THE REVERSE SIDE OF STELA 18, YAXCHILAN – ITS LITERAL TRANSLATION AS A WAY TO APPROACH THE ANCIENT MAYA CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Europe C. Mercier and Renato Cottini Giroldo Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios del Sureste Mesoamericano All drawings are the authors’ property

FOREWORD

During decades of epigraphic investigation we have often wondered the reasons of using free and not literal translations. Apparently, our modern culture needs few, clear, and well-known words and concepts to reach the readers.

Nevertheless, free, westernized translations do not express the Maya vision of narrated events, as well as they do not allow us an immersion in their ancient reality.

That is why we decided to provide to the interested parties the analysis and the literal translation (compared with the free one) of a monument that is of medium epigraphic difficulty and that tells us of tangible things lived in an intangible way. The readers will be able to realize that the uncertainties of this science are still many, and that free translations hide them.

INTRODUCTION

Yaxchilán Archaeological Zone is located along the west riverbank of the Usumacinta River, which

marks part of the frontier between Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas. The powerful river is navigable upstream with easiness from Boca del Encajonado, and downstream

when it reaches the plains of Tabasco after crossing Boca del Cerro. Among the two points there is a sequence of eight rapids among narrow canyons, some of them navigable.

In the upper part of the Usumacinta River, after the fork with the Lacantun River, it takes 13 SM to reach Boca del Encajonado, the first canyon with whirls, 4.5 SM long and with walls high up to 300 ft. Other 15 SM take to the modern border position of Frontera Corozal, and 12.5 SM farther to the north we find the archaeological site of Yaxchilán.

Thus, Yaxchilán is located in the central basin of the river, and it is surrounded by satellite sites. It is a karst landscape, although to the east (on the other side of the river) it becomes soon plane and gives way to the humid tropical forest of the Selva del Lacandón and to the west it continues being irregular with low hills and valleys.

The site developed along the west riverside, on a series of hills located in a meander of the stream, being surrounded on three sides by water, except for the western side. Along the river the hills become smoother, ending in a 120-Ft wide bank.

The nuclear area of the pre-Hispanic establishment is located in the municipality of Ocosingo, occupying in its entirety an approximate surface of 34,500 ft². The geographical coordinates of the central point of the urban area (the ceremonial center) of Yaxchilán, of about 0.2 SM² and at 367 Ft MSL, is

16º54’16”N-91º00’11”W. Since 2002, the Archaeological Zone has been included among the 100 sites of the world in immediate danger, according to the WMF.

ANALYSIS

Structure 41 is located at the site’s highest point, being the southeasternmost building of the three structures which constitute the South Acropolis. In ancient times, the area was reachable by a monumental stairway that ascended directly from the Great Plaza, along the riverside.

Two marches before getting to the top of the basal platform, stelae 20, 19, and 18 (left to right) were erected; on the one-before-the-last march, stelae 16 and 15 are found (again, left to right), and the platform itself received the panels which constitute the Glyphic Stairway 4.

Structure 41 is the “war temple” of the 16th ruler from the local dynasty, ’Itsamb’áhlam [III], perhaps the one who lived longer than all others, who acceded to the throne on October 23, 681 AD and died on June 19, 742 AD, after more than sixty years in power, when he was almost 95 years old (he was born on November 10, 647 AD).

During his life he won important battles, which were recorded in the building monuments and, no matter how old he was, he and/or his vassals still obtained a victory in 729 AD. The data of this event was carved on the reverse side of Stela 18, a monolith that measures 3.77 m (12.36 Ft) from the ground and 1.42 m (4.65 Ft) in its widest point.

The iconographic part of the reverse of the stela, the side which does not the river and thus is not

totally eroded (like all other monuments at Yaxchilán), shows the ruler’s portrait while standing before a kneeled prisoner. ’Itsamb’áhlam [III] wears its entire insignia, while the prisoner (of a smaller size, in order to reduce his status) wears only a loincloth, a collar, and a headgear, beside the ropes for tying him up.

