Maya Civilization

Copán: Dynasty of the 18 Rabbit

In the foothills of the southeastern Maya lowlands, on the banks of the Copán River of western Honduras, lies one of the most thoroughly studied and best-documented cities of the ancient Americas. Copán (in modern orthography, also written K’uhul Copan) was the seat of a long-lived dynasty whose political history can be reconstructed in greater detail than almost any other pre-Columbian state, partly because the kings themselves were unusually enthusiastic about recording it. The Hieroglyphic Stairway of the West Court, with 2,200 individual glyphs in 1,260 glyph blocks, is the longest known Maya text and the longest pre-Columbian inscription of the Americas. The apogee of the dynasty, and the most dramatic event in the city’s history, was the reign of Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil, popularly 18 Rabbit, in the early 8th century CE, and his eventual capture and death at the hands of the rival city of Quiriguá. The full narrative of the dynasty is laid out in what happened at the ancient city of Copán.

For the wider context of the southeastern frontier, see the overview on major Maya cities and archaeological sites, and for the political rivalries of the central lowlands, see why Calakmul was such a powerful rival to Tikal.

Setting and early history

The Copán Valley is a small tectonic graben on the eastern rim of the Maya lowlands, in the modern department of Copán in western Honduras. The river runs north to the Motagua, and the valley sits at the edge of the great jade-bearing zone of the Motagua Fault. The Copán River has cut a series of terraces into the limestone bedrock, and the cultural deposits of the city stretch from the valley floor up onto the surrounding hills.

The earliest settlement of the valley is dated to the Early Preclassic (c. 1500 BCE), and the first civic architecture appears in the Middle Preclassic. The dynastic history of the site begins in the early 5th century CE, when Yax Kuk Mo’ arrived at the head of a dynasty whose emblem glyph, the head of an ear-spangled parrot, became the dynastic sign of the Copán rulers. The arrival of Yax Kuk Mo’ is recorded in the inscriptions as taking place on 8 September 426 CE — a date that, despite the considerable scholarly debate over its historicity, has served as the foundation date for the dynasty since the Late Classic.

Yax Kuk Mo’ and the early dynasty

The first great temple of the dynasty was built in the central precinct, on the platform that would later become the Acropolis. The earliest structures, including the Hunal (a Late Classic tomb) and the great Margarita sub-structure, are dated to the 5th and 6th centuries. The first stela is dated to the early 5th century, and the dynastic tradition was already well established by the time of Smoke Shell (r. c. 540–c. 555 CE) and his successors.

The early dynasty was politically subordinate to Tikal for most of the 5th and 6th centuries, in a relationship of indirect hegemony mediated by the wider political network of the central Petén. The relationship is read in the inscription on Stela 11, which describes the dedication of the temple of the Hunal in 437 CE in the presence of a Tikal overlord. The political background is set out in why Calakmul was such a powerful rival to Tikal.

The Acropolis and the hieroglyphic inscriptions

The Acropolis of Copán is a large rectangular platform on the south side of the central plaza, the result of more than 400 years of building, demolition, and rebuilding. The platform rises more than 30 meters above the plaza and contains an astonishingly dense set of buried structures, the most famous of which is the Rosalila temple — a Late Classic structure whose painted stucco masks survive in remarkable condition and which has been reconstructed as a full-size replica in the Sculpture Museum at the site. The original Rosalila was found in 1989 by the Penn State / IHAH project, entombed as a sub-structure of a later platform. The architecture and sculpture are detailed in Maya art, architecture, and monuments.

The Hieroglyphic Stairway is the signature inscription of Copán. The 62 steps of the staircase are carved on the risers with a single continuous text of 2,200 glyphs, running from the dedication of the temple in 755 CE (or thereabouts) all the way back to the 5th-century founder. The stairway was carved during the reign of K’ak’ Yipyaj Chan K’awiil (popularly Smoke Shell), but it was at the time of its discovery badly eroded, and a major 1990s conservation program under the Getty Conservation Institute and the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia made it possible to read the text in detail. The inscription is treated in the broader context of Maya writing, language, and books and Maya hieroglyphs and the glyph system.

