In my “exhibit”, I focus primarily on examining three specific Maya women, using them as models to draw conclusions about the Maya royal women in a more general sense. These women, in no particular order are Lady Xoc of Yaxchilan, Lady K’abel of El Perú Waka’, and Lady Six Sky of Naranjo. As something of an outline, I aim to explore the roles of these women in steps. First I discuss the role of bridal diplomat, elaborating on the purpose such a woman serves for her family in marriage. I will then examine the Moon Goddess and how we can identify when Maya women are being depicted as her, as well as discussing the spiritual and cultural meanings these women take on by donning the guise of the Moon. Then I will focus on the spiritual and political significance a Maya woman possesses of her own accord, without drawing on that of deity. How she serves as a diviner and wellspring of her ancestor’s bloodline, and spiritual dimensions of a Maya marriage alliance. I will then examine the role of a normative Maya royal woman in warfare and expand on her significance as a diviner while delving lightly into divination as a component of war strategy. My final piece will examine non-normative Maya women. It focuses on a woman operating as a sole ruler and overseeing successful military campaigns, how she titles herself, and what spiritual symbolism underpins her political authority and legitimacy as a ruler. 

This piece is part of a record pertaining to the arrival at Sak Nikte’ of three royal brides from the kaan dynasty of Calakmul. These women who came to wed the kings of Sak Nikte’ did so in 520 AD, 679 AD, and 721 AD(Reese-Taylor 39). The earliest, incidentally, “is the earliest recorded event linking a royal woman with warfare”(Reese-Taylor 40). These marriages, and their recurrence over generations, indicates a longstanding interest on the kaan’s part in securing the friendship and cooperation of Sak Nikte’(Gillepsie 192). To the Maya, the house that receives a wife is inferior to the house that provides her. It follows then that when these women wed they enhanced the relative prestige and position of their family, rather than serving as a mere simple currency with which to diplomatically secure an alliance. They served a vital role in elevating the kaan, extending the kaan’s influence throughout the lowlands, and strengthening kaan hegemony as a whole(Navarro-Farr 45). And, as will be further discussed in later exhibits, these royal brides did not diminish in value once they had been wed. They possessed notable prestige and received great esteem in their new homes. 

What is also of note in this piece is that both of the daughters of the kaan shown are each depicted to have come to meet her husband standing atop a war palanquin, one bride’s palanquin formed of jaguars and the other’s crowned by a serpent. While likely not the intent of the long-dead hands of this sculptor of Sak Nikte’, the nature of these arrivals happens to paint an eloquent picture. Brides coming upon battle-palanquins serves as a perfect emblem of these crucial agents of the expansion of Calakmul’s power throughout the lowlands and the ascendancy of the kaan.

Second:
Object: Alabaster Pot and Jadeite Bead Head
Found at: El Perú Waka’, Burial 61
Date: Late Classic Period.

These pieces allow us to talk about what appears to be a primary vehicle through which Maya royal women exert political and spiritual power. Both of these highlight associations with the Maya Moon Goddess.

In the first piece, the kneeling woman is wearing a beaded net skirt. In the Maya faith, such skirts are symbolic of both the Maize God and the Moon Goddess. The deity intended to be displayed appears to be able to be determined by the length of the skirt. Royal men would wear a shorter skirt to take on the role of the Maize God, while royal women would wear a longer one to take on the role of the Moon Goddess(Reese-Taylor 43). The presence of a beaded net skirt is very common in depictions of royal women, and indicates that such a woman is acting in her capacity as an avatar of or otherwise playing the role of the Moon Goddess. 

