The path to divine power
Royal succession was strongly patrilineal and the rule of queens arose only when the dynasty might otherwise be extinguished. As far as we can tell, primogeniture was the norm: eldest sons had preference. Princelings were termed ch'ok, originally meaning 'unripe, youth', but later extended to the wider sense of 'noble'. The heir himself was distinguished as the b'aah ch'ok 'head youth'. Childhood was marked by a series of initiation rites, one of the more important being a bloodletting usually performed at the age of five or six. Although blood was their main claim to legitimacy, candidates still had to prove themselves in war. A bout of captive-taking often preceded elevation to office and the names of such prisoners were sometimes incorporated into the kings' name phrase, in the formula 'Master/Guardian of so-and-so'.
Kingly investitures were elaborate affairs made up of a series of separate acts.' There was an enthronement, the heir's seating on a cushion of jaguar skin, sometimes atop an elevated scaffold bedecked with celestial symbolism and accompanied by human sacrifice. A scarf bearing a jade image of huunal, the 'Jester God' (so called because of the leafy three lobed top to his head), an ancient patron of royal authority, would be tied to the forehead.' An elaborate headdress of jade and shell mosaic, trailing green iridescent plumes of the quetzal bird, would follow. A sceptre carved into an image of the snake-footed deity k'awiil was taken. The name carried in childhood was now joined by a k'uhul k'aba' 'divine name', usually taken from a predecessor, sometimes a grandparent (in modern Maya communities children are seen as reborn grandparents, a single word mam meaning both grandparent and grandchild).
The rites of kingship
From here on, the calendar dictated a lifelong regimen of ritual and performance. The most enduring relics of these rites are the multi-ton stelae the Maya called lakamtuun or 'big/banner stones'. Their engraved texts describe their own erection, the binding of the altar set before it and the scattering of blood or incense it received. These ceremonies replicated primeval acts that first set the universe in motion. Carved with the king's image, often shown standing on a bound captive or iconic location, their inscriptions go on to chronicle the major historical events that have occurred since the last stone was set up.Most ceremonies were conducted in the guise of appropriate deities, identified by a full costume and usually a mask (almost always depicted in cutaway form to show the wearer's face). Some required specialized dance rituals, each identified by its own name and paraphernalia (one involved live snakes).' The accompaniment would consist of singing, the blowing of trumpets and conch shells and the beating of drums and turtle carapaces. More privately, rulers and their families sought to enter the spirit world through vision and trance induced by hallucinogenic drinks and enemas. They also performed auto-sacrifice, drawing blood from their tongues and genitalia with the aid of thorns, stingray spines and blades of the volcanic glass obsidian."
Every major Maya city included at least one ballcourt. In the game itself two teams would attempt to keep a large (and very hard) rubber ball from touching the ground, scoring points by means of floor markers and wall-mounted rings. Equipment included padding for the knees and elbows and a wide waist belt or 'yoke'. Kings might style themselves aj pitzal 'ballplayer', though their real interest lay in the game's mythic significance. The ballcourt of the Underworld was the place of sacrifice described in the Popol Vuh (the 16th-century creation epic of the Quiche Maya) where the Maize God met his death, but from which he was ultimately reborn.
The royal court, governance and war
Kings held court in palaces set in the heart of their capitals. Painted vessels show evocative scenes of courtly life, with enthroned lords surrounded by wives and retainers, often receiving the homage of vassals delivering mounds of tribute. Maya kings seem to have been polygamous, but marriage is not a topic much discussed in the inscriptions. Also in attendance were musicians and dwarves. The latter were more than simple jesters, they enjoyed a high status derived from their special association with caves and entries into the Underworld." Scenes showing the feasting and entertaining of both visiting lords and local nobility reflect not so much leisure activities as the operation of government and diplomacy.
A key responsibility of kingship was to lead one's forces into battle against rival kings. Although the timing of attacks was essentially a tactical decision, there can be no doubt that auguries were strenuously examined in search of the most auspicious moment. To be taken captive was the greatest disaster to befall a Maya king. Public humiliation was obligatory and many seem to have been tortured before their execution by beheading, burning, or being tied into balls and cast down flights of steps. Occasionally, however, they appear to have survived their ordeals and even returned to their thrones as vassals of the victor.