’Itsamb’áhlam [III] was 82 on the day of the battle, and it is not possible he looked like the stela shows: actually, he possibly did not even intervene in the clash.

TRANSCRIPTION, PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION, AND TRANSLATION

Before passing to the epigraphic analysis, it is worth mentioning that the language spoken in Yaxchilán

is extremely difficult to be exactly defined, for the site is located in an area where different today’s Mayan languages are spoken. Some words seem to be related to Tzeltalan, others to Tzotzilan, and some others to Yukatekan and/or Ch’olan.

That is why we carefully approached the text transliteration, taking into consideration the evidence known from this and other monuments, also from neighboring sites, and the diachronic evolution of the local language, according to earlier inscriptions at the site. For the same reason, the phonetic rendering tries to reflect the language appropriate sounds in the 8th century AD.

The reading order of the inscription we are facing is: column A, then paired columns B and C, followed by paired columns D and E. We use the Thompson’s catalog numbers, indicating with “.” the sign that follows to the right, and with “,” the one that is found below. Numbers are preceded by a T.

For transcriptions (which indicate only the broad word, without phonetic rendering), the complete word in bold capital letters corresponds to a logogram, and a syllabogram is given in bold small-case letters. Italics is reserved to transliterations.

Epigraphic analysis

A1 ta.yi:YIK’IN:n(i) = Ta’ yik’íŋ = At sunset The text begins with the known preposition ta’, represented by the sign T53, followed by the sign T17

(yi), which works as phonetic complement to the lower sign (T545), as the last of the glyph, T116 (ni), does. The two complements indicate that the reading of the sign in the middle (the half-blackened sun) means “wounded Sun”, as it were little shining, to indicate the sunset. The full glyph then, gives the information that the event that follows happened late in the evening.

A2 ti.III:EB’ = ti’ ’uhx ’Ehb’ = on 3 ’Ehb’ The chronological datum about the “day” of the 260-days cycle corresponding to the event is preceded

by the preposition ti’ (T59) and indicates that it was the “day” at the 3rd position of the 14th 13-day score. We prefer transliterate “3” as ’uhx to get closer to the eastern Mayan languages’ root; the other option being ’ohx. The twenty-day score sign is found within an oval frame (CH’ICH’, blood) that works as diacritic marker and has no transliteration value.

A3 XIV.mo[l(o)]:w(a) = chaanlaju’uŋte’ Molów = 14 Molów Correctly, the “day” corresponding to the 365-day cycle does not match the previous one: 3 ’Ehb’

should match with 15 Mol, but this latter was going to begin the following day at dawn and, on the other hand, 3 ’Ehb’ included the night following the previous day. In sum, the event occurred at about sunset on July 14, 729 AD (correlation 584,285). It is worth mentioning that the 20-day score Mol, expressed by T581 (MOL), itself a merging of the T582 (mo) with the T580 (lo) infix, usually does not have the suffix T130/T131 (wa): we prefer the Molów reconstruction following the common epigraphic practices, but it could be Molwa’, as the expression hewa’ (according to the Cordemex dictionary) to indicate elapsed days suggests.

We translate freely all the previous data as “On July 14, 729 AD, at sunset…” recalling that the Mayan

language grammatical structure requires that the chronological data precede the sentence, according to the verb-object-subject sequence if the verb is transitive. Accordingly, the glyph that follows must be the verb.

A4 chu.AJ = chuhkáj = was captured The sequence of signs indicates that the action was completed (see the verbal suffix -áj, T181), the

absence of the ergative pronoun as prefix makes clear that the subject is the third person singular, and that the verb is transitive, in the passive voice. Thus, we have to add an “h” (the passive voice marker) before the last consonant of the <chuk> verb root, “to tie hands and feet up”, “to capture”, expressed by the T515 (chu) sign but in this case lacking the usual infix. It is worth mentioning that the “h” was not expressed in the ancient Mayan writing system, unless its position in a word were initial, terminal, or intervocalic.

