AD 682 – 695
Tikal defeats Calakmul
Jasaw Chan K'awiil I, a son of Nuun Ujol Chaak, takes the throne of Tikal on 3 May AD 682 and claims the title kaloomte', "high king". He ends the hiatus with a new building programme. Stela 30, the first monument raised at Tikal after the hiatus, copies the style of Caracol.
Jasaw Chan K'awiil I on Tikal Stela 16, dedicated in 711, in a drawingWikimedia Commons, A.Skromnitsky, CC BY-SA 3.0 (MutalImage3.jpg)
A painted vase from Tikal shows an envoy of the Kaanul king kneeling with tribute before the enthroned king of Tikal. In August 695 Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' leads his warriors against Jasaw Chan K'awiil and suffers a heavy defeat. Tikal captures the image of a Calakmul god, Yajaw Maan.
The fate of the Kaanul king is unclear. A stucco scene at Tikal names him in a caption beside a captive, but a text found at La Corona shows him visiting that town in 696. By November 695 a king called Split Earth rules at Calakmul. He is named on carved bones later placed in the tomb of Jasaw Chan K'awiil.
A jade mosaic funerary mask from Calakmul, attributed to Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk'Wikimedia Commons, Estela Parra, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Mascara de calakmul.jpg)
The battle ends the height of Calakmul’s power. Fewer cities name its king as overlord, and Calakmul raises no further monument to a victory in war. On the monuments of their victories Tikal’s kings wear Teotihuacan war dress, a claim to the line of Spearthrower Owl.
Temple I at Tikal, the funerary pyramid of Jasaw Chan K'awiil IWikimedia Commons, Arian Zwegers from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY 2.0 (Tikal, Temple I (15932959286).jpg)
Sources
- Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens (2nd ed. 2008), pp. 44 to 45 and 110 to 111.
- David Webster, The Fall of the Ancient Maya (2002), p. 193.
- Robert Sharer and Loa Traxler, The Ancient Maya (6th ed. 2006), p. 496.
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