned it. The image of the person carved on the front and or back of the stelae sometimes displayed the person in the ceremonial dress of a god surrounded by symbols of bloodletting, fertility, or dynastic connections. Other times he or she was portrayed in battle dress along with weapons and captives. These monuments often stood atop cache chambers buried in the ground which contained votive offerings, which were thought to sanctify the stelae. At Copán, many of Eighteen Rabbit’s monuments had cache chambers beneath them that could be reopened during rituals for deposit of new offerings. Schele (1998) suggested that the Maya did this during ritual to infuse the image with a life of its own, similar to an idol. Thus stelae served not only to mark a particular event and proclaim the political status of the ruling dynasty; they also served to promote a cult of personality.

2. Marcus (1976) listed Stela 11 next to Building 18 but it has been moved to the museum in town where I was able to examine it. The medallion referring to Eighteen Rabbit from Building 8L-74 is on display at the museum adjacent to the park. Stuart (1992) listed the incense burner and Sandra Bardsley wrote about it in Copán Notes. I have seen neither.

3. The Maya long count is a method of counting time from a fixed date in the past using five places (baktuns, katuns, tuns, uinals, kins) instead of the four we use today (thousands, hundreds, tens, ones). The beginning date 0.0.0.0.0 in Maya long count notation equates in our calendar to August 11, 3114 BCE. The current long count will end on 13.0.0.0.0 or December 23, 2012 CE, when the count will begin again at 0.0.0.0.0. The Maya referred to dates before and after these beginning and end points, demonstrating that they conceived the current long count as just one cycle in a continuing series of cycles of time. They did not associate an apocalyptic vision to the end of a long count. I arrived in Copán on the Ides of March or 03/15/00 in modern notation. In the Maya notation system, that date was 12.19.7.0.14 or 12 baktuns (periods of 144,000 days each), 19 katuns (periods of 7,200 days each), 7 tuns (periods of 360 days each), 0 uinals (periods of 20 days each), and 14 kins (periods of one day each). The most famous date in Copán’s history, the death of Eighteen Rabbit, occurred on 9.15.6.14.6 or 9 baktuns, 15 katuns, 6 tuns, 14 uinals, and 6 kins after August 11, 3114 BCE. In modern notation that is May 1, 738 CE.

   Converting dates from the Maya long count to our modern system is complicated by the fluctuations that have occurred in the Western system of calendrics over time. Sharer et al. (4th edition, 1983) and Jones (1984) describe two methods. Both rely on a calculation constant derived by Thompson in 1950 of 584,283, which corrected his older constant of 584,285 which he derived in 1935. Some scholars, including Schele (1998) and Martin & Grube (2000) have used the 584,285 constant which renders the death date of Eighteen Rabbit at May 3, 738 CE. I have chosen to use 584,283 throughout for consistency.

4. This may have been the case for Copán Stela C (CPN4) where Baudez (1994) identifies the dedication date as 9.17.12.0.0 while Stuart (1992) and Schele (1998) both call out 9.14.0.0.0 as the correct dedication date.

5. This is the case for Copán Stela A (CPN1) where Baudez (1994) lists 9.15.0.3.0, Marcus (1976) lists 9.15.0.0.0, and Schele (1998) lists 9.14.19.8.0. This is a very large difference!

6. Kelly (1962) was the first epigrapher to identify the glyphs that make up Eighteen Rabbit’s name. Marcus (1976) preferred to call him Eighteen Jog, because of an alternative glyph used for his name. The glyph is composed of three parts: the 3 dots and 3 bars signifying the number 18, the rabbit head signifying "image", and the smoke breathing god face of Kawil. The Mayan pronunciation of his glyph, Waxaklajun Ubah Kawil, has been securely established. Houston and Stuart suggested that this name means "18 Images of the War Serpent." (Schele, 1998) "Ubah means "his self", "his spirit", or "his likeness", and kawil means "war serpent." Kawil also refers to the feathered serpent, the two headed tube which Maya rulers used as their symbol of authority as a scepter. They suggest this may reflect the feathered serpent mythology associated with Teotihuacán which was very influential in the Maya world.

7. Proskouriakoff (1993) identified one Eighteen U Umix, who acceded to the rulership of Naranjo on June 27, 814 CE. She contended that no portrait of this ruler exists, nor does Stela 32 at Naranjo attach the manikin cap title suffix to his name, leaving some room for doubt about his actual title. However Martin & Grube (2000) argue that his name is correctly rendered Waxaklajun Ubah Kawil or Eighteen Rabbit and that he is the last ruler of Naranjo. Thus the name Waxaklajun Ubah Kawil was used twice in Maya history, without 15, 16, 17 or any other number of images of Kawil. Therefore the number 18 images by itself must signify a special designation or spiritual significance. Naranjo is the site of the only other numerical name I have so far found. The famous Lady Six Sky arrived from Dos Pilas to become ruler at Naranjo on August 27, 682.

8. It is odd that the only scholar who mentions the appearance of Eighteen Rabbit at this early date on Stela 6 is Proskouriakoff. She conjectures that Stela 6 could have been erected on the occasion of his birth, but the dedication date of 9.12.10.0.0 was a regular half katun date when such a monument might be expected to be dedicated, birth or no. I have not found translation for the rest of the text. Smoke Jaguar may have raised this stela to commemorate the half katun, tell his people what a good ruler he was, and mention a son named Eighteen Rabbit. Rulers in other cities called in subordinates and neighbors to recognize the heir to the throne (see Lintel 2 from Piedras Negras), so it is not unusual that Smoke Jaguar may be making a similar statement on this stela.

9. Claude Baudez (1994) claims that Stela 3 at Copán was raised in Eighteen Rabbit’s honor by his father. He claims that it shows Smoke Jaguar on one side and Eighteen Rabbit on the other. This could not be. Stela 3 was dedicated on October 13, 652. If Eighteen Rabbit had been born then, he would have been 86 years old at the time of his death, which is an excessively long life even for Maya rulers, and we know that Eighteen Rabbit was killed prematurely. Furthermore, the older ruler is represented with many symbols of death and Smoke Jaguar had 43 more years of rule. My conclusion is that the young ruler on the two-sided Stela 3 is Smoke Jaguar and the older one is his father, Butz Chan. Smoke Jaguar created the same imagery again on two-sided Stela 5 ten years later and Eighteen Rabbit repeated the practice on his own Stela C. These two-sided stelae were a physical representation of the immortality of the dynasty and the legitimacy of the succession.

10. This would make Eighteen Rabbit about 56 years old when he died on May 1, 738. His grandfather, Butz Chan, lived 65 years and his father, Smoke Jaguar, ruled for 67 years. So Eighteen Rabbit came from a long lived family and had he not been killed, there is no reason to believe that he would not also have lived to his late sixties. This further makes a birth date of 680-681 not unreasonable.