A5 AJ:po:l(o).cha:y(a) = ’aj-Popolcháhy = ’aj-Popolcháhy The first sign corresponds to the gender marker (T12, AJ), showing that who receives the action is a

male subject, a male which comes from a specific place, bear a specific charge, or is an animal. The four signs that follow are T622 (po), T580 (lo), T520 (cha), and T126 (ya), which form the reading polcháhy. In other inscriptions from Yaxchilán the name of the same personage is written AJ-²po-l(o)-cha-y(a), indicating that the correct transliteration is ’aj-Popolcháhy, “mat fish”. Due to the fact that eastern Mayan languages respect the habit of having the personal name preceded by titles, in this case “Mat fish” is the name of the captured person.

A6 a.pa:ya:l(a) = ’a-Payál = ’a-Payál As we just mentioned, now it is time for the titles. The first one occupies two glyphs, A6 and A7,

indicating that the male person comes from a certain place or bear a certain political position. Contrarily to the previous case, the gender prefix is now reduced to the initial vowel a (T229), followed by the sequence T586 (pa), T126 (ya), and T178 (la). The translation of payál is “guide, leader”, being in this case a man.

A7 mo:o.l(a) = Mo’ól = Mo’ól The second part of the title (or the place he is from) is composed by the signs T582 (mo), T279 (o),

and a variant of T178 (la). The result is mo’ól, “jaguar paw”. Now, if we join the two glyph we obtain something similar to “He who is the leading jaguar paw”, or “Jaguar paw, he who leads”. We are still far from a trustable translation, but it does not seem to express the name of the place he comes from.

A8 xu:ka.NAH:AJAW = Xukalnáh ’ajáw = lord of Xukalnáh The last glyph which refers to the titles clarifies the family ’aj-Popolcháhy belongs: the “Oval house(s)”,

or “Cornered house(s)”, a dynasty which was important in the Rio Lacanhá valley, to the west of Yaxchilán.

From this same family derived the branch that, since the middle of the 8th century AD and controlled by Yaxchilán, ruled Bonampak.

The glyph, even if eroded, is characteristic of that family: a bat head (T756, whose phonetic value varies, but in this case is xu) surrounded in different positions by the signs T25 or T27 (ka), T178 (la), and T4 (NAH).

From now on, the text deepens to explain in a better way the prisoner’s role and who captured him or, at least, who lived the glory of this event:

A9 u.b’a:k(i) = ’ub’ahk = he is the prisoner of The glyph begins with one of the many variants of u (T1), the third person singular ergative pronoun

(which is not written, but occupies silently the ending), followed by b’a (T501) and ki (T102). Even if its meaning is “his bones belong to”, it is convenient translating it as “is the prisoner of”. It is worth mentioning that this idiosyncrasy indicates that the human being’s intangible and incorruptible essence resides in the bones, which warriors could use as an adornment or having them carved with their exploits’ record.

A10 tu.CH’AB’ = tuch’áhb’ = with his perforation Before telling directly the capturer’s name, the text moves to a more religious part, suggesting that the

reasons for the result were conceptually due to the correct ritual preparation of the battle. The first sign, tu (T89 or T92), is the contraction of the ti’ preposition and the ’u- ergative pronoun, a

merging that results in “with, with his”: the following sign is translated as “creation” (with the meaning of “the result of a ritual bloodletting”) and shows an obsidian lancet: its value as logogram is CH’AB’ (T712).

A11 ti.AJ:l(i) = ti’ ’ajal- = with the life-giver Once more we encounter the ti’ (T59), “with”, preposition, this time followed by a sign which did not

receive a catalog number by Thompson (who did not add it to his work): it is a compound of the sign for fire (T122) over the sign for darkness (T504), with a logographic value of AJ. The glyph ends with the sign li (T82), producing a case of underspelling (the second “a” is missing). The meaning of ’ajál is “the awakening” or, as an adjective, “awakener”. In the Maya culture the sense of “to awake” was used to express today’s “to give life”.

