In my first posting on Quiriguá, I focused on the Great Plaza and Cauac Sky, Quiriguá's greatest ruler. He took power in a coup d'etat against 18 Rabbit, his overlord from the powerful city-state of Copán, only 48k (30 mi) to the south. In this posting, I will show the Acropolis area and the great zoomorphic sculptures, many of which are found along its north side. I will also present a picture of the power relations and political landscape of the Classic Era Maya world that allowed the ruler of a relatively minor principality to seize and behead the king of a great state--and get away with it! For a map of the Maya world as it existed at the time of Quiriguá, click here. Quiriguá is located in the southeast corner of Guatemala, just north of the border with Honduras and a bit inland from the Caribbean Sea.
The Acropolis area.
Although there were quite a number of Maya city states during the Classic Era (250-900 AD), the four most important were Tikal, Calakmul, Copán, and Palenque. Quiriguá was client-state of Copán, established as a commercial crossroad on the important trade routes along the Motogua River (west to east) and between Tikal and Copán (north to south). The two most powerful states ("superpowers" in modern terms) were Tikal and Calakmul, intense rivals for hundreds of years. Calakmul was the older power and claimed political and cultural descent from the great Pre-Classic Maya civilization based at El Mirador just south of Guatemala's present-day border with Mexico. El Mirador flourished from 600 BC to 100 AD, falling into a jungle ruin shortly before the beginning of the Classic Era. Some archaeologists believe that Calakmul was settled by elites who migrated there from the fallen El Mirador. If you check the Maya World map on the link, you can see that El Mirador lies approximately 1/2 way between Calakmul on the north and Tikal on the south.
Tikal arose during the El Mirador period and came into its own after that civilization fell. The rivalry between Tikal and Calakmul apparently intensified after Tikal's conquest by an army from faraway Teotihucan, north of present-day Mexico City. In 426 AD, a generation after that conquest, the ruler of Tikal sent an army south to take control of the areas north and south of the Motagua River near the present-day border between Guatemala and Honduras. These areas had been settled as early as 400 BC by non-Maya people. Their new rulers were "Mexicanized Maya" or may even have been full-blooded Teotihuacans. DNA from bones in an elite tomb in Copán that dates from this period shows that the ruler was of a different ethnicity from the local indigenous people. In addition, artifacts from his tomb show warriors dressed in the Teotihuacan style. The lord of Quiriguá was installed as a sub-ruler or vassal of the new Maya/Teotihuacan king of Copán three days after the Copán king took power. Thus began the long period of Quiriguá's political and economic subservience. Both Copán and Quirguá were part of the constellation of allies and subject cities accumulated by Tikal as part of its superpower rivalry with Calakmul.
Just as Tikal was establishing a complex set of alliances, either by warfare or diplomacy, so was Calakmul. In fact, that city followed a consistent policy of encircling Tikal with a hostile network of allies. Various of these allied cities changed hands, and elite groups were driven out or returned to power, all over a long period of time. Palenque, a Tikal ally in present-day Mexico's Chiapas State to the west, was seized by Calakmul several times. In 562 AD, Calakmul dealt Tikal a decisive defeat and the latter city was eclipsed for 130 years. Tikal eventually revived, and in 695 AD delivered a defeat to Calakmul from which it never fully recovered. Even so, it continued as a powerful and dangerous enemy to Tikal well into the Post-Classic era. Any student of the long struggle between ancient Carthage and Rome, or of Renaissance Italy during Machiavelli's time, or even of the modern political machinations between the United States and the old Soviet Union, will find much of this ancient Maya history startlingly familiar.
While Copán itself was not subservient to Tikal, it was definitely an ally. Calakmul sought a way to weaken Tikal by weakening Copán. The man ruling Copán at the time was Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, also known as 18 Rabbit. He was the 13th ruler of the dynasty established when Tikal's army had conquered the non-Maya inhabitants of Copán back in 426 AD. 18 Rabbit reigned from 695-738 AD and was Copán's greatest king. He was very powerful in the southern Maya area of that time.
In 724 AD, 18 Rabbit appointed K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat (Cauac Sky) as Quiriguá's ruler. Cauac Sky, you will remember from Part 10a of this series, was the man whose face appears on most of the beautiful stelae at Quiriguá. 18 Rabbit was getting old at this time, and he may not have paid close enough attention to how ambitious this young man really was.
Cauac Sky apparently chafed at his subordinate role as ajaw (lord), and lusted to become k'ul ajaw (holy lord) a title indicating independent rulership. In fact, after 10 years in office, in 734 AD, he began using the emblem for k'ul ajaw, a fact that no doubt would have brought a swift reaction from 18 Rabbit in his younger days. Nothing was done to curb Cauac Sky, however.
As his ambitions grew, Cauac Sky realized that he could never, on his own, defeat powerful Copán and gain his independence. In true Machiavellian fashion, he looked around for an ally and protector whose interests would be served by the humbling of Copán, but who also would be too far away to threaten the independence he so desired. Calakmul, seeking to weaken Tikal, was happy to undermine Tikal's ally, Copán. In 736 AD, two years after usurping the title of k'ul ajaw, Cauac Sky invited the ruler of Calakmul to pay him a visit. Since arrangements for a state visit like this don't happen overnight, it is possible that he initiated contact with Calakmul not long after he declared himself to be k'ul ajaw.
