Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán
Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. This
ancient Maya city mirrors the beauty of the physical landscape in which it
flourished—a fertile, well-watered mountain valley in western Honduras at an
elevation of 600 meters (1,970 feet) above mean sea level. It was the capital
city of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD. The
city was in the extreme southeast of the Mesoamerican cultural region, on the
frontier with the Isthmo-Colombian cultural region, and was almost surrounded
by non-Maya peoples.
Copán was occupied for more than two thousand years. The city developed a
distinctive sculptural style within the tradition of the lowland Maya, perhaps
to emphasize the Maya ethnicity of the city's rulers.
Copán was a powerful city ruling a vast kingdom within the southern Maya area.
The city suffered a major political disaster in AD 738 when Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah
K'awiil, one of the greatest kings in Copán's dynastic history, was captured
and executed by his former vassal, the king of Quiriguá. This unexpected
defeat resulted in a 17-year hiatus at the city, during which time Copán may
have been subject to Quiriguá in a reversal of fortunes.
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Entrance to the archaeological site of Copán.
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Model with the reconstruction of Copán.
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Map of Copán.
On this map north is at the top and south is at the bottom. The entry
and exit of the archaeological site is made from the west (left).
- The circuit covered is marked with red arrows.
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The floor of the Copán Valley.
In the Preclassic period the floor of the Copán Valley was undulating,
swampy and prone to seasonal flooding. In the Early Classic, the
inhabitants flattened the valley floor and undertook construction
projects to protect the city's architecture from the effects of
flooding.
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Passing in front of Structure 8.
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Walking towards the West Court.
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Temple of the Inscriptions.
The Temple of the Inscriptions, Structure 11, is on the west side of the
Acropolis. It encloses the south side of the Court of the Hieroglyphic
Stairway and is accessed from it by a wide monumental stairway.
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This structure appears to have been the royal palace of Yax Pasaj Chan
Yopaat, the 16th ruler in the dynastic succession and the last known
king of Copán.
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Structure 11 was built on top of several earlier structures, one of
which probably contains the tomb of his predecessor K'ak' Yipyaj Chan
K'awiil. A small tunnel descends into the interior of the structure,
possibly to the tomb, but it has not yet been excavated by
archaeologists.
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Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat built a new temple platform over his
predecessor's tomb in AD 769. On top of this he placed a two-storey
superstructure with a sculpted roof depicting the mythological cosmos.
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At each of its northern corners was a large sculpted Pawatun (a group
of deities that supported the heavens). This superstructure had four
doorways with panels of hieroglyphs sculpted directly onto the walls
of the building.
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A bench inside the structure, removed by Maudslay in the nineteenth
century and now in the British Museum's collection, once depicted the
king's accession to the throne, overseen by deities and ancestors.
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Rosalila Temple.
The Rosalila Temple, Structure 16, is a temple pyramid that is the
highest part of the Acropolis. It is located between the East and West
Courts at the heart of the ancient city. The temple faces the West Court
within the Acropolis and is dedicated to K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', the
dynastic founder. The temple was placed on top of the original palace
and tomb of the king. It is the final version of a number of temples
built on top of each other, as was common practice in Mesoamerica.
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The earliest version of this temple is nicknamed Hunal; it was
built in the talud-tablero style of architecture that was typical of
Teotihuacan, with traces of brightly colored murals on the surviving
traces of the interior walls. The king was buried in a vaulted crypt
that was cut into the floor of the Hunal phase of the building,
accompanied by rich offerings of jade.
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K'inich Popol Hol, son of the founder, demolished the palace of his
father and built a platform on top of his tomb, named Yehnal by
archaeologists. It was built in a distinctively Petén Maya style and
bore large masks of K'inich Tajal Wayib', the sun god, which were
painted red.