Our second, two-part, piece is also emblematic of the Moon Goddess. The burial it was retrieved from, Burial 61, is likely that of Lady K’abel of El Perú Waka’(Navarro-Far 46). Lady K’abel was a daughter of the kaan bloodline and marriage diplomat in a similar capacity to that of the three women mentioned in the prior exhibit. The first of these items is an alabaster pot, carved with an elderly visage, most likely that of a woman. The second is a jade head, carved to resemble a youthful face. These are also related to the Moon Goddess. The Moon Goddess is depicted as a woman, as one may be expected to surmise, but also in two different varieties. She can be depicted either as an aged woman to represent her as the fading waning moon, or she can be depicted as a young woman to represent the youthful waxing moon(Simmons Clancy 240). Many cultures use the waning and waxing of the moon to measure time, and the Maya were no exception as we can see in the Lunar Series being present as part of the Initial Series within Maya writing.(Simmons Clancy 229-231). The legitimacy of Maya Kings was derived from the marking of time, and the moon is highly associated with Xbalanque, the other ruler-template alongside the vaunted Hunahpu(Simmons Clancy 230). The association between the women of Maya royalty and the Moon Goddess is an association between these women and the lunar phases. By taking on the Guise of the Moon, Maya queens and princesses are able to exercise legitimate spiritual power which is in turn transformed into the ability to exercise legitimate political power.

These pieces depict a woman known as Ix K’abal Xook(Navarro-Farr 51), Lady Xoc, or perhaps less impressively as Lady “Fist-Fish”(Stuart 177). She is yet another example of a kaan bridal diplomat. In this case she is married to Shield Jaguar, the ruler of Yaxchilan, as his principal wife. The first piece depicts Lady Xoc drawing a barbed rope through her tongue while kneeling before her husband, as part of a bloodletting ritual. Beneath her is a basket holding paper, which will shortly become the receptacle of her spilt blood. The second lintel depicts Lady Xoc once more. She holds the basket in one hand, while the other is extended over a brazier which she appears to have dropped something into. Her clothing and jewelry are the same as before except for textile patterns. From the brazier an ancestor spirit has arisen, bearing a shield and spear which suggests it is here as a warrior. If we return to the first lintel and look carefully, we will see markings around Lady Xoc’s mouth. These are thought to be an artistic portrayal of blood streaming from her wounded tongue(Stuart 178). If we once more inspect the second lintel, we can see markings along her cheek and possibly her mouth. What we can surmise is that this is one extended scene. Lady Xoc draws the rope through her tongue, spilling her blood onto the basketted paper. She drops the paper into a brazier, calling forth a spirit of her kaan ancestors through the burning of their shared blood. Then, with a tattered tongue and through a mouth of blood she asks that it grant its support and guidance in her husband’s coming war. That it came clad for battle is her answer.

What is also of note here is how Lady Xoc is dressed. She does not appear to be wearing a beaded net skirt, and the level of detail afforded to things such as the beads dangling from Shield Jaguar’s knees discounts the idea that her clothing’s textile pattern is an abstraction of such a skirt. In this ritual, Lady Xoc is not playing the role of the Moon Goddess. Her spiritual power here is not borrowing from that deity. Rather, it is her own and something innate to her. As a daughter of the kaan she is able to call upon the revered ancestors of that bloodline, just as Shield Jaguar would be able to call upon those of his own. These royal marriages go beyond a unification of families and political interests, they are a merger of spiritual power. If she had bore him children, Shield Jaguar’s marriage to Lady Xoc would have merged their ancestry, with both the ancestors of Yaxchilan and kaan answering to the petitions of their line.

 We have yet to depart from either Lady Xoc or Yaxchilan. This lintel once more depicts Lady Xoc and Shield Jaguar. In it, Lady Xoc is handing her husband an ornate helmet carved as a jaguar, assisting him in his final preparations for war. As our prior two exhibits have demonstrated, a Maya royal bride is not a spent currency once she is wed. She does not become an inert piece on the board. She maintains agency, accorded spiritual and political significance through her role as the Moon Goddess and as the axis upon which the blood and ancestors of her line and those of her husband’s will become united. In times of war, this is not different. While most Maya queens do not seem to have been leaders in war, they do not seem to have been passive observers either. Once again, the Moon Goddess plays a role here, with Maya iconography “pointing to a link between the Moon Goddess and warfare”(Reese-Taylor 60). 

