Friday, August 12, 2016

The Names of the Snake Dynasty

From about 560 to 690 CE, the Maya world was dominated by a dynasty of kings who called themselves the Snakes; that's their emblem glyph above, sort of like their coat of arms. From their power base in Calakmul they defeated the previous hegemons from Tikal and made themselves masters of the region. The names of their most important rulers were, in order:
Stone Hand Jaguar
Sky Witness
Scroll Serpent
Shaker of Cities
Claw of Fire
In about 695 they were defeated by a new king of a resurgent Tikal, God That Clears the Sky, and faded away, their power broken. More here.

Masks from the royal tombs of Calakmul.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The names of those five kings sound like five novels in a fantasy series.

G. Verloren said...

@David

Or Luchadors.