AD 378
The arrival of Siyaj K'ak'
On 8 January AD 378 Siyaj K'ak', "Fire is Born", reaches El Perú, a kingdom on the San Pedro River 60 km west of Tikal. Eight days later, on 16 January, he arrives at Tikal. Stela 31 at Tikal records that the king, Chak Tok Ich'aak I, dies on the same day. His stelae are smashed soon after, and his line loses the throne.
The back of Tikal Stela 31, whose text records the arrival of Siyaj K'ak' at El Perú and Tikal in January 378Wikimedia Commons, HJPD, CC BY 3.0 (Tikal St31b.jpg)
Siyaj K'ak' bears the title "Lord of the West" and is shown in the battle dress of Teotihuacan, the great city of the Valley of Mexico, 1,000 km to the west. He acts for a lord whose name is written with a spearthrower and an owl. A monument at Tikal records the accession of this Spearthrower Owl on 4 May 374, and David Stuart identifies him as a king of Teotihuacan.
Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico, seen from the Pyramid of the Moon, with the Pyramid of the Sun on the leftWikimedia Commons, Rene Trohs, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Panoramic view of Teotihuacan.jpg)
Siyaj K'ak' does not take the throne of Tikal himself. On 13 September 379 Yax Nuun Ahiin I, a son of Spearthrower Owl, becomes king of Tikal as a boy, and Siyaj K'ak' remains his overlord. At Uaxactun Siyaj K'ak' becomes king. Tikal comes to dominate the north and east of Petén, and under Yax Nuun Ahiin it takes Río Azul, 100 km to the northeast, as an outpost.
Stela 31, raised by Yax Nuun Ahiin’s son Sihyaj Chan K'awiil II, shows Yax Nuun Ahiin as a Teotihuacan warrior with a spearthrower and a shield bearing the face of Tlaloc. Whether Teotihuacan conquered Tikal or acted through a faction in the city is debated.
Yax Nuun Ahiin I as a Teotihuacan warrior on the side of Tikal Stela 31, cast in the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico CityWikimedia Commons, José Luiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Left side - Replica of the Mayan Stele 31 of Tikal - Teotihuacán - National Museum of Anthropology - Mexico 2024.jpg)
Sources
- Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens (2nd ed. 2008), pp. 29 to 33.
- David Stuart, The Arrival of Strangers: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History, PARI Newsletter 25 (1998).
- Michael D. Coe, The Maya (6th ed. 1999), pp. 90 to 97.
Prev: Tikal and the Classic kingdomsNext: Copán and Quiriguá