11. Stela J is a very curious monument. First, it is carved in a diagonal mat pattern not often seen among the Maya texts. (Stela H at Quiriguá is also carved in a mat pattern, aping Stela J at Copán.) Second, it bears no portrait of the ruler. Finally, it was erected not in the central plaza with the others, but at the east gate of the plaza where people would come in from the suburbs to gather for rituals. Schele (1998) notes that the side facing the suburbs is carved in the mat design and contains the references to Eighteen Rabbit’s dynastic heritage.

    Most stelae have an altar before them and Stela J is no exception, save that its altar is a very odd one. Schele (1998) claims that it was not an altar at all, but a capstone which originally crowned Stela J like a thatched rooftop. This is unlikely because no other stela in the Maya region has been proved to have had such a capstone and Baudez (1976) points out that a cache with precious offerings was found beneath the altar where it now sits. So it appears to be in its original position as an altar before the stela.

12. This is in contrast to his father, Smoke Jaguar, who also erected stelae on the borders of his realm, and who was inscribed on an altar in Quiriguá. Both Smoke Jaguar and Butz Chan’s names were adopted by the rulers of Pusilhá, and Nim Li Punit in present day Belize as a sign that Copán’s influence and maybe even hegemony encompassed the whole of the southeastern part of the Maya world.

13. See Stuart (1992) and Noble-Bardsley (1990) Copán Note #77.

14. The 15^th ruler of Copán, Smoke Shell, completed the stairway in 755 to revitalize the dynasty and reinforce his lineage.

15. Yax Kuk Mo’s tomb, dubbed Rosalila by archeologists, was discovered almost wholly intact by Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle when Temple 16 was tunneled. This is most unusual as the Maya often ritually destroyed the structures they built on top of, usually reusing the stones for the later construction. Rosalila, on the other hand, was found complete with stucco masks and paint and has been reconstructed in toto in the Copán museum.

16. Katun endings were highly important events in the Maya world. They marked the 20 year intervals of the Maya calendar and were the occasion for major religious festivals, astronomical observations, and the erection of stelae. The reason for the religious activity at katun endings was that in Maya thought, it took some human effort to cause the cosmos to initiate the next katun and thus perpetuate life on earth. This theory is apparently discussed in a Ph.D. dissertation by Jessica Joyce Christy of the University of Texas (1995) entitled, "Maya Period Ending Ceremonies: Restarting Time and Rebuilding the Cosmos to Assure Survival of the Maya World." I have not been able to obtain this dissertation.

17. Schele (1998) claims that Eighteen Rabbit is portrayed on both sides. Not only do the two figures appear quite different in age, accoutrements, and symbolism, the practice of portraying father on one side and son on the other is the more usual practice: to demonstrate the immortality of the dynasty and the legitimate succession of the son to the father. Stela 6 at Caracol is just one of a number of examples from outside of Copán (Martin & Grube). Smoke Jaguar, Eighteen Rabbit’s father, did this on his own Stelae 3 and 5 with his father. Baudez also notes that the beard on Smoke Jaguar is quite different from the false beards worn by Eighteen Rabbit on later Stelae B and D. The beard on the west side of Stela C is wide and topped with a pronounced moustache, while the figure on the east side is clean shaven and youthful. Even Schele admits that the meaning of this unusual beard is unclear.

18. Besides the long count calendar, which recorded days in a linear succession from August 11, 3114 BCE, the Maya also possessed a sacred calendar which was used for determining the patterns of ceremonial life. This calendar had twenty day names grouped into thirteen "months" to make a 260 day cycle. Thus full dates on Maya monuments would record the long count plus the "month" and day name. For Building 22 it was 9.14.3.6.8  5 Lamat, 1 Zip (Lamat being the 8th day and Zip being the 3rd "month".)

19. Stuart (1992) notes that it is extremely rare for a ruler to refer to himself in the first person. The complete inscription has not been translated. A beautiful restoration has replaced the eroded original.

20. The cylinder is in the museum in Copán Ruinas. Only the first seven glyphs are visible to the visitor because the remainder are on the other side of the cylinder or broken off. Schele made a drawing of all the undamaged glyphs which Looper (1999) included in his article.

21. The image of Eighteen Rabbit is flanked by knotted ropes symbolizing sacrifice. He holds a whistongue which Baudez (1976) describes as a giant representation of a sting ray spine. The tail spine of the sting ray, a common bottom fish in Caribbean waters, is often portrayed symbolically in a form that looks much like the zodiac symbol for Aries. It was the favorite instrument for male auto-sacrifice. One of the most common finds in Maya burial chambers is a collection of sting ray spines. Schele (1998), on the other hand, describes the object in Eighteen Rabbit’s hands as a false beard made of shell. Baudez and Schele disagree on the same object represented on Stela B, erected by Eighteen Rabbit in 731.

    Blood sacrifice by the ruler was a necessary function of his position in the cosmos of Maya social order and religion (Schele and Miller, 1986). Blood was the mortar of Mayan society and the ruler’s blood was the most valuable. He or she was expected to shed blood at important calendar milestones, such as katuns. Female rulers or wives of rulers would pierce their tongues and draw a cord studded with thorns through the hole. Males would use sting ray spines to pierce or split their penises. In both cases the blood was caught in a bowl filled with paper strips which acted to absorb the blood. These were then burned as smoke offerings to the gods. The incredible pain of these practices, combined with the physical shock of so much blood loss, induced trance states in which the bleeder saw visions of the gods. A door lintel on Structure 23 at Yaxchilán shows Lady Xoc pulling a thorn lined cord through her tongue and subsequently seeing a vision of a god emerging from the mouth of the vision serpent (Sharer, 1983). Indeed, the deer-in-headlights stare of Eighteen Rabbit’s image on Stela F may well be a realistic representation of a person in severe shock.

22. Schele (1998). Naranjo Stela 35 records more of this lost myth.

23. Smoke Jaguar raised Stela 5 on 9.11.15.0.0 and Stela I on 9.12.5.0.0, also quarter katuns.

24. Stela 5 is not in the main plaza with Stela 4. It is located about a half mile west of the main acropolis about 40 feet from Stela 6, at what was an important center in Copán’s sprawling suburban complex. This site is on the slopes of Cerro de las Mesas where the Maya maintained some sort of fortifications. It is also the site of a very important royal tomb, denoted as 10J-45 or Burial 36. The contents of this tomb are displayed in the town museum. Baudez (1994) describes Stela 5 in detail but fails to mention where Smoke Jaguar had originally raised it.

25. See especially Sharer et al. (1983) for a discussion of commercial and cultural ties between Maya city states. See also Culbert (1991 and 1993) for political connections and intense dynastic rivalries, coups, alliances, treacheries and wars among the Maya. Culbert (1993) writes "Maya elite society was a vast web of relationships, alliances, friendships, and enmities. The uppermost level–that of the immediate families of rulers of major sites–was probably as interconnected as the great royal families of medieval Europe. One can imagine court gossip about princes and princesses, or tales of bitter feuds over real or imagined wrongs and insults."

