Yaxchilan lintel 25
Maya, Late Classic period (AD 600-900)
From Yaxchilán, Mexico
This limestone lintel is one of a series of three panels from
Structure 23 at Yaxchilán and was originally set above the central
doorway.
The building is dedicated to Shield Jaguar II's wife, Lady
K'ab'al Xook. It has particular significance since this was the
first building to be constructed after a gap of over 150 years in
the dynastic history of the city. It seems that the series of
lintels was intended to convey a special message of the
re-foundation of the site. Indeed, Shield Jaguar's building
programme throughout the city may have been an attempt to reinforce
his lineage and his right to rulership.
Lady Xook, on the bottom right of the panel, is in the
hallucinatory stage of the bloodletting ritual. She conjures before
her a vision of a Teotihuacan serpent. Some scholars suggest that
the serpent on this lintel, and elsewhere, are depictions of an
ancestral spirit or founder of the kingdom. The identity of the
figure coming out of the serpent's jaws is ambiguous. The
inscription names the protagonist as Shield Jaguar II.
The ritual is conducted to commemorate the accession of Shield
Jaguar II to the throne. The inscription is reversed, as if to be
read in a mirror. This is not common and its true significance is
not known.
L. Schele and M.E. Miller, The blood of kings (London, Thames & Hudson, 1986)
C. Tate, Yaxchilan: the design of a May (University of Texas Press, 1992)
C. McEwan, Ancient Mexico in the British (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)
S. Martin and N. Grube, Chronicle of the Maya kings an (Thames and Hudson, 2000)