Ruler 13: Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil

AKA: 18 Rabbit

Reign: 695 - 738

Preceded by: K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil

Succeeded by: K’ahk’ Joplaj Chan K’awiil

Structures:

With the reign of the thirteenth king came the pinnacle of Classic Copan and subsequently one may argue the beginning of its end. His impact would be evident in future works.

From what we know of Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil in life, he achieved an ambitious amount of building projects with eight stelae and renovations on five different structures. Paying homage to his immediate ancestors was also a particular strategy for the thirteenth ruler. Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil honored the eleventh king Butz’ Chan on Stela A and his predecessor K’ahk Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil in the Hieroglyphic Stairway, in which he had celebrated the history of the city.

His first stela, Stela J is a bit of an anomaly as it is the only one of his stelae to appear in low relief, outside of the Main Group, and without an apparent self portrait (Fash 1991, 113). However, the stela does serve to remind those entering the city of Copan’s illustrious history by invoking Yax K’uk’ Mo’s presence at the bak’tun ending. He then uses this illustrious history to honor himself by connecting his accession date to that of the Founder’s, assuring visitors of their success both past and present.

His later stelae in contrast all were constructed in the Main Group and had exceptional detail in high relief. The king depicted himself performing ritual actions in the regalia of the local gods holding the centipede bar (Martin and Grube 2008, 204). The thirteenth ruler therefore asserted his divinity from the gods of the people and like many of his predecessors did not choose to present himself as a warrior, instead focusing on his duality as both mortal and divine (Martin and Grube 2008, 203).

In 724, he supervised K’ahk’ Tiliw Chan Yopaat’s accession in Quirigua, confirming that Copan’s previous position of power over the city still held. This would change fourteen years later when the same king would capture the Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil at Kok Witz or Turtle Hill and, six days later on 9.15.6.14.6 6 Kimi 4 Sek (May 3, 738), behead him (Martin and Grube 2008, 205; Fash 2011, 98; Looper 2003, 76). The only somewhat substantial record of the capture and beheading exists in Quirigua - Copan simply said that he died by “flint and shield”, implying warfare. Quirigua however never mentions a battle between the two kings, which raises the question of how covert Quirigua’s methods were (Martin and Grube 2008, 219).

For Quirigua, the Copan king’s death marked the beginning of a renaissance of sorts for the city - they had broken Copan’s hold on the Motagua Valley and its valuable resources. At first, they mimicked Copan’s existing stelae to assert their newfound power. Likewise, K’ahk Tiliw Chan Yopaat took Copan titles and god names, even referring to himself as the “Fourteenth Ruler”, possibly claiming Copan’s royal status. With time, Quirigua honed their own style of monument production - including towering stelae and full figural glyphs (Martin and Grube 2008, 220). In 762, K’ahk’ Tiliw Chan Yopaat would be the one overseeing another king’s succession (Martin and Grube 2008, 221).

For Copan, the death of the king brought the city to a near standstill. His successor, K’ahk’ Joplaj Chan K’awiil would not assume the throne for nearly forty days, and no stelae, altars, or new structures would be created during his reign (Martin and Grube 2008, 204-206). In losing Quirigua, Copan lost its hold on the Valley and its reputation. Copan started to decentralize.

In an attempt to rally an overpopulated people with too few resources, later kings would continue the monumental style of the thirteenth king while evoking a fairly different style of content. For example, in the extension of his Hieroglyphic Stairway Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil would be depicted as a warrior wearing Teotihuacan regalia in order to rewrite history and return to a glorified past (Martin and Grube 2008, 207). Whereas the thirteenth king would invoke history to celebrate Copan’s present, his successors would invoke history to rally the people beyond the present. While impressive monuments would be created in K’ahk’ Yipyaj Chan K’awiil and Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat’s time, Copan ultimately would not recover.


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