The 18 Rabbit and the apogee

The greatest ruler of Copán was Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil, popularly known as 18 Rabbit, who came to the throne in 695 CE at the age of about 32 and ruled for 43 years. His reign is documented on more than 20 monuments in the central precinct, including the great Stela C and Stela H of the Great Plaza, the magnificent Altar Q of the eastern court of the Acropolis, and the Temple 22 sub-structure.

The art of the 18 Rabbit’s reign is among the most accomplished of the ancient Maya. The ruler is depicted on Stela H as a young man in his prime, in elaborate costume, holding a double-headed serpent bar and standing on a captive. The Altar Q is a single square altar carved with the images of 16 rulers of the dynasty, in chronological order, with their personal names and titles, ending with K’ak’ Yipyaj Chan K’awiil, the ruler who completed the Hieroglyphic Stairway. The dynastic ideology of Copán is read in the wider context of Maya society, politics, and daily life.

The apogee of 18 Rabbit’s reign was a period of enormous building and political expansion. The Great Plaza of Copán was substantially remodeled in the early 8th century, the Ball Court of the southeastern precinct was expanded into the second-largest ballcourt in the Maya world, and the city’s political reach — measured by the distribution of the Copán emblem glyph in vassal cities — extended across the southeastern Maya lowlands.

The capture of 18 Rabbit

The most dramatic event in Copán’s history is the capture of 18 Rabbit by the nearby city of Quiriguá in 738 CE. Quiriguá had been a dependency of Copán for most of the 7th century, but its ruler K’ahk’ Tiliw Chan Yopaat (popularly Cauac Sky) had been building a network of alliances and in 724 CE had succeeded in detaching his city from Copán’s control. The capture of 18 Rabbit took place in the plaza at Quiriguá, and the event is recorded in the inscriptions of both cities: at Copán, by the absence of any monument for 18 Rabbit after 738 CE; at Quiriguá, by a long inscription on Stela E of 756 CE describing the capture.

The political and military background is set out in what happened at the ancient city of Copán. The wider political context of the southeastern lowlands, where several smaller cities jockeyed for status in the wake of the great power centers, is treated in the history of the Maya civilization.

The later dynasty and the final decades

The death of 18 Rabbit was a catastrophe for the dynasty. His successor, K’ak’ Joplaj Chan K’awiil (r. 738–749 CE), was apparently installed under Quiriguá influence, and the central precinct of the city was sacked in a war that is recorded in the inscriptions. The dynasty recovered under K’ak’ Yipyaj Chan K’awiil (popularly Smoke Shell, r. c. 749–763 CE), who completed the Hieroglyphic Stairway and dedicated the Rosalila temple. Smoke Shell was the last great king of the dynasty.

The final decades of Copán are documented on a series of late monuments in the central precinct, including the Stela 10 of the Great Plaza, the Temple 11 sub-structure, and the Temple 26 tomb. The last securely dated monument at the site is dedicated in 822 CE. The reasons for the abandonment are debated; the wider evidence is in causes of the Classic Maya collapse.

Rediscovery and modern archaeology

Copán was first visited in modern times by the Guatemalan envoy and amateur antiquarian Juan Galindo in 1834, who drew a plan of the central precinct and sent his notes to the Royal Geographical Society in London. The first systematic study was made in 1839–1840 by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, whose drawings and descriptions of the monuments brought the city to a global reading public. The first professional excavation was carried out in 1891 by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University under the direction of the architect John G. Owens.

Major modern excavation began in 1935 with the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Copán project, led by Gustav Stromsvik, Sylvanus Morley, and John Longyear. From 1975 onward, work was continued by the joint Pennsylvania State University / IHAH project, led by Robert Sharer and (since 1990) by David Sedat, Ellen Bell, and the project staff. The Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia (IHAH) has been a partner throughout.

The site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 and is the centerpiece of the Copán Archaeological Park, administered by IHAH. The Sculpture Museum at the site, opened in 1996, displays the original Rosalila temple in a climate-controlled building, together with a comprehensive collection of the inscribed monuments of the city.

Sources

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  • Chase, A. F. & Chase, D. Z. (2014). Ancient Maya Cities and the Caracol Project. University of Pittsburgh Latin American Archaeology. — link
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