Consider Yaxchilan and its ruler Shield Jaguar. He likely knows the relative strength of his army compared to that of his enemy. He can use this information to get an idea of if he will win or lose, but war makes simple things difficult and he could very well be wrong. But, there is another tool for a Maya ruler to consult before going to war: divination. In war, divination is a valuable strategic asset(Navarro-Karr 49). Securing the approval and guidance of the divine and the ancestors is a large step towards securing victory. No brilliant strategist, no mighty army, can prosper when fate itself is against them. Shield Jaguar has his own ancestors, but Lady Xoc can call upon the ancestors of the kaan to help as well. Divination is a major role of Maya queens. Lady Xoc is shown doing it, for example, while Lady K’abel’s mortuary offerings include a pyrite mirror, an effigy, stingray spines for bloodletting, and a jar for hallucinogens which are all tools of a diviner(Navarro-Karr 49). A royal bride serves as an irreplaceable asset in expanding the spiritual capabilities of her new home, whether her divinations serve to prepare for war or secure supernatural favor in peacetime governance. 

As she readies her husband for war in the physical world by handing him his helmet, Lady Xoc and women like her support him in the realm of the spiritual through her divination. She may not be at his side in battle, but her hand grips his weapon and helps plunge it into their enemies all the same.

As said before, the royal women of the Maya generally played a subordinate and supportive role in times of warfare. However, this was not universally the case. This piece depicts Lady Six Sky, ruler of Naranjo, standing atop a defeated enemy king and denoting her as conqueror and captor. Lady Six Sky ruled Naranjo as a regent to her son, who was not yet old enough to rule(Navarro-Farr 48). While regent suggests a picture of a limited caretaker, in Lady Six Sky’s case the regency appears to be little more than a nominal cover for her role as the de facto master of Naranjo. The name of her son’s father is not known to have been recorded, and Lady Six Sky arrived in Naranjo after its previous ruling dynasty had been wiped out(Doyle 2). Lady Six Sky is almost certainly responsible for at least eight victorious military campaigns, though they are attributed to her son, as it is unlikely that a five year old child played any true role(Doyle 4). Lady Six Sky’s wars were of such magnitude that research exists that “details the environmental aftereffects of these violent campaigns and her likely role in them”(Navarro-Farr 48), and they are recorded in terms such as “like a conflagration of the eastern Peten”(Doyle 4). Throughout her son’s rule Lady Six Sky maintained political relevance, and upon his death arose as the sole ruler of Naranjo in her own right(Doyle 7). Lady Six Sky used the title of Ix Kaloomte’, meaning something roughly equivalent to “Empress” or “Female Overlord”. The title of Kaloomte’ was prestigious, being used only by the highest of rulers(Navarro-Farr 44). Of note, throughout all of her depictions that I have seen, Lady Six Sky is wearing a beaded net skirt. In her every depiction, she is in the role of the Moon Goddess. The Moon Goddess is linked to warfare and destruction (Reese-Taylor 60), an aspect Lady Six Sky appears to have emphasized to justify and reinforce her role as ruler. 

Lady K’abel of El Perú Waka’ shares both consistent portrayal as the Moon Goddess and the title of Ix Kaloomte’ with Lady Six Sky. She portrays herself as wearing the beaded net skirt, and often as holding a shield(Navarro-Far 44). This shield imagery extends to a figurine of her found in a burial and even to her burial, where a serving vessel was placed in mimicry of shield(Navarro-Farr 48). The pairing of this tool of war and the persona of the Moon Goddess evokes a warrior image, though Lady K’abel does lack the same captor imagery as Lady Six Sky. The recurrence of consistent Moon Goddess imagery  in another powerful Maya woman suggests to me that association with the Moon Goddess is the basis by which such women were able to exercise their political power among the ancient Maya.

Image Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_Corona,_Panel_6,_Maya,_La_Corona,_El_Peten_department,_Guatemala,_Late_Classic_period,_dedicated_August_18,_731_AD,_limestone_-_Dallas_Museum_of_Art_-_DSC04636.jpg

https://www.aerobaticsweb.org/images/MEXICO/Mexico_03372_1152x1536.jpg

Expanding the canon: Lady K’abel the Ix Kaloomte’ and the political narratives of classic Maya Queens

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yaxchilan_Lintel_24.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_(6424926723).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yaxchilan_Lintel_26.jpg

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/File:MA_D367_Maya_stela_24,_Naranjo,_Guatemala.jpg

Looper, Matthew George. To Be like Gods Dance in Ancient Maya Civilization. University of Texas Press, 2009. 