Journeys to the gods: death and burial
Advanced age was seen as especially prestigious, and long-lived kings would invariably carry titles stating how many K'atuns they had seen. Death, when it came, was viewed as the beginning of a journey, a retracing of the Maize God's descent into the Underworld, where victory over the gods of decay and disease would lead to rebirth and apotheosis. In preparation for this odyssey, dead rulers were laid in well-built tomb chambers. Stretched out on a wooden bier, the corpse was dressed in the weighty jade jewelry worn in life, wrapped in textiles and jaguar pelts and given a heavy dusting of the blood-red minerals hematite and cinnabar. Accompanying offerings included: ceramic vessels holding foodstuffs and drinks made from kakaw (cocoa beans), shells and other marine 'exotics', the effigies of gods in clay or wood, mirrors of polished hematite or pyrites, bark-paper books, musical instruments, items of furniture and, occasionally, human sacrifices. In many cases a steep pyramid would be raised above the tomb, its upper temple a shrine for the king's veneration as a deified ancestor. These temples were maintained over successive generations, forming a collective repository of dynastic power. In later years tombs might be ritually re-opened, their contents scattered about and the defleshed bones scorched with fire or removed as relics.
A fundamental question we ask of any ancient civilization is 'how was it organized politically?' In the case of the Classic Maya we are fortunate in having both a strong archaeological record and, even more importantly, a unique collection of contemporary inscriptions. Their decipherment provides key insights into Maya conceptions of kingship and statehood, of political rhetoric and authority.
Though the significance of the Preclassic-Classic divide can be overstated, the distinction does seem to reflect a transformation from one social and political order to another. The emerging Classic tradition certainly drew from existing practice, incorporating ideals of rulership - even specific forms of regalia - that can be traced back to Olmec times. But it also had a keen sense of itself as an innovation, as a break from the past. Authority in the Preclassic Maya lowlands was generally manifested in broad, impersonal terms, with huge architectural programmes emblazoned with god masks and cosmic symbols.' The Classic, by contrast, emphasized the individual. The relationship between kingship and the cosmos was re-articulated, even reconceived. The monolithic stela, an ancient form, was now used to fix royal identity and life-history within a sacred order defined by the calendar. Ceremonial architecture underwent a similar development, as temple pyramids became mortuary shrines for the veneration of dead kings. These changes find explicit mention in the written histories, where Classic dynasties were established by named founders, sometimes on specific dates of 'arrival'.
Elements of this system took root in various parts of Mesoamerica between 100 Bc and AD 100. In the Maya area they first appear in the south, at El Badl, Abaj Takalik and Kaminaljuyu, where stelae carved with royal portraits, dates and historical texts were in place by at least AD 37. The emergence of the first dynastic kingdoms in the lowland Central Area can now be traced to around AD 100.
For the Maya, governance was invested in the rank of ajaw 'lord, ruler'. By the end of the 4th century, paramount rulers were distinguishing themselves from a larger lordly class by calling themselves k'uhul ajaw, 'divine lord'. Though this was initially confined to the most ancient and powerful centres in the form we know now as the 'emblem glyph' (see panel), it ultimately spread far and wide. Another title, kaloomte' (long known as 'Batab') was of special importance and restricted to only the strongest dynasties during the Classic proper. When prefixed by ochk'in, 'west', as is often the case, it asserts a legitimacy derived from the great Mexican city of Teotihuacan, whose special role in the Maya area has still to be fully uncovered.
New perspectives
Over the years scholars have differed both about the size of Maya polities, whether there were just a few regional-scale states or many small statelets; and their corresponding administrations, whether they had strong, centralized governments or weak, decentralized ones. As as result there has been a choice between two contrasting views of Maya society. But the emergence of new information from the inscriptions, in which the Maya directly describe their political world, allows a reassessment of the topic. Our own research - much of it summarized in this volume - points to a pervasive and enduring system of 'overkingship, that shaped almost every facet of the Classic landscape. Such a scheme accords closely with wider Mesoamerican practice, while seeming to reconcile the most compelling features of the two existing views, namely the overwhelming evidence for multiple small kingdoms and the great disparities in the size of their capitals.