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This platform was encased within another much larger platform within a
decade of its construction. This larger platform has been named
Margarita and had stucco panels flanking its access stairway
that bore entwined images of quetzals and macaws, which both form a
part of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo's name. The Margarita phase contained a
tomb with the richly accompanied burial of an elderly woman nicknamed
the "Lady in Red". It is likely that she was the widow of K'inich Yax
K'uk' Mo' and the mother of K'inich Popol Hol. The upper chamber of
the Margarita phase temple was converted to receive offerings and the
unusual Xukpi stone, a dedicatory monument used in one of the earlier
phases, was reused in this later phase.
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One of the best preserved phases of Temple 16 is the Rosalila,
built over the remains of five previous versions of the temple.
Archaeologist Ricardo Agurcia discovered the almost intact shrine
while tunneling underneath the final version of the temple. Rosalila
is notable for its excellent state of preservation, including the
entire building from the base platform up to the roof comb, including
its highly elaborate painted stucco decoration. Rosalila features
K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' placed at the centre of a mythological tableau,
combining the founder of the dynasty with the sky deity Itzamna in
avian form. The mythological imagery also includes anthropomorphic
mountains, skeletons and crocodiles. Vents in the exterior were
designed so smoke from incense being burned inside the shrine would
interact with the stucco sculpture of the exterior. The temple had a
hieroglyphic stone step with a dedicatory inscription. The stone step
is less well preserved than the rest of the building, but a date in AD
571 has been deciphered. Due to the deforestation of the Copán valley,
the Rosalila building was the last structure at the site to use such
elaborate stucco decoration — vast quantities of firewood could no
longer be spared to reduce limestone to plaster. A life-size copy of
the Rosalila building has been built at the Copán site museum.
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Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil encased the Rosalila phase under a new
version of the building in the early 8th century AD. An offering was
made as part of the rites to terminate the old phase and included a
collection of eccentric flints worked into the profiles of humans and
gods, wrapped in blue-dyed textiles, as well as a 1.5 m (5 ft) shark
brought to the city from the nearest ocean, some 42 km (26 mi)
distant.
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Altar Q.
Altar Q, on the far right of the photo, is the most famous monument at
Copán.
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It was dedicated by king Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat in AD 776 and has each
of the first 16 kings of the Copán dynasty carved around its side.
- Each figure is depicted seated on his name glyph.
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A hieroglyphic text is inscribed on the upper surface, relating the
founding of the dynasty in AD 426–427.
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On one side, it shows the dynastic founder K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'
transferring power to Yax Pasaj.
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Tatiana Proskouriakoff first discovered the inscription on the West
Side of Altar Q that tells us the date of the inauguration of Yax
Pasaj.
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This portrayal of political succession tells us much about Early
Classic Maya culture.
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Walking towards the South Residential Zone.
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South Residential Zone.
The Cemetery Group is immediately south of the Main Group and includes a
number of small structures and plazas.
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Walking towards the East Court.
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Temple 22 and the Mat House.
The East Court with Temple 22 (right) and the Mat House (left).
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Temple 22 and the Mat House, Structure 22, is a large building on the
north side of the East Court, in the Acropolis, and faces onto it.
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It dates to the reign of Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil and is the best
preserved of the buildings from his rule.
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The superstructure of the building has an interior doorway with an
elaborate sculpted frame and decorated with masks of the mountain god
Witz.
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The outer doorway is framed by the giant mask of a deity, and has
stylistic similarities with the Chenes regional style of distant
Yucatán.
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The temple was built to celebrate the completion of the king's first
K'atun in power, in AD 715, and has a hieroglyphic step with a
first-person phrase "I completed my K'atun".
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The building symbolically represents the mountain where maize was
created.
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Climbing between Temple 22 and the Mat House.
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East Court.
View of the East Court from the corner between Temple 22 (left) and the
Mat House (right).
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Stela N and the Hieroglyphic Stairway.
Stela N (left) and the Hieroglyphic Stairway (right) seen from south to
north.
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Ballcourt and the Hieroglyphic Stairway.
The Ballcourt (center) and the Hieroglyphic Stairway (right) seen from
south to north.