26. Berlin (1958), a noted early epigrapher, discovered a pattern of glyphs which denoted the ruling dynasties of various city states, much like a coat of arms. Copán’s emblem glyph was a leaf-nosed bat. Quiriguá’s emblem glyph was a tree, Tikal’s was a tied bundle. Marcus (1976) analyzed the distribution of these emblem glyphs to show patterns of hegemony. Appearance of these emblem glyphs with a personal name has been translated as "person of such and such a place." Thus Culbert (1993) and others have traced marriage alliances, high level state visits, and spheres of influence.

27. Martin & Grube (2000) devised a complex schematic which attempts to display five types of interaction between Maya polities: hierarchical, diplomatic, familial, conflict, and other. With its neighbor city, Quiriguá, Copán is shown to have 3 explicit statements of domination, one of diplomatic contact, 4 miscellaneous contacts, and one of conflict (Quiriguá has 5 statements of the same conflict). Copán is also shown with contacts to Palenque, Tikal, Caracol, Calakmul, that is, with all the chief centers of the Maya world.

28. The earliest known emblem glyph for Copán appears at that site on Stela 9, which was dedicated in 573. Naranjo’s emblem glyph first appears in 593, and Palenque’s in 603 according to Sharer et al. (1983). The great Mexican city of Teotihuacán also fell during this period. Teotihuacán, located north of present day México City, wielded major cultural and commercial influence over the Maya region in its early history. Trade and travel flowed from Teotihuacán, along the Pacific coast to Kaminaljuyú, the influential preclassic center located next to present day Guatemala City. Tikal maintained commercial and political ties with Teotihuacán and Copán had similar ties with Kaminaljuyú. The fall of Teotihuacán must have sent shock waves of change throughout the Maya area, altering the balance of power, and perhaps releasing unemployed Mexican soldiers for mercenary duty with local Maya polities.

29. Marcus (1976) noted that four centers appeared to have a cosmic preeminence that surpassed their mundane circumstances. These centers corresponded to the four directions of the universe and the four cardinal colors. Copán was east/red, Tikal was north/black, Calakmul was south/yellow, and Palenque was west/white. These designations do not relate to geography, as Calakmul is north of Tikal. She maintained that the political system interlocked with the cosmological quadrants. Sharer et al. (1983) related this theory to the Teotihuacán system of a quadripartite universe, thus further demonstrating the ideological heritage of the Mexican capital.

30. Culbert (1991). In a personal conversation with Dr. Rene Viel at Copán Ruinas, he proposed a theory that the underlying population may not have been Maya. He advanced the notion that the Maya dynasty and upper class at Copán may have been in continuous dynamic tension with the local population. He even questioned the parentage of Eighteen Rabbit and allowed that he may have been not pure Maya or the son of Smoke Jaguar. It is curious that Eighteen Rabbit repeatedly shows veneration for his grandfather, Butz Chan, and distances himself deliberately from Smoke Jaguar.

31. Proskouriakoff (1993) noted the arrival of Mexican soldiers at Tikal from a blackware vessel found at the city. She dubbed the event "an arrival of strangers." However, Martin & Grube (2000) identified the commander of the Mexican army as one Siyaj Kak, who plundered El Perú west of Tikal on January 23, 378 and arrived at Tikal on January 31, 378. The reigning king, Chak Tok, was killed the same day. Siyaj Kak set about subduing the towns around Tikal and either imposed new rulers or accepted the vassalage of existing ones. He installed Curl Snout, son of another Mexican commander, Spearthrower Owl, to rule Tikal. Spearthrower Owl may have been under Siyaj Kak’s command as his name is unabashedly Mexican and he is ascribed the title of Kalomte or Batab which is the title of an important noble. Spearthrower Owl died in 439. Both Curl Snout and Kuk Mo are mentioned together on a sculpture called Hombre de Tikal which records events of 403 and 406. Schele and Martin & Grube identify this Kuk Mo as the Yax Kuk Mo who "arrived" in Copán in 427 to take over the rule of the city.

32. Martin & Grube (2000). It is 300 straight line miles from Tikal to Copán, which would mean he made progress of only 2 miles per day. However, as all land travel in the Maya realm was on foot and he undoubtedly had to avoid hostile cities in between or fight them, his route was probably not direct. A likely route would have taken him through modern Belize where many cities were allied to Tikal and then by canoe down the coast to the Motagua River. He would have gone up the river to Quiriguá, where he and his subordinate, Tok Casper, erected a stela (as yet unknown according to Martin & Grube, 2000) investing the latter with the rule of that city. Then he would have most likely taken one of the footpaths outlined by Vleck and Fash (1986) over the mountains from Quiriguá to Copán, receiving the submission of settlements such as El Paraíso, El Cafetal, and Río Amarillo along the way.

33. First known simply as Kuk Mo Ahau (Quetzal Macaw Lord), Yax Kuk Mo took up the double headed snake kawil scepter on September 5, 426, to symbolize his royal status and added the Yax to his name. Three days later he presented himself at the "Root House", a structure associated with dynastic genesis in the Mexican tradition and there completed his investiture. This "Root House" was most likely located at Tikal although Martin & Grube even suggest they might have occurred in México itself.

34. On Stela 24, erected fifty years later is a reference to the "first seated lord" of Copán. This person preceded Yax Kuk Mo and was not of his dynasty. The reigning king of Copán may have been replaced violently by Yax Kuk Mo as Chak Tok was replaced at Tikal. Thus the Maya world seems to have come under the cultural, economic, and military domination of México during the height of Teotihuacán’s flourishing in the fourth through the sixth centuries, as suggested by Culbert (1993). It would be too far to claim that México exerted political governance over the Maya area, but certainly Mexicans appear to have occupied many of the key positions of power. Since new gods were introduced by the Mexicans and political and religious life were so entwined, it would seem to follow that Mexicans may also have entered if not dominated the Maya religious class as well. It would be interesting to determine how deeply into the Maya ruling class the Mexicans infiltrated, whether there was tension between the "natives" and the "foreigners", and if the incessant tensions between the power blocs of Tikal and Calakmul reflected any ethnic tensions between the two groups.

35. Schele (1998). She also notes that "xukup" is the Maya name for a Motmot, a kind of bird. Looper (1999) related the syllable "xu" to the phonetic pronunciation for the bat glyph, and Copán did adopt the bat head as its emblem. He contends that "xukpi" is the Chol word for bird and Copán’s name meant "place of birds." He cites prominent locations in Copán named Mo Witz (Macaw Mountain) and Tukun Witz (Dove Mountain) to illustrate the bird connection. However, as I show later in the discussion of Stela B, I believe Mo Witz directly refers to the pyramid built above the tomb of Yax Kuk Mo, the Queztal Macaw Lord, and that "Macaw Mountain" has nothing to do with the fauna of the region. I prefer Schele’s first interpretation, that "xukpi" means "corner bundle."

36. Schele (1998). Gair Tourtellot in Sabloff (1989) indicates that the lower classes may also have viewed the elites with the same amount of distance. He points out that the population of Copán remained dense even 400 years after the collapse of the dynasty in 810 CE. He contends that the elite were not essential to the organization of the rural economy; they were an irrelevant overlay on the basic agrarian social structure.