A12 ch’a.jo:m(a) = -ch’ajóhm = scattering of drops The first sign is ch’a (T93), followed by jo (T672), and ma (T288). Now, the suffix -óhm works (not

with a verb root) as an indicator of an action: in this case the root is the word ch’aj, “drops”, and refers to the result of a bloodletting, to the scattering of blood drops by the subject (whom we do not know yet). Finally, let us meet him, he who captured ’aj-Popolcháhy. Surprisingly enough, he is not a human being.

A13 YICH’AK.k’a:si = Yich’áhk K’asi’ = Yich’áhk K’asi’ The first part of his name is also the first part (the verb) of a nominal clause that ends with the

following glyph. The logogram that glyph begins with is the T5, YICH’AK, “(jaguar, as indicated by the blackened areas) claw”. It is followed by the syllabogram k’a (T669b) in a rare variant: its upper part is blackened, suggesting something “dark”. The last sign is si (T146).

From this latter compound we have to extract a word: it could be k’a’ís, k’ahs, k’aís, k’asi’, etc. Looking up in the Mayan language dictionaries, we find that, usually, the verb root <k’as> means “to break”.

B1 CHAN:n(a).B’ALUN:n(a) = Cháaŋ B’alu’úŋ = Cháaŋ B’alu’úŋ The first sign is well known as the symbol for sky, spelled cháaŋ in the Eastern Mayan languages; in

our case the sign for CHAN (T561) receives the na (T23) phonetic complement. The second part of the glyph is the sign of the 20-day score Pax patron deity, which is commonly thought to indicate the word te’, “tree”. Nevertheless, it is obvious that, whichever is the word here indicated by the logogram T1013b (it does exist also the variant T1058a), it has to end in -n(a), as indicated by the T23 phonetic complement; from what we said, and knowing that the patron deity is the “Jaguar God of the Underworld”, let us give the logogram the value B’ALUN, “jaguar”, thus obtaining b’alu’úŋ as the final result.

C1 K’IN:n(i).TAN:n(a) = K’intáaŋ = K’intáaŋ

Also this glyph begins with a well-known sign, the solar symbol: K’IN (T544), followed by its usual ni

(T116) phonetic complement. The second part includes the logogram TAN (better said, a curious variant of the T606 logogram), and the na (T23) phonetic complement, which give us a result táaŋ, “chest, center, front, before”.

B2 B’OLAY[IK’]:(la.yu) = ’Ik’b’oláhy = ’Ik’b’oláhy The last part of his name is constituted by the decapitated jaguar sign (T832) followed by the syllabic

sequence la and yu, expressed through the signs T178 and T339, a structure suggesting that the word that identifies the cat ends with these syllables, spelled b’oláhy. Nevertheless, the cat is blackened on its back, and it points to the hint that this is its color, ’ihk’. In sum, the deity’s name would be Cháaŋ B’alu’úŋ, K’intáaŋ ’Ik’b’oláhy, broadly translatable as “Jaguar of the Heavens, Dark jaguar with the fiery chest”. What are we supposed to do with its being black? Someone suggests the adjective should be added to his name, but we do not think it is necessary: the same name (with no adjective) is found in the Dresden Codex, and it indicates the same deity.

It is worth mentioning that this deity’s name is found also in the central panel from the Temple of the Sun (Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico), even if it is slightly different: K'iníhch Tajál Wayáhb', K'intáaŋ ’Ik’b'oláhy. He is the Triad deity scholars named GIII or “Sun Jaguar of the Underworld”, the deity of war.

C2 u.B’AH[AN]:n(u) = ’ub’ah’a’áŋ = being the self of Surprises never come to an end: this glyph indicates that the deity (during the battle) impersonated

another deity. The glyph telling us that begins with the third person singular ergative pronoun, u (T1/T2), followed by the unnumbered sign that only recently has been transcribed as B’AH[AN], “self[being]”, and transliterated <b’ah’a’áŋ> as a verb root. Finally, the phonetic complement -nu (T106) follows. Thus, the literal translation is “being the self of”.