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West Court and Rosalila Temple.
The West Court (right) and the Rosalila Temple with Altar Q (left) seen
from the top of the Temple of the Inscriptions.
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Temple of the Inscriptions.
Walking on top of the Temple of the Inscriptions. Crossing from east to
west.
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Ballcourt and the Hieroglyphic Stairway.
The Ballcourt (center) and the Hieroglyphic Stairway (right) seen from
southwest to northeast.
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Going down to the Large Square.
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Arriving at the Large Square.
The Ballcourt is in the center and the Hieroglyphic Stairway is to the
right.
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Structure 7.
As soon as we enter the Large Square we have Structure 7 on our left.
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Stela N.
Stela N was dedicated by K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil in AD 761 and placed
at the foot of the steps to the Temple of the Inscriptions, which is
believed to contain his burial.
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The Hieroglyphic Stairway.
The Hieroglyphic Stairway climbs the west side of Structure 26. It is 10
meters (33 ft) wide and has a total of 62 steps.
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Stela M and its associated altar are at its base and a large sculpted
figure is located in the centre of every 12th step.
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These figures are believed to represent the most important rulers in
the dynastic history of the site.
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The stairway takes its name from the 2200 glyphs that together form
the longest known Maya hieroglyphic text.
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The text is still being reconstructed, having been scrambled by the
collapse of the glyphic blocks when the façade of the temple
collapsed.
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The staircase measures 21 m (69 ft) long and was first built by
Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil in AD 710, being reinstalled and expanded
in the following phase of the temple by K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil in
AD 755.
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The Ballcourt.
The Ballcourt is immediately north of the Court of the Hieroglyphic
Stairway and is to the south of the Monument Plaza.
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It was remodeled by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, who then demolished it
and built a third version, which was one of the largest from the
Classic period.
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It was dedicated to the great macaw deity and the buildings flanking
the playing area carried 16 mosaic sculptures of the birds.
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The completion date of the ballcourt is inscribed with a hieroglyphic
text upon the sloping playing area and is given as 6 January 738.
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The Large Square.
Walking through the Large Square towards the group of stelae.
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The Monument Plaza or Great Plaza is on the north side of the Main
Group.
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Stela 4.
Stela 4 was erected by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil in the early 8th
century AD.
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At the southern periphery of the Maya region, Copán developed a new
high-relief style of stelae and in 652 the twelfth king Chan Imix
Kʼawiil arranged a series of these stelae to define the sacred
geometry of the city, and to celebrate his royal rule and his
ancestors.
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His son and successor Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil further developed
this new high-relief style of sculpture and erected a series of
intricately decorated stelae in the city's Great Plaza that brought
the carving of stelae close to full in-the-round three-dimensional
sculpture.
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Both of these kings focused on their own images on their stelae and
emphasised their place in the dynastic sequence to justify their rule,
possibly linked to a break in the dynastic sequence with the death of
the eleventh king of Copán.
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See more at
Maya stelae - Wikipedia.
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Structure 4 and Stela A.
Structure 4 (left) is a platform with four stairways situated by the
Monument Plaza. Stela A (right) was erected in 731 by Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah
K'awiil. It places his rulership among the four most powerful kingdoms
in the Maya region, alongside Palenque, Tikal and Calakmul.
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Leaving the Large Square.
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Scarlet macaw.
The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) is a large yellow, red and blue
Central and South American parrot, a member of a large group of
Neotropical parrots called macaws. It is native to humid evergreen
forests of the Neotropics. Its range extends from south-eastern Mexico
to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil in lowlands of
500 m (1,600 ft) up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft), the Caribbean island of
Trinidad, as well as the Pacific island of Coiba.
- It is the national bird of Honduras.
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Like its relative the blue-and-yellow macaw, the scarlet macaw is a
popular bird in aviculture as a result of its striking plumage.
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See more at
Scarlet macaw - Wikipedia.
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See also
Source
Location