37. The town of Quiriguá, like Copán, most likely existed before Tok Casper took it over, although there is no evidence yet surfaced to indicate whether or not it had any relationship to Copán before Tok Casper arrived. Quiriguá was a trading post on the Motagua River in Guatemala which flowed from the highlands of Kaminaljuyú to the Caribbean and which controlled the flow of jadeite and obsidian from the mines to the coastal trade routes. It was also a crossroads for trade from the Petén to Copán and beyond. See Sharer et al. (1983).

38. The subordination of Quiriguá’s ruling elite to that of Copán was reiterated several times in the next 300 years. Zoomorph P at Quiriguá records on three cartouches 7, 6, and 5, that the dynasty arrived on September 5, 426 and three days later planted a stone (erected a monument as yet undiscovered), and names Tok Casper under the authority of Yax Kuk Mo, the "portal opener", lord of Copán. Fash (1991) identifies the third Copán ruler, Mat Head, on Quiriguá Monument 21 dated October 5, 748. He identifies the fourth Copán ruler, Ku Ix, on Quiriguá Monument 26 dated February 8, 493. The name glyphs of both rulers are followed by the "hel" symbol which indicates founder or overlord (Proskouriakoff, 1993 and Fash, 1991). Stela U at Quiriguá dated April 18, 480 confirms continued subordination according to Looper (1995) and Martin & Grube (2000). Quiriguá Altar L bears the name of Copán’s ruler, Smoke Jaguar, for the same year, 653, when Smoke Jaguar raised seven stelae at Copán and around its borders to express the extent of his hegemony. Finally, Cauac Sky’s accession on December 31, 724, is recorded on Quiriguá Stela E in which he receives his emblems of office from Eighteen Rabbit of Copán. See Looper 1995.

39. Caracol Stela 16, dated July 3, 534, names a lord of Copán. Stuart (1992) proposes that the reference is to Copán ruler 8 or 9 whose names we do not know. Waterlily Jaguar appears to have been in office ruling Copán by 504 and he is the undisputed commissioner of Copán Stela 15 which was erected in 524. He has been linked to a series of structures dedicated in 542 in Copán (Martin & Grube, 2000) but his name has not been identified with them as yet. In spite of Stuart’s reservations, it appears that Waterlily Jaguar is the most likely ruler to which Caracol Stela 16 refers.

40. Pusilhá Stela D names Smoke Jaguar and Stela I refers obliquely to him (Schele, 1998). Stela 2 at Nim Li Punit identifies the ruler as "black Copán lord" which Looper (1999) interprets as a provincial lord of the Copán hegemony.

41. Marcus (1976).

42. Proskouriakoff (1993) notes that the last glyph on the back of Stela F could refer to a lord from Pusilhá. Indeed it contains the ben-ik superprefix, plus the emblem glyph for Pusilhá. Schele (1998) translates the verb before his name as "harvested." She contends that the translation is "Eighteen Rabbit conjured Hun Wi Kanal Ah-Tzuk Ahaw (One Sky Bearded Lord)" which is the Venus god’s personal name. However, rulers often took the names of gods for their personal use as did Eighteen Rabbit (Waxaklajun Ubah Kawil, has been translated "18 Images of the War Serpent."). Therefore I interpret "harvested" as "sacrificed" and that One Sky was captured in a raid and used as a blood offering for the ritual commemorated by Stela F.

43. Martin & Grube (2000). It is significant that the tomb is of Lord Cocoa of Tikal who died in 734 and was therefore a contemporary of Eighteen Rabbit. This bone carving naming Copán and Palenque may refer to the same events as does Copán Stela A, erected in 730, which includes mention of a visit by lords of Tikal, Palenque, and Calakmul.

44. For some reason Schele’s (1998) calculation of the date Stela H was dedicated is a year later. Yet she begins with the same Maya notation of 9.14.19.5.0 that I do. It could be a typo, for on the next page she refers to the gold offering under the stela with the date 730. In Copán Notes, Schele clearly identifies Stela H erected 60 days before Stela A and that they are paired.

45. Stela of women are rare in Maya art but not unknown. Lady Six Sky of Naranjo is shown as a warrior queen standing atop a cringing captive on a stela from that city. Stela 10 at Tikal honors an unnamed female ruler there. Another female monument is Stela 24 at Calakmul and Lady Yohl Iknal ruled Palenque for 20 years with full royal titles. There are no female sculptures at Copán, although the wife of Yax Kuk Mo was buried with great honors and much wealth and there is evidence that she was revered in ancestor rites long after her burial. Marcus (1976) was among the first to propose that Stela H may represent the wife or mother of Eighteen Rabbit. She based her assumption on the skirt and the pairing of Stelae H and A. Such a mother-son pairing of stelae was not unknown, but rare. Proskouriakoff (1993) also postulated that Stela H was of a woman, possibly Eighteen Rabbit’s wife, although she confessed uncertainty about family relationship glyphs. Baudez (1994) initially claimed Stela H could be a wife, named Lady Turtle or a transvestite arrayed to perform a female role in the maize dance. Schele (1998) is clear that Stela H is Eighteen Rabbit dressed as the maize god as he danced to bring about the fourth creation of the world. Gillette (1997) claims that Stela H shows Eighteen Rabbit performing the bone exhumation dance in the guise of "first father" whose normal costume includes a skirt with beaded netting. However, such attire is not attributed to Itzamna, the Maya father god of creation. It is attributed, rather, to the maize god on a vessel found in the Naranjo region, which depicts the specific patron maize deities of Tikal and Calakmul wearing the skirt with beaded netting. Therefore Stela H may be taken at face value, a depiction of Eighteen Rabbit in the costume of the maize god.

    In an interesting recent study called Gender and Power in Prehistoric Meso-America (2000), Rosemary Joyce argues that the maize god was an encompassing gender, both male and female, and Eighteen Rabbit’s display on Stela H represents the elite class’ ideal of the maximum possible overlap between the noble woman and the noble man among the Maya. She claims that male rulers in the netted skirt were evoking their ability to transcend gender. The maize god, Yum Kaax, is of indeterminate gender as maize passes through both male and female cycles. Whatever the merits or deficits of this argument, it could point to an avenue of research on the limitations of the elite class vis-a-vis intermarriage with the lower classes. The emphasis on shared destinies among the elites (noble women shared in bloodletting rites and sometimes actual governance) may have narrowly constricted the gene pool of the class which, along with captures and sacrifices, could have been one factor in the sudden demise of the ruling elite in the ninth century.

46. Twin stelae erected at the same time and related to each other are found at other sites, but this is the only occasion at Copán (Smoke Jaguar raised boundary marker stelae simultaneously, but those are clearly not twinned like Stelae H and A). The locations of the stelae are of note. Stela H, erected on December 3, 730 faces west. It stands about 10 yards to the right front of Stela I, a monument raised by his father. Stela A, erected on February 1, 731 faces east directly opposite Stela H. Both are in the great plaza along with Stelae B, C, F, and 4 all erected by Eighteen Rabbit.