Manufacturing Identities: Masking in Postwar Highland Guatemala ...https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0094582X11427891. 

As for the Maya temples, many would refer to them as the house of gods. They weren’t necessarily used for communal worship of the gods but more for conjuring the gods, representing the living and the divine. The three-stone hearth, constitutes an essential theme of template ritual and imagery. It represented the smoke from a hearth fire, in the center of three stars that represent the three stones of the cosmic hearth. The four-sided Maya house structure was built in order to connect to the cosmos. This cosmic house metaphor embodies and channels very essential and powerful principles of the cosmos. In addition to the Maya houses, for the ancient Maya a common term that was frequently used was k’u na, meaning “god’s house.” The Maya people devoted their time and energy daily to the temples in order to please their gods. Using the same rituals and order so that there wouldn’t be any disruptions with their land and homes. Some would consider the houses from the ancient Maya temples as a cult. They were specially designed to be the earthly dwellings of gods. Considering the Maya house's purpose is for dwelling of the gods, there wouldn’t be any type of meeting within the temple for mortals. 

Not only did they include dances, but the stelae included all different types of events that happened with rulers such as trampling conquered enemies, gaining a seat with power, inaugurations, visions of the royal ancestors. The stelae were like books used to document what was happening by rulers to give tribute to the gods.

Halperin, C. T., Hruby, Z. X., & Mongelluzzo, R. (2018). The weight of ritual: Classic Maya jade head pendants in the round. Antiquity. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://cc.csusm.edu/pluginfile.php/3734569/mod_folder/content/0/Halperin%20et%20al._2018_The%20Weight%20of%20Ritual.pdf?forcedownload=1.

Houston, S. (2009). Jaded Smiles. Archaeology. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from Academic Search Premier.

Lucero, L. J. (2003). The politics of ritual: The emergence of classic Maya rulers. Current Anthropology. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from Academic Search Premier.

Norman, H. (n.d.). Precious stone of grace. Natural History. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from Academic Search Premier.

Taube, K. A. (2005). The symbolism of jade in classic Maya religion. Ancient Mesoamerica. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from Academic Search Premier.

Taube, K. A., & Ishihara-Brito, R. (2012). From stone to jewel: jade in ancient Maya religion and rulership. Ancient Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://cc.csusm.edu/pluginfile.php/3734569/mod_folder/content/0/Taube%20and%20Ishihara_2012_From%20Stone%20to%20Jewel.pdf?forcedownload=1.

Rice, Prudence M.. Maya Calendar Origins : Monuments, Mythistory, and the Materialization of Time, University of Texas Press, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csusm/detail.action?docID=3443317.

Stuart, David

1996 Kings of Stone: A Consideration of Stelae in Ancient Maya Ritual and Representation. RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 29/30:148-171.

2006 Plazas, Performers, and Spectators: Political Theaters of the Classic Maya. Review. Current Anthropology 47(5):805-842.

Looper, Matthew G.. To Be Like Gods : Dance in Ancient Maya Civilization, University of Texas Press, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csusm/detail.action?docID=3443390.

Lucero, Lisa J.. Water and Ritual : The Rise and Fall of Classic Maya Rulers, University of Texas Press, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csusm/detail.action?docID=3443111.

Morehart, Christopher T., and Noah Butler. “Ritual Exchange and the Fourth Obligation: Ancient Maya Food Offering and the Flexible Materiality of Ritual.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 16, no. 3, 2010, pp. 588–608, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40926124.

Sanchez, Julia L. J. “Procession and Performance: Recreating Ritual Soundscapes among the Ancient Maya.” The World of Music, vol. 49, no. 2, 2007, pp. 35–44, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41699763.