Akul Mo' Nab' I is one of the better documented early rulers of Palenque, for we have mention of him on at least five monuments. Akul Mo' Nab' I was born in AD 465, and was very likely the younger brother of B'utz'aj Sak Chik. When he was 25, Akul Mo' Nab' I assisted his brother in the dedication of Lakamha', the name of the city of Palenque. Upon B'utz'aj Sak Chik's death, Akul Mo' Nab' I became king-the first to be crowned in Lakamha'. Seven years into his reign he oversaw the accession to office of a subordinate noble, and in AD 514 he celebrated the k'atun-ending date 9.4.0.0.0. This date seems to have been considered an importatn one by later Palenque rulers: Akul Mo' Nab' I begins the dynastic lists of the Temple of the Inscriptions East Tablet and also of the Sarcophagus Lid Edge text. Akul Mo' Nab' I died in AD 524 at the age of 59 after a long and apparently prosperous reign. It is likely that Akul Mo' Nab' I was buried in the tomb beneath Temple XVIII-A-sub (Schele 1986a:113-117).
In the Tablet of the Cross we are told that Akul Mo' Nab' I was the grandfather of Akul Mo' Nab' II. A respective portrait of Akul Mo' Nab' I is on the East Side of the Sarcophagus in the tomb below the Temple of Inscriptions. | PAL: T.XVII, Sanct. Tab.: B7 Drawing by Peter Mathews |