47. The katun immediately preceding was 9.14.0.0.0 or December 3, 711, and indeed Stela C was erected on that date. The next katun was 9.15.0.0.0 or August 20, 731, which is when Eighteen Rabbit erected Stela B. The half katun was 9.14.10.0.0 or October 12, 721, which is the date that Stela F was raised. Schele (1998) argues that Stela H was erected exactly 19 tropical years after Stela C and four katuns or 80 years after Stela 3. Stela H was in fact raised 19 years to the day after Stela C, but the period of 19 years does not have any particular importance in Maya chronology as far as I am able to determine. The Maya calendar has 19 "months" of 20 days each, but Schele is not referencing these. Stela 3 was erected on October 13, 652, only 78 years before Stela H. A two year "error" is not likely for a people whose calendric precision is otherwise so exact. Therefore I cannot grant a timing relationship between Stela H and its predecessors on the present basis of the evidence.

48. Stuart (1992) claims that the inscriptions from the reign of Eighteen Rabbit are of limited historical interest, except for the inaugural inscription for Building 10L-22. The ultimate translation and understanding of Stelae H and A may overturn this judgment.

49. Stelae had individual names as if they possessed personalities. In this case, Kan is the name of only one character of the full name, which Schele has not translated, hence the question marks. Kan, by itself, means the color yellow. The "stood up thing" and "lakamtun" both refer to the stela as a standing stone monument.

50. What Proskouriakoff calls a "gourd tree" appears to be the kankin glyph. Kankin is the 14^th "month" in the Maya calendar. In combination with other glyphs it can take on a meaning beyond the 14^th month, but "gourd tree" is a description of the glyph, not its interpretation. Proskouriakoff (1993) interpreted the kankin as a precursor to the Quiriguá emblem glyph, but I see no reason to go there. The two are distinct, established glyphs in their own right and there is no compelling reason to confuse them.

51. My translation is fairly dull, matter of fact, in keeping with the usual notations on Maya stelae. If we could obtain a more precise reading of the final glyph, we might be able to derive the actual commission date. Kankin is the month before Muwan. Since we know that stelae were erected and then carved (see drawings by Jean Charlot in Sharer et al., 1983), it is entirely possible that the maize god event occurred during the maize harvest in October of 730, Eighteen Rabbit commissioned the stela in November, the stone was cut from the nearby quarry in the following weeks, and was erected on December 3, 730. Then the artisans set up their scaffolds and began carving. I doubt that they completed their work by February 1, 731, when Stela A was erected both because the shortness of time and the elaboration of Stela H whose theme is complex yet forms a very unified whole, indicating one master carver guiding the effort with a few very skilled apprentices. Miller (1983) argues that the daring in the round masterworks commissioned by Eighteen Rabbit must have had to have full size models made first, before carving the final stela, thus adding to the delay.

52. Schele (1998) identifies Kan Te Ahau as the god who throws a huge boulder into the Bearded Jaguar God’s belly and later burns him. She alludes to important imagery here. The Bearded Jaguar God has many names, including Hun Kanal Tzuk Ahau (One Sky Bearded Lord), Kin Hix (Sun Jaguar - [sic] the usual word for jaguar is Balam), Kinich Tah Way (Sun Faced Torch Nawal), and Kinich Ahau Pakal (Sun Faced Lord Shield). He is also the Venus God of war. On Stela F, Eighteen Rabbit assumed the guise of the Bearded Jaguar God and in the inscription on the back he sacrifices Lord Bearded Jaguar of Pusilhá [my interpretation]. Bearded Jaguar was a patron god of Tikal and Palenque, according to Schele. What can it mean on this important occasion that could not wait until the next katun, that Eighteen Rabbit should affect the aspect of Kan Te Ahau, the patron of Copán, whose claim to fame was to burn the patron of Tikal and Palenque—two of the most powerful city states around at the time and whose rulers or representatives actually witnessed the erection of this very stela? I suspect that there is not just one imagery going on here and that any jaguar burnings are incidental to the main political purpose of Stela A. The matted crown may actually have been Eighteen Rabbit’s attempt to evoke the quintessential Maya symbol of ruling authority, the mat (see Martin in Inomata & Houston, 2001). Mat Head, second ruler of Copán, was so named because he is recorded on Quiriguá Monument 26 with a mat crown. Eighteen Rabbit used the mat design on his own Stela J at the beginning of his reign.

53. Bones of ancestors were frequently exhumed for rituals. Toniná Monument 161 records a tomb entry ritual in 730 and at least one tomb in that city contained an urn of burnt and broken bones. Tikal Altar 5 shows Lord Cocoa and a lord of Maasal performing such a ritual in 711. Many of the tombs buried under pyramids show evidence of later ritual reopenings for various ceremonies (Martin & Grube, 2000).

54. Scattering refers to official bloodletting rites.

55. The phrase "entered the road" refers to the beginning of the journey through the darkness of death to eventual resurrection, retracing the steps of the maize god in the Hero Twins epic as recorded in the Popol Vuh. The vault under the stela is the physical representation of the beginning of this road. Most of Copán’s stelae had cruciform vaults beneath them to hold relics. In the cache beneath Stela H were found a pair of gold legs, analysis of which indicated an origin in Panama or Columbia. This is the earliest known appearance of gold in the Maya area and implies the extent of Copán’s trade connections under Eighteen Rabbit (Schele, 1998). It is interesting that the inscription on Stela A describes the cutting of bones and the vault beneath Stela H contained two golden legs which had been cut or broken. It would be amazing if such a precise correlation in fact was true!

56. This is admittedly a loose translation. A key glyph combination, repeated twice (tzi-pi-k’a), seems to relate the Scatterer to Lady Nun. Three Monkey’s glyph is followed by an ben-ik combination which designates him as a lord, but the emblem glyph beneath the ben-ik does not resemble any known city emblem. Pu-wi, Schele’s phonetic interpretation, may refer to an office, such as commander, priest, or scribe, which positions were often filled by brothers or relatives of the ruler. Fash (1991) identifies subordinate emblem glyphs on Copán Building 10L-22A as belonging to local officials. Three Monkey may be such an official. Proskouriakoff (1993) guessed that Lady Nun and Lord Three Monkey may be related to Eighteen Rabbit.

57. (Schele, 1998). Unfortunately only a couple of pottery shards survived from that offering. The text "earth and sky, east, west, north, and south" may refer to the shape of the vault itself, which extends up, down and in all four directions from a central point. Marcus in Sabloff (1993) suggested that the directions were a euphemism for the quadripartite view of the Maya world much like Americans would say "from Maine to California, from Washington to Florida." This could indicate that the presence of the lords of Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque effectively represented all the Maya world that mattered or that people came from all over for this ceremony, among them the three named lords.

58. The four lords are not named. Only their city emblem glyphs are carved. The four rulers in power in 730-731 besides Eighteen Rabbit at Copán were the powerful Lord Cocoa of Tikal (682-734), Kinich Ahkal Mo Naab III of Palenque (721-736), and Yukoom Took Kawil of Calakmul (702-731).