B3 K’AK’:k’(a).#:wa:n(a) = K’ahk’ #wáaŋ = K’ahk’ #wáaŋ The first part of the deity’s name is introduced by the word “fire”, expressed by the K’AK’ (T122)

logogram and its -k’a (T669b) phonetic complement. Unfortunately, the following sign (even if it has

received the number T554) has still to be transliterated; this latter sign is followed by T130 (one of the variants of wa) and T23 (na), indicating that it is a verb, a verb that completes the phrase that stays for the deity’s name. We cannot guess its translation, but it is clear that among our options there are “to illuminate”, “to cut”, “to tear apart”, “to wound”, “to fill”, “to scatter”, etc.

C3 CHAN:n(a).K’AWIL:l(a) = Cháaŋ K’awíl = Cháaŋ K’awíl The second part of the deity’s name impersonated by the deity of war begins with the word Cháaŋ

(CHAN, T561, followed by -na, T23) and ends with the known name K’awíl (T1030b, K’AWIL, followed by -la, T178). This deity, whose name is extremely common throughout the inscriptions and the Colonial period literature, to the point of having become a Maya root last name, is the deity of royal blood and abundance, and at the same moment he represents the lightning. We could propose that his name (still untranslated) derives by k’ahk’, “fire” or k’a, “abundance”, and wi’íl, “root”, meaning “The origin of fire” or “The origin of abundance”.

Well, now that we realized the “dark jaguar” behaved as the “lightning”, the text goes on with the description of the events that happened the day of the battle, obviously beginning with a verb:

B4 xo:wa.j(a) = xo’wáj = he entered The action is “forcing oneself into”, expressed by the syllables xo (T536), wa (T130 with a curious

variant), and ja (T181).

C4 tu:KAB’.tu:CH’EN:n(a) = tuk’ab’, tuch’e’éŋ; = his land, his town; Glyph C4 shows the known “land-cave” difrasismo that most epigraphers still doubt in acknowledging

its meaning as “territory and seat of power”, thus indicating the politically controlled area and, at the same time, the town where the control was exercised from. The sequence is composed by tu (T89/T92) followed by the KAB’ (T526) logogram, and tu followed by the CH’EN (T598/T599) logogram with its -na (T23) phonetic complement. It is worth mentioning that the relationship between “cave” and “seat of power” is well established due to the fact that deities dwelled in caves under the mountains.

B5 ma:CH’AB[AK’AB’].l(i) = ma’ ch’ab’ál, ma’ ’ak’b’ál = without defense/power The glyph begins with ma (T74), here with a negative meaning, and goes on with a two-sign

compound: the lancet T712 (CH’AB’) with, in its interior, the T504 (AK’AB’) infix. The group ends with the -li (T82) phonetic complement. Even if it is complex, the sequence is another known difrasismo, one that indicates a prisoner’s powerless condition: the person has no power of “creation” and “contact” with his deities, being practically with no defense, at the enemy’s pity.

C5 ti.ya:YAL:l(a) = ti’ yahl = for the sons of The glyph is formed by the ti’ (T59) preposition, followed by the third person singular ergative

pronoun (ya-, T126, possessive, for words that begin with a vowel or a semivowel), added to the first letter of the following word, the possessed word YAL (T561b in T670) with its -la (T178) phonetic complement. Yahl is the common parentage statement, usually used with matrilineal meaning.

B6 AJ.ke:AJAW = ’aj-ke’ŋ ’ajáw, = he who says he is lord, The glyph supposedly indicates a person or a family: introduced by the sign AJ (T12) that we already

know, this sign is followed by the ke (T711) syllabogram, and, above it, the AJAW (T168) compound. It is of the utmost difficulty to propose a transliteration to achieve a translation: the glyph could be read ’aj-Ke’ ’ajáw, “the lord of Ke’”, but then it would be indicating an unknown place or family. Some scholars offered the reading ’Ak’e’ ’ajáw, with reference to the dynasty of the Rio Lacanhá valley, but we have problems with this interpretation: first, the introductory sign is doubtless AJ, not a; second, the following sign is clearly ke, not k’e; lastly, the ruler who was “lord of Xukalnáh” in 729 AD was, since 717 AD, K’iních Chakchíj, who died in 732 AD.