It has been known for some time that hierarchical relations appear in the texts, where they are expressed by the use of possession. Thus sajal, an office held by some of the leading nobility, becomes usajal or 'the noble of' when linking such a lord to his king. The same structure can be seen with the kingly rank of ajaw, which becomes yajaw 'the lord of'. While this demonstrated that one king could be subordinated to another, the small number of examples made them seem, at first, ephemeral and of limited significance. But another kind of expression proves to be equally important, greatly expanding the number of such ties. Here, a normal statement of royal accession is appended by a second phrase headed ukab'jiiy 'he supervised it', followed by the name of a "foreign king." This identifies the dominant 'overking' to which the local king was beholden. Similar practices are documented across Mesoamerica and explicitly described for some Maya of the Postclassic. When combined with new examples of the yajaw relationship, and the ever growing bank of data on diplomacy and warfare, it is possible to construct an outline anatomy of interaction and political power for the Classic Maya Central Area.
As one would expect, relationships fluctuated over time, but longlived patterns are also apparent. It should be emphasized that the Late Classic is much better represented in this kind of display than the Early Classic, for which fewer inscriptions are known and, in any case, political interaction is less discussed. The early influence of Tikal is under-represented as a result, while we get a much better picture of Calakmul's pre-eminence in the 7th century. While these were twin superpowers, as the chart shows, they were by no means the only polities to produce 'overkings', and lesser hegemonies developed in every region.
Rule of the 'overkings'
How did this system work and what were the principles that lay behind it? Talk of states and kingdoms tends to bring borders and territories to mind, but these were not the primary ways in which Maya polities defined themselves. More important was the dynastic seat at their core, their ceremonial and commercial focus and the hub from which ties radiated to lesser lordships in their periphery.
Political expansion, where it occurred, was not an acquisition of territory per se, but rather an extension of these elite networks. The most powerful dynasties brought rival 'divine lords' under their domination, with ties often reaching far outside their immediate region. The bonds between lords and their masters were highly personal and remained in effect even after the death of one party. But whether cemented by oaths of loyalty or marital unions they were, in practice, rather tenuous and more reliant on military threat and the benefits available to subject lords. Apart from direct gains, war victories would encourage new recruits to enter the sphere of a successful protector, while inspiring fear and respect among existing clients. With an intimidating reputation in place, diplomatic persuasion could exert influence without the need for fighting.
Where possible, dominant powers would operate through established local dynasties, but where these proved resistant, 'overkings' were not above manipulating the local succession to their advantage. The degree of influence they exerted undoubtedly varied from case to case, but their involvement in internal affairs otherwise seems slight. Surprisingly perhaps, the great 'overkings' rarely boasted of their possessions in their own inscriptions and we largely rely on vassal rulers to describe their subordinate status. Often such information only emerges when some subsequent event requires explanation or background, such as when patronage was overthrown by force. The fact that subordination could be suppressed on clients' monuments hints at how many more relationships of this kind remain to be discovered. In common with all documented societies of Mesoamerica we can take it that an economic dimension was integral to the system - a flow of goods and services from lord to overlord that would account, at least in part, for the great differences in size and wealth between cities. Unfortunately, though scenes of tribute payment are very common on painted vases (where numbered sacks of cocoa beans, heaped textiles and feathers serve as iconic currency) carved inscriptions make very little mention of inter-kingdom arrangements. Indeed, our understanding of Maya economics in general, including the highly significant topic of long-distance trade, is frustratingly poor.
The political landscape of the Classic Maya resembles many in the Old World - Classical Greece or Renaissance Italy are worthy comparisons - where a sophisticated and widely shared culture flourished amid perpetual division and conflict. Like their closest cousins, the small city-states that dominate major parts of Mexican history, we see a complex world criss-crossed by numerous patron-client relationships and family ties, in which major centres vied with one another in enmities that could endure for centuries.
Taken from:
Chronicles of the Mayan kings
Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube
Thames and Hudson Publishing
2000, pp. 14-21