59. Marcus in Sabloff (1993). Schele (1998) argues that the series of four skies, each with a different numerical classifier, refers to four contrasting kinds of heavens, or as Marcus contends, to the "four on high" meaning the four lords. I am inclined more to Marcus’s interpretation because this side of Stela A is very concerned with conjuring up a four-sided world dominated by these four dynasties.

60. Schele claims that Eighteen Rabbit raised Stela H when he did because the Milky Way was in the same position as it had been when Stelae C and 3 were raised. Gillette (1997), however, says that the Milky Way and Orion were "in position" (without specifying which position) for Stela A, not Stela H. Martin & Grube (2000) allow for variations in celestial dates, noting that most astral phenomena take place over several days and do not offer single day precision. Since Copán shared the same basic mythology as the rest of the Maya world, a celestial occurrence important enough to warrant the elaborate documentation that Stelae H and A provide, should have found replication on those dates in other Maya cities. None have been documented. Therefore the reason for these monuments must relate to something that happened at Copán itself and was not a celestial event.

61. The katun anniversaries were the only calendar driven religious holidays of the Maya that I have so far discovered. There were many other rituals and perhaps the ruler’s entire public life could be characterized as an ongoing religious ritual, since the Maya made few if any distinctions between religious and secular, temporal and spiritual, earthbound and celestial.

62. The reason Eighteen Rabbit performed the rites with bones of his grandfather instead of his father is unknown. He also recorded his grandfather’s birth date, not his father’s, on his cache offering under Stela 4.

63. At least in Palenque’s case, the journey would have taken the better part of a year (it took Yax Kuk Mo 152 days to get to Copán from Tikal in 427 and Palenque’s lord would have had twice as far to go.)

64. Marcus (1976) identified the period 687-756 CE as a period of unity. She noted that 60% of the stelae were erected during this time and the standard lunar calendar was adopted throughout the region in less than ten years during this same time. Cultural forms, such as pottery decoration, monument carving techniques, and iconography became standardized. This was a time of maximum sharing and mobility among the elite. This is borne out by the historical record of fluid interactions among the elites of the various Maya city states. For example, Calakmul defeated Tikal in 657, forcing its ruler, Nuun Ujol Chaak into exile at Palenque. Nuun regrouped his forces and took his revenge in 672 by ejecting Balaj Chan Kawil from Dos Pilas, a client city of Calakmul. Balaj fled to his patron and was in Calakmul in 682 and 686 (Martin in Inomata & Houston, 2001). In 687 Calakmul invited the rulers of its client cities from all over the Petén to a "congress" involving solemn rituals, feasting, and great public spectacles such as the sacrificial ballgame (Martin & Grube, 2000). Schele (1989) even speculated that the ruler of Río Azul, which lies just southeast of Calakmul, visited Copán very early in its history, in 445. Martin (in Inomata & Houston, 2001) claims that many of the extra rooms in Maya court palaces were reserved for visiting dignitaries. Therefore it appears conclusive that in spite of the political turbulence and risk of capture, rulers and high born nobles traveled and visited frequently. Thus if Stela A documents a visit by the holy lords of Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque to Copán, we have little reason to doubt it.

65. Stela 10 at Seibal records a ceremony in 849 "witnessed" by the rulers of Tikal, Calakmul, and Mortul de San José (Martin & Grube, 2000). By this time, Copán and Palenque were no longer dynastic centers.

66. Lord Cocoa was a powerful military leader who was mainly responsible for breaking the stranglehold over Tikal established by Calakmul in 562. He was advancing a major building program at Tikal, celebrating the katun ending of August 20, 731, with construction of a double pyramid complex. Meanwhile Yuknoom Took Kawil seems to have retained much of Calakmul’s influence in spite of defeats at the hands of Lord Cocoa and he, too, celebrated the katun ending with the erection of seven stelae. For his part, Kinich Ahkal Mo Naab III of Palenque was building temples in his city in honor of his most powerful nobles, indicating a less than dominant central authority. All three appear to have been available to attend an event in Copán in February 731. (Martin & Grube, 2000). Surely if these esteemed personages had been in Copán on December 3, 730, when Stela H was erected, their presence would have been recorded on that monument as well. Therefore they must have arrived sometime between then and February 1, 731.

67. See note 20. Schele (1998) notes that Stela B is sited directly opposite Stela F in the central plaza and that the representation of the whistongue on each may be connected.

68. Schele (1986). The double headed serpent bar is the scepter of Maya royalty. It consists of a decorated tube out of each end of which emerges the head of a serpent or kawil. One represents the head of the sun god and the other represents the head of the god of sacrifice. Thus fertility and sacrifice are linked causally. The serpent bar directly relates to the feathered serpent of Teotihuacán ideology and was accepted as the official symbol of authority as derived from Teotihuacán via Siyaj Kak’s invasion of Tikal in 378. The double headed serpent bar also symbolized the ruler’s main function as intermediary between the physical and spiritual worlds. It is no accident that visions induced by pain, bloodletting, or intoxicants were represented in the iconography as vision serpents, out of whose mouths emerged ancestors with whom the ruler would communicate.

69. See note 58.

70. Schele (1998).

71. Ox Witik is the ancient location where Yax Kuk Mo established his dynasty (Schele, 1998). It is not known to what the three or the sources refers. The Copán dynasty, even more than other Maya dynasties, appears to have idolized its founder and his tomb somewhat akin to the Soviet idolization of Lenin’s tomb on Moscow’s Red Square and for the same reasons.

72. Schele (1986). Tedlock (1985).

73. The ballgame was played with two heavily padded players on each team. The team representing the lords of death was often composed of captives who inevitably lost to the ruler’s team, representing the Hero Twins. The losers were then ritually sacrificed. Besides being a staged reenactment of the old myth and a serious religious ritual, the ballgame was probably a morale booster for the troops and populace (and ruler) before battle.

74. Sharer (1991) interprets the text to read: "inaugurated Cauac Sky, batab, in the territory of Eighteen Rabbit." Looper (1999) interprets it: "received the statue … done by Eighteen Rabbit." Proskouriakoff (1993) interprets the text of Quiriguá Stela J referring to this inaugural date to mean that Cauac Sky was appointed "vulture" or military commander for Quiriguá by Eighteen Rabbit, a title she claims still stuck to him as late as Quiriguá Stela F dedicated in 761.

75. Riese (1986) claims that Cauac Sky was 28 when he was appointed ruler of Quiriguá. However, Stela A from that city, dedicated in 775 reads that he was entering the fifth katun of his life, which figures him to be over 80 by that time (Sharer, 1990). Therefore, he must have been at least 30 years old when he came into office.

76. The same day that Eighteen Rabbit erected Stela D, on the quarter katun.

77. The actual translation is "holy lord of Chik Nab" which Looper (1999) securely identifies with Calakmul. Martin & Grube (2000) use this one reference to identify Wamaw Kawil as the ruler of Calakul at this time, but no corroborating evidence has been found yet at that city itself. The inscription, however, does contain the full ben-ik superfix, and the bloodletting prefix, that normally identifies not just any noble, but the ruler of a city.