Furthermore, the “lord of ’Ak’e’” was, at least since 723 AD, the ruler K’ab’ Cháaŋ Te’ [III] from Plan de Ayutla, and apparently the Xukalnáh family’s power of seat passed under the control of Yaxchilán in 732 AD. To sum all data up, apparently ’Aj-Popolcháhy was ruling a site related with the Xukalnáh dynasty, but not its leader. We should understand that the dynasty that branched out from Xukalnáh occupied several places.

There is a plausible hypothesis: relying on the tojolabal meaning of ke’ŋ as “to say being someone, to boast”, and that often l’s, m’s, and n’s were not written as word endings, the glyph could be translated “he who says he is". Being so, we would have solved all problems.

C6 ti.IX:MIH:n(a) = b’alunmihíhŋ = with lots of death The reading of this glyph is of the most descriptive importance: following ti’, “with” (T59), there is the

phrase b’alunmihíhŋ or balu’únmíh, “lots of death”. For the first transliteration the -na (T23) suffix has to be considered part of the MIH (T807) sign, while for the second it would be the phonetic complement to IX. We opt for the first of the two, and whatever the result, the translation would be practically the same.

D1 KAK’:PUL.OCH:CH’EN:n(a) = k’ak’puláj ’ochi’ ch’e’éŋ = entered the town filling it up with fire

Once more, this glyph gives us transliteration but not translation issues. The first half (to the left) is

composed by the “fire”, K’AK’ (T122), sign, superimposed to an upside-down jar containing some liquid. We offer the PUL transliteration, recalling the similarity to another sign (T686b, that was used also inverted, with the meaning of kihb’, “tasteful”) that actually shows a Saint Andrew’s cross and has a sure meaning related to the concept of “to fill with fire”.

Similarly, we will handle it as an adverb and not a verb, due to the presence of OCH (T207) preceding CH’EN (T598/T599) and its phonetic complement -na (T23) in the second half of the glyph

E1 V.WINIKAB’:AJAW = ho’ w inikáhb’ ’ajáw = lord of five 20-score periods, Finally, and occupying in full the last two columns of the inscription, the text delivers the name of the

protagonist of the battle. As usual, we find his titles first. The first one indicates broadly for how long the person has been formally belonging to the nobility, using the 20-year (of 360 days) score periods: the amount (V) is followed by the period’s logogram (WINIKAB’, T28:548), and then the indication of his status, AJAW (T168).

The whole construction deserves a few more lines. First, using the number 5 means that 4 periods have been completed and 5 not reached, thus the subject has been a nobleman for more than 80 years, but less than 100 (more precisely, more than 28,800 and less than 36,000 days). Second, the 20-year score period’s logogram is confirmed, but not so its transliteration, which has been fluctuating along time and languages; there exist three basic options: winikáhb’, kukáhb’, and k’atúŋ. The first of them is indicated by the occasional presence of the wi- phonetic complement in other inscriptions; the second one can be found in the

Alfredo Barrera Vásquez’s Mayan-Spanish vocabulary; and the third one was the traditional word in the Northern Yucatan peninsula during the period the Spaniards first met the Mayas, but there is only a written example of it (with the -na phonetic complement), dating from the middle of the 9th century AD from a site located in Chiapas.

Even if the third option should not be discharged, the proposal seems a little distant from Yaxchilán’s linguistic reality, leaving us with a 55% preference for the first one and 45% for the second one.

Finally, the “nobleman” status is indicated by the T168 logogram, a curious evolution of two separate signs, the ones for AJ and po. It is probable that in earlier times the structure were ’aj-Póhp, “he who sits on the mat”, an expression still in use in Guatemala as ’aj-Po’, but the transliteration ’ajáw, “he who speaks loudly”, is confirmed for the presence in 80% of the inscriptions by the -wa phonetic complement. More interesting is the fact that this logogram is only a part of the full logogram, which is hidden below the T28:548, clarifying that the Mayan writing system included also the possibility of superimposing words: this way, what was seemingly to be read last, has to be read first.

