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WHO'S WHO IN THE CLASSIC MAYA WORLD Peter Mathews |
| Janab' Ajaw A Palenque lord, grandson of K'inich Janab' Pakal I (born ca. AD 680, died before AD 742) | PAL 029 | |
| Janab' Ajaw is known from two Palenque passages, dated to AD 712 and 721. On the K'an Tok Tablet from Group XVI he is named as a lord who acceded to a noble office in AD 712. The ruler who oversaw his office-taking was K'inich K'an Joy Chitam II. The only other reference to Janab' Ajaw is on a tablet from Temple XIX, where he is also portrayed. The date of the reference is AD 721, the accession of K'inich Akul Mo' Nab' III. Janab' Ajaw is the noble who hands the new king his royal headband in the coronation scene. At the same time, both king and noble are marked as gods, and re-enact a ceremony from 3309 BC (recorded in the monument's opening passage), in which the god Yax Nah Itzamnaj oversees the accession of God GI "the First": Janab' Ajaw is named as "the image of Yax Nah Itzamnaj". Clearly, then, Janab' Ajaw was an extremely important noble in Palenque in the early eighth century. A clue as to his position in the Palenque court is provided by the K'an Tok Tablet, where he is named as the grandson of the great K'inich Janab' Pakal I. Taking into account the pattern of succession following the reign of K'inich Janab' Pakal I, we can say that he was either the son of a fourth child of K'inich Janab' Pakal I, and thus a first cousin of K'inich Akul Mo' Nab' III, or the second son of B'atz' Chan Mat (the likely third son of K'inich Janab' Pakal I), and therefore the younger brother of K'inich Akul Mo' Nab' III. Either way, it is likely he was born some time around or shortly after AD 680. The K'an Tok Tablet states that early in AD 742 a new lord was installed into the noble office that Janab' Ajaw held from AD 712, so it is likely that Janab' Ajaw had died before that date. |  PALENQUE: Temple XIX, Bench. South Tablet: V2. Drawing by Peter Mathews. | |
| Complete List of Text References
What's in a Name? Portraits - The only surviving portrait of Janab' Ajaw is on the South Tablet of the Bench in Temple XIX. He is the third individual from the (viewer's) left. Buildings Commissioned - None known. Since he was not a ruler, it is unlikely that Janab' Ajaw commissioned any of Palenque's public buildings. Monuments Commissioned - None known. Genealogy References |
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