78. Looper (1999) maintains that Calakmul not only influenced Cauac Sky to rebel against Copán but actually supplied the troops to carry out the deed. Calakmul had an established history of long range military operations against the allies of its arch rival, Tikal. Monument 153 from Toniná shows a Calakmul lord, Baah Tok Xooy, captured sometime between 716 and 723 during a fight with Pomoy, Toniná’s rival. Calakmul may have supplied troops to Pomoy (Martin & Grube, 2000). Copán had long been an ally of Tikal and therefore was a logical target for Calakmul’s attention. Furthermore, Calakmul’s ruler had been in Copán and had recently seen its power at the raising of Stela A in 731. Finally Looper (1999) points out that powerful Copán did not retaliate against relatively minor Quiriguá, which he interprets as a sign that Quiriguá’s military power in 738 was significantly larger than its own local population base would support and therefore infers the presence of substantial reinforcements from Calakmul.

79. Sharer (1990). Riese (1986) and Stuart (1992) speculated that Cauac Sky called himself the 14^th in line of Copán’s rulers, as if he was claiming the throne of his former overlord. This is improbable as Smoke Monkey succeeded Eighteen Rabbit just 39 days after his death and there is no evidence that Cauac Sky, who bragged about everything else, is silent on the domination of, or even a visit to, his former overlord city. Quiriguá’s dynasty began at the same time as Copán’s and, although the entire line of succession is not known for the former, it is no stretch to infer that since Smoke Jaguar of Copán lived so long, Quiriguá could easily be up to the 14^th in succession by the time of the death of Copán’s 13^th ruler, Eighteen Rabbit.

80. A palanquin is a litter with two poles carried by four to eight men. A palanquin may bear a tabernacle containing a carved effigy of a god or it may bear a throne for a noble or ruler. Palanquins for rulers in some cases had a back and canopy in the form of a jaguar protector figure. Such a configuration is shown on a carved wooden lintel from Temple 1 in Tikal (Sharer et al., 1983) and another from Temple 4 in Tikal (Looper, 1999).

81. Riese (1986) claimed that Cauac Sky adopted the title of lord of Copán after he captured Eighteen Rabbit, but Stuart (1992) notes that in every case where the Quiriguá ruler uses the Copán emblem, it is preceded by the prefix for the color black. Therefore Stuart proposes that Cauac Sky did not claim to be the ruler of Copán, but the "blackener" or nemesis of Copán. He notes that in no other case in Maya history is there evidence that one lord captured the title of another lord. Looper (1999) however disputes both claims. He attributes to the prefix "black" a meaning of subordination, as at Nim Li Punit in southern Belize (see note 40 above). Therefore on Quiriguá Stela A, Cauac Sky may merely be listing his title as black lord of Copán in the same context as he sometimes referred to his role as vulture or military commander.

82. Looper (1999) interprets the decapitation to refer to Eighteen Rabbit. However, the text he provides reads: "Cauac Sky decapitated the images of 18 images of the war serpent, bat lord". The fact that the glyphs for "image" are repeated twice, once within Eighteen Rabbit’s name and once before it, indicates that this text may refer to the destruction of the god images the latter carried into battle rather than to his own person.

83. Ceiba Flower Lord is an ancestral title for the rulers of Copán (Looper, 1999). It appears on a bench in Temple 11 and also on Stela 4 at Copán.

84. Fash (1991) describes the political loss to Copán of its god images and of its ruler in stark terms. He claims that the government was shaken and that Smoke Monkey attempted to rule or had to rule by consensus. He holds that Building 10L-22A, also known as the "Mat House" because of the mat pattern of authority worked into the stone frieze above the doors, was a meeting hall where the local governors shared power with the ruler. Even their local coats of arms are carved into that buildings freize. However, he says ceramic evidence shows that Copán’s economic life and trade were not seriously affected (Vlcek & Fash, 1986) Schele (1990) cites the quick succession of Smoke Monkey and the continued building by the nobles as evidence that Copán took the demise of Eighteen Rabbit in stride. There is no doubt that the central authority at Copán was broken, perhaps irreparably, by the May 1, 738, event. However, the fact that Copán carried on seems to support the interpretation that the battle took place outside of the city and the city itself was not torched.

85. Stuart (1992). The carving, of course, must have started earlier.

86. The other is Stela 11. Eighteen Rabbit was taken in battle and his fleeing troops may have returned to Copán assuming that their ruler was indeed killed on the spot.

87. Martin & Grube (2000) believe that an inscription on Temple 11 from 769 indicates that Smoke Shell is buried inside and therefore was not taken and sacrificed someplace else as Eighteen Rabbit was. Yet Cauac Sky captured a palanquin on November 26, 762, of which he was inordinately proud.

    Just whose palanquin was it? The inscriptions at Quiriguá name only a "bat lord, 6 shell-in-hand". Looper (1999) claims that it was the palanquin of the lord of a place he calls "Xkuy". As proof he offers Linda Schele’s drawing of a cylinder fragment found at Copán. Only 14 glyphs are visible in the drawing. They read "Eighteen Rabbit, Holy Lord of Copán, something, February 18, 718, burned, gap in text, bat thing, 6 shell-in-hand, 251 days after the 3^rd year," followed by four untranslated glyphs. The "burned" verb is similar to verbs used at Naranjo and elsewhere for the burning of villages or the torturing of captives. From this he claims that Eighteen Rabbit burned the town of Xkuy, and thus infers that Cauac Sky captured a palanquin from the lord of the same place. I am not convinced. The "bat thing" has only the loops beneath it but no ben-ik or other symbol to better identify it. Fash (1991) has speculated that "bat thing, 6 shell-in-hand" was one of the many small sites on the upper reaches of the Morja river. Looper suggests that Eighteen Rabbit attacked it to extract tribute. The only Maya sites so far located in that area are La Playona, El Paraíso, and El Cafetal, but none of these has been clearly identified with "bat thing, 6 shell-in-hand". Looper goes on to say that Cauac Sky recorded the November 26, 762 incident on Stela E and Altars O and P as well. The "6 shell-in-hand" glyph is accompanied by the postfix "nal" which Looper says frequently identifies toponyms. From this, Looper concludes that Cauac Sky attacked a town called Xkuy, took its palanquin, paraded it around on the major katun ending of 9.17.0.0.0 (January 22, 771) and was buried with it.

    I am not convinced. I find it curious that Cauac Sky destroyed the god effigies of Eighteen Rabbit, his powerful overlord, and sacrificed him, but apparently failed to capture his palanquin; then 33 years later he captures a palanquin from a minor, unidentified site, and is so proud of it that he uses it in important public displays and would even want to be buried with it. I believe there is another answer.

    Looper concedes that the 6-shell-in-hand-nal glyph appears on Stair 2 in Yaxchilán after a supernatural location. Was Xkuy a real town? Could it instead be a metaphor for Copán itself? Could the palanquin he finally captured in 762 be the one he missed when he took Eighteen Rabbit in 738? When the latter "burned" something in 718 in connection with "bat thing, 6 shell-in-hand", did he really burn a town or did he burn an offering? Is the "bat thing" referenced on the Copán cylinder a noble? These are questions that remain open.