D2 V:WINIKAB’.b’a:TE’ = ho’ w inikáhb’ b’ate’ = warrior of five 20-score periods, In a similar manner to the previous sentence, the subject is also a “warrior” in his 5th 20-year score

period, as indicated by the sequence V and T28:548, followed by b’a (T501) and the TE’ (T87) logogram. The word b’ate’ indicates the fact of being a “warrior”.

E2 a.I:sa:s(a):B’AK = ’a-Ju’unsasb’áhk = he of the Uniquely shining bones, After the titles referring to his age, we find a more personal one, a phrase that is little understood and

mentions the “shininess” of the subject’s bones. The glyph begins with an a (T229) to define the gender, then the number I follows, here as the adjective “unique” or “eternal”, and lastly the sa (T563) syllable twice repeated (another adjective), to end with the word “bone”, B’AK (T109).

D3 AJ.III:LAKAM[TUN].n(i) = ’aj-Uxlakantúŋ = he of the many stelae, A fourth title records that, along the subject’s life, he consecrated many stelae. Actually, the glyph

handles the number III (after the male gender affix AJ, T12), giving us the doubt whether the text mentions

just three monuments or many, the translation being the same. If we check the time the subject stayed in power, we will see that it works for three stelae (considering one of them every twenty years).

Be as it may, the glyph ends with the word “stelae” (better, “cumbersome stones”) expressed by the LAKAM (T213) and TUN (T528) logograms, the latter followed by the -ni (T116) phonetic complement.

E3 U.cha:CHAN = ’uchanúl = the guardian of Among the common titles there is the one that refers to the number of prisoners taken in battle or to

those who were the most important one(s) for the warrior’s glory. Here, we find ourselves facing the second case, for the glyph is the one used to indicate the captor’s characteristic of “guardian”. Introduced by the u (T1/T2) sign, the word “guardian” is defined by the cha- (T108) phonetic complement and the CHAN (T764) logogram.

D4 a.NIK:k(i) = ’a-Ník = he… The important prisoner is well known, due to the fact that his name is always mentioned along with the

captor’s name. He was someone from the site Naranjo-Frontera (also known as La Florida and Ocoltun), vanquished between February 24 and 25, 681 AD, eight months before the accession of the ruler who captured him. So, it is an event that predates of almost fifty years the one recorded on Stela 18.

Back to the prisoner, even if he is known, his name cannot be transliterated with certainty, thus the same for the translation: the different options for the T533 sign are many. On the other hand, the first (T229) and the last (T102) signs, that we already met, are established with no doubt.

E4 ITS.B’ALAM:m(a) = ’Itsambáhlam = ’Itsamb’áhlam [III] Finally, this glyph contains the Yaxchilán ruler’s royal name, a name already used by some of his

ancestors and also used by one successor, forcing us to locate him in the sequence as the third one. His name is composed by the ITS (T152) logogram and the B’ALAM (T751a) sign with its -ma (T314, similar to T288) phonetic complement. The closest translation for his name is “the Jaguar who is the Creator ancestor”.

D5 K’UH.KAJ:AJAW = k’uhúl kaj ’ajáw = god-like lord of the city, Getting closer to the end, after having met the ruler who won the battle, the inscription got closed by

his divine titles, the most important ones, beginning with a little understood title that Yaxchilán’s rulers have used at the end of the local inscription era (more or less eighty year after Stela 18).

Introduced by the K’UH (T37, in this case) god-like logogram (the blood group, according to the traditional definition), the glyph follows the superimposed signs structure: KAJ (with no number) follows, and then AJAW (T168). Well now, kaj means “town, city”, and the offered proposal is based on the fact that this sign was found as part of a syllabic sequence where its phonetic value is -ka-. Thus, its transliteration and translation are still doubtful.