Although elderly by now, 18 Rabbit was still active enough to lead an expedition whose purpose was to gather captives for sacrifice back at Copán. Apparently he wanted to celebrate the completion of a new ball court. He set off in April of 738 AD, but seems to have been ambushed by Cauac Sky with the possible help of warriors from Calakmul. Several of Copán's wooden deities, typically carried into battle on palanquins, were captured and burned. That was a significant psychological blow to Copán, but the real disaster was the capture of 18 Rabbit himself.
18 Rabbit was dragged back to Quiriguá and publicly beheaded in the main plaza 3 days after his capture. Such an event would no doubt have entailed a great ceremony with warriors in full dress and thousands of people in attendance. Cauac Sky had won independence from Copán, but could he keep it? Would 18 Rabbit's successor react in fury and destroy Cauac Sky, and Quiriguá with him, for the killing of Copán's greatest ruler in such an underhanded manner by man who was supposed to be a loyal follower?
The death of 18 Rabbit paralyzed Copán. His successor, K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil was not installed until 39 days after 18 Rabbit's death. In fact, very little is known of the successor or of this period because all new building, particularly that of monuments with inscriptions, ceased for 17 years. Oddly, Cauac Sky did not go on to seize power in Copán. He remained in Quiriguá and there is no indication of any physical damage to either city as a result of his coup d'etat. In addition to the internal chaos caused by the death of 18 Rabbit, his successor probably feared retaliation from Calakmul should he attempt revenge upon Quiriguá. Cauac Sky's Machiavellian diplomacy seems to have paid off.
The Zoomorphs and their Altars
Copán suffered a significant decline after 18 Rabbit's execution. Not only did it lose its most illustrious ruler, it lost economic control over the vital crossroads that was Quiriguá. Rich beds of jade existed upstream on either side of the Motagua River. Jade was the most valuable commodity in the Mesoamerican world, and traders traveled down the river to the Caribbean, passing through the southern outskirts of Quiriguá. In addition, Copán lost its direct northward trade route to Tikal, that also passing through Quiriguá. The severe reduction of revenue may have played a role in the 17-year cessation of monument building in Copán. The flip side of this coin was that Quiriguá gained everything that Copán lost: an illustrious and long-lived ruler and great wealth.
Cauac Sky decided to make Quirguá the showplace of his rulership. He began a building campaign that lasted throughout the 47 years he ruled after his triumph over 18 Rabbit. He created the immense Great Plaza, the largest in the Maya world. The Acropolis was expanded and he built fine structures on top. At the end of every katun (five year interval on the Maya calendar) he put up another stelae, celebrating his rule, boasting of his accomplishments, and tying his reign to great figures of the past. He also commissioned zoomorphs and altars, although the best of these appear to have been the work of his successor Sky Xul.
Cauac Sky and his successors also commissioned many of the Zoomorphs at Quiriguá. The style used is distinctly that of Copán, indicating that he may have captured some of 18 Rabbit's craftsmen, or perhaps he and his successors lured them away from Copán with promises of lucrative work. In any case, it indicates Quirguá's continued strong cultural identification with its former overlord city.
jaguar is the third largest of the world's great cats, exceeded in size only by the African lion and the Indian tiger. It is a powerful predator and, not surprisingly, became a great religious and political symbol to people in the Mesoamerican world, all the way back to the Olmecs, the "Mother of Cultures".
Cauac Sky had only two known successors, Sky Xul (785-800? AD) and Jade Heaven (800-810 AD). After the long rule of Cauac Sky, these were relatively short reigns. Sky Xul ordered the creation of the greatest of the zoomorphs and altars, while Jade Heaven made some alternations in the Acropolis.
Throughout the long reign of Cauac Sky and during that of Sky Xul, Quirigua continued to enjoy the benefits of its control over the trade crossroads it occupied. However, clouds were gathering over the Maya world. Incessant wars, soil exhaustion, deforestation, overpopulation, disease, and occasional earthquakes or other natural disasters all combined to weaken the Maya city-states, including Quiriguá.
Quiriguá depended not only on its own resources, but on the trade along the Motagua River between the interior of what is now Guatemala and the Caribbean, as well as that which flowed north and south between Tikal and the other cities of the Petén and Copán. As those cities successively went through collapse and abandonment, trade dried up, and with it Quiriguá's main reason for existence.
After Jade Heaven's short, 10-year reign, no other rulers are recorded for Quiriguá. The materials used in Jade Heaven's monuments appear to be inferior to those of his predecessors and his stelae are stunted. Quiriguá managed to maintain its independence from Copán during this period, possibly because Copán was undergoing similar decline. Relations between the two cities were apparently good. In 810 AD, when the last known inscription in Quiriguá was carved, it recorded the visit of the ruler of Copán who helped celebrate the ending of a five-year katun. After that came the silence that engulfed all of the Classic-Era Maya world of the 9th Century. Soon, the ravenous jungle began to creep over the ruins of Quiriguá, Copán, and all the rest. The only sounds remaining became those of the birds and the howler monkeys in the forest canopy above.
This completes my postings on Quiriguá and on Guatemala. It's been a long run, and if you followed the whole series, I appreciate your patience. I hope you have enjoyed Guatemala as much as we did when we visited in March. If you'd like to comment, please use the Comments section below, or email me directly.
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Hasta luego, Jim