88. Recorded on Quiriguá Altar P (Looper, 1999).

89. Recorded on Quiriguá Altar O. (Looper, 1999) notes that an error in the coefficient may render the date November 10, 786.

90. Stuart in Sabloff (1993).

91. Stela 11 is singularly interesting in that it may record the beginning and the end of a dynasty (Stuart in Sabloff, 1993). Yax Pac left Copán to join Jade Sky of Quiriguá in the dedication of a building which took place on June 27, 810. This is recorded on a step riser for Quiriguá Structure 1B-1. Evidently, the enmity between the two cities was a thing of the past, since Jade Sky initiated no more campaigns against Copán nor did he brag about the ones of his grandfather and father. Stuart (1999) offered the speculation that Yax Pac may even have imagined imperial aspirations by aping Smoke Jaguar’s visit to Quiriguá in 653; however Culbert (1991) seems closer to the mark in suggesting that Yax Pac fled Copán and was welcomed by Jade Sky as a symptom of the collapse of the elite and their "banding together" to maintain an illusion of the past. Culbert notes that Yax Pac built a burial chamber under Temple 18 at Copán for his final resting place but was never buried there. If Yax Pac indeed had abandoned Copán in 810, who raised Stela 11 in 820? One Ukit Took apparently seized control of the throne of Copán on February 9, 822 and attempted to maintain some kind of central authority, but his pitiful Altar L was not even finished before his rule was.

92. No signs of burning or destruction have been uncovered at Copán. In fact life in the city appears to have gone on normally (Schele, 1990). One noble’s house façade was dedicated just two days after Eighteen Rabbit’s death, his successor was appointed just 39 days afterwards, and there is no evidence of a scattering of nobles from the city which might be expected in the case of a direct attack. Furthermore, the Copán metropolitan area was home to an estimated 20,000 people which would have deterred a direct attack from smaller Quiriguá, even with allies.

93. The traditional objective of Maya raids was to capture victims live to shed their blood in sacrifice (Culbert, 1991 and Schele, 1986). The higher the victim’s rank, the more potent the blood, and therefore the higher prestige of the winning city and its ruler and the more appreciative its gods. In fact the rites of initiation of a ruler to full power included taking up the regalia of office–the kawil scepter and royal clothing–his own bloodletting, ritually sacrificing a foreign noble, and stepping over his body to mount the throne scaffold (Schele, 1986). For Cauac Sky to fully assert his independence, he would have insisted on nothing less than killing his erstwhile overlord in ritual sacrifice at Quiriguá.

94. Vlcek & Fash (1986) estimate that the east trail from Copán to Quiriguá via El Paraíso would take about two and a half to three days to walk. Therefore Cauac Sky could have taken Eighteen Rabbit close to Copán and made it back to Quiriguá in plenty of time to afford him every refinement of torture before sacrificing him. I believe for reasons stated later that this was not the case and that the battle happened closer to Quiriguá.

95. Vlcek & Fash (1986) mapped out the trails between the two sites and identified types 1 through 4 residential complexes in the area.

96. Altar M at Quiriguá, dedicated September 13, 734 (Sharer, 1990).

97. See note 77.

98. Martin (Inomata & Houston, 2001) notes that the taking of hostages and demand for frequent visits were adaptive strategies to maintain control in a disintegrated landscape. Refusing a summons was a frequent cause for war between lords and vassals in medieval Europe as well.

99. Schele (1998) came to the conclusion that the provocations led Eighteen Rabbit to move against his vassal to prevent him from or to punish him for changing sides and leaving the hegemony of Copán.

100. This would be entirely in keeping with Eighteen Rabbit’s pronounced expression of religious themes during his rule, as opposed to the more warlike themes of rulers from the central area of the Maya world. He used religion as his main instrument to reinforce his official authority (Fash, 1991).

101. The rising of Venus was considered most propitious for such raids, thus becoming the first "star wars" (Martin & Grube, 2000).

102. No study has been done on the history and organization of Maya military forces. There were nobles with retainers who came to the aid of their overlord in a feudal sense, but no evidence has been seen for a levy of the common people or for a standing army. In México warrior classes developed–the Eagles and the Jaguars–and something similar is seen later at the Temple of the Warriors at Chichén Itzá. The Mexican invaders who seized Tikal and other cities in 378 CE demonstrated military organization on an "army" scale, and of course there were inevitably soldiers of fortune for hire throughout the Maya world. Something of a palace guard must have arisen in the Petén for the protection of the rulers there who were in constant combat. Copán, on the other hand, far to the southwest, never emphasized military power and indeed the warrior aspects displayed on Temple 26’s Hieroglyphic Stairway stand out in their uniqueness. A military awareness appears late in Copán imagery.

103. Looper (1999) suggests that the reason Copán did not retaliate against Quiriguá for the killing of Eighteen Rabbit is because the Calakmul reinforcements made Quiriguá too formidable to assault.

104. Proskouriakoff (1993).

105. Here, I think, is where the riddle of "bat lord, 6 shell-in-hand" may be resolved. The depictions we have of rulers being carried around on throne palanquins do not show the carved wooden idols with them. Cauac Sky captured and destroyed the Copán idols, but he does not appear to have come into the possession of the palanquin he treasured so much until 762. Given the enormity of his victory of 738 and his pride in it, it is difficult to imagine that he would celebrate the possession of any throne palanquin other than that of Eighteen Rabbit himself. Therefore I propose that the latter carried two palanquins into battle on that May day—one for his gods and one for himself, and that when his troops fled, they took his throne palanquin with them. Something happened later, after or because Smoke Shell died, whereby Cauac Sky gained possession of Eighteen Rabbit’s precious palanquin. This suggests that Cauac Sky took some action against Copán in 762 to obtain this object. This also suggests that the "bat lords" mentioned on the Copán cylinder and the three Quiriguá monuments refer to Copán nobles or are a metaphor for Copán itself, and that 6 shell-in-hand is a personal name or its meaning is as yet unknown.

106. Sharer et al. (1983) describes all of these grisly activities as part of the treatment of sacrificial prisoners. We have no idea what actually happened to Eighteen Rabbit other than that he was decapitated. Fash (1991) argues that Eighteen Rabbit himself was not above similar practices. He asserts that Copán Building 10L-20 was a jail for the holding of sacrificial victims, Building 10L-21 was a house of torture, and Building 10L-23 was a house of dismemberment. These assertions have not been proven or denied by any other researcher.

107. Stephens (1841).

Sources Cited

About the Author

Janice Van Cleve began as a linguist before earning her Masters Degree in Medieval History at the University of Washington. After serving as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, she pursued a career in computers that allowed her to take early retirement at 52. At last she was able to indulge her passions for writing and travel. She has visited stone circles in England, pyramids in Egypt, ruins in Peru, cities in Turkey and temples in Greece. It was the Maya, however, that captured her. She is writing her first full length book, which is a biographical novel of the life and death of Copán’s most famous king, Eighteen Rabbit. It is based on the research she has developed in this article, "Who Was Eighteen Rabbit?"