E5 K’UH.PA’[CHAN]:n(a):AJAW = k’uhúl Pa’cháaŋ ’ajáw = god-like Pa’cháaŋ lord, The second divine title is more traditional for Yaxchilán’s rulers. The glyph follows the previously seen

structure, with K’UH (T36), PA’[CHAN] (T562), -na (T23), and AJAW (T168). The dynasty’s name means “Broken heavens”.

D6 b’a.ka:b’(a) = b’ahkáb’ = first ruler, Now, the ruler receives the title of “first ruler”, following the sequence b’a (T501), ka (T23), and

again b’a (T501); the first sign has the meaning of “first, head”, and the second word evokes images of he who coordinates the work in the cornfield, he who gives orders.

E6 OCH:K’IN:n(i).KALOM.TE’ = ’Ochk’íŋ Kalóhm Te’ = Conqueror of the West The very last glyph contains the last title, possibly the most important: “Conqueror of the West”, a title

that for the first time was received by the teotihuacano military leader who conquered today’s Northern Guatemala in 378 AD, and then ascribed to the most belligerent rulers. “West” is expressed by the term “Entrance of the Sun”, indicated by the OCH (T221) logogram followed by its -ni (T116) phonetic

complement; the word “Conqueror” is actually the English version for “Trees Ripper”, from the <kal> root verb plus the -óhm (“he who rips”) agentive, followed by te’, “tree”. The Kalóhm part is expressed via the “chopper” (T1030n, which includes TE´) sign, and the Te’ part via the TE’ (T87) sign. It is worth mentioning that it is not easy to understand if “West” means the place the conqueror comes from, the conquered area, or if it is only a standardized title.

The inscription comes to a full completion in the iconographic part of the monument, with a short caption located between the prisoner and the ruler, a caption that repeats the prisoner’s name:

F1 a.po:l(o) = ’aj-Popol- = ’aj-Popol- In this glyph the AJ sign is substituted by a (T229), demonstrating the interchangeability of the two;

then, the po (T622) and lo (T580) signs.

F2 cha.y(a) = -cháhy, = -cháhy, The second part of his name is given by the cha (T520) and ya (T126) signs.

F3 xu[AJAW]:ka.NAH = Xukalnáh ’ajáw = lord of Xukalnáh

This glyph repeats with minimal variations the A8 glyph: the bat head this time has a band in the upper part, used to conflate the AJAW infix; all the rest is the same.

CONCLUSIONS

Now we can parallel the traditional free translation (which does not use either accents or phonetic

transliterations) and the literal one. To the reader is left the decision. “At sunset, on July 14, 729 AD, ’aj-Popolcháhy, ’a-Payál Mo’ól, lord of Xukalnáh, was captured; he is

the prisoner of the life-giver penance of the “Jaguar God of the Underworld”, who impersonated the god K’awíl; he entered his town, #’s sons remained with no defense; the lord of 5 k’atuns, the warrior of 5 k’atuns, he of the unique shining bones, he of the three stelae, the captor of #, ’Itsamnaaj B’ahlam [III], god-

like lord of the City, god-like lord of Yaxchilan, first on the earth, Western Kaloomte’, entered the town spreading fire”.

“With the Sun bleeding on 3 ’Ehb’ with 14 Molów was tied up at his wrists and ankles Mat Fish, he who is the Jaguar Paw which Leads, lord of the Cornered Houses; his bones belong to the life-giver creation of the Jaguar who Tears apart the Heavens with his Claws, the Dark Jaguar with the Solar Chest, being the self of the Lightning who # the Heavens; he forced himself into his land, his seat of power; there were no creations, there had no contacts [with the patron deities] for the sons of the one who calls himself a lord; with lots of death entered fire-filling the seat of power the lord of five-period scores, the warrior of five-period scores, he who has uniquely shining bones, he of the many cumbersome stones, the guardian of #, Jaguar who is the Creator Ancestor [III], god-like lord of the City, god-like lord of Broken Heavens, first ruler, Trees Ripper from the Entrance of the Sun”.