Palenque's Royal Genealogy

The royal family of Palenque is better documented than that of any other Classic Maya site. At most major Maya sites we know of a series of rulers and some other royal family members, but in many cases the family relationships among these individuals is educated guesswork at best. It is clear that the preferred pattern of Classic Maya royal succession was from father to oldest son, but it is equally clear that there were numerous exceptions to that 'rule'. Brother could succeed brother, a nephew could succeed his uncle, and on occasion a daughter or sister could succeed.

Two things in particular are needed for detailed genealogical reconstructions. The first is the presence of parentage statements, giving specific information on royal family relationships. The second is a series of birth dates for consecutive rulers: this information does not provide precise genealogical information, but it does allow for generational spacing. Unfortunately, at most sites parentage statements are sporadic at best, and birth dates are relatively rare.

At Palenque, however, the situation is better. For one thing, we have several forms of 'king-lists' at the site. The tablets of the Temple of the Inscriptions record a series of rulers (from AD 514 to 684), with their accession dates and the important period-ending dates that they celebrated. The Sarcophagus Lid inscription from the tomb below the Temple of the Inscriptions records the death dates of Palenque rulers from AD 524 to 683). The Tablet of the Cross lists the birth and accession dates of rulers between AD 397 and 570. The birth records in particular are important, because they allow us to derive generational spacing for the early rulers of Palenque. In one case, two successive rulers (Akul Mo' Nab' II and Kan B'alam I)were born just 381 days apart: the conclusion is almost inescapable that they were brothers. Their predecessor, K'an Joy Chitam I, was born some 34 years earlier: he was likely their father.

In other cases, we have explicit parentage information recorded in the Palenque inscriptions. We are told, for example, that the son of Ix Sak K'uk' and K'an Mo' B'alam was K'inich Janab' Pakal I, and that he and his wife Ix Tz'akb'u Ajaw were the parents of K'inich Kan B'alam II and K'inich K'an Joy Chitam II.

When we put all this information together (along with other occasional tidbits, such as specific references to grandchildren, younger brothers, heir designations, numbered reigns, and so on), we can begin to reconstruct a royal genealogy for Palenque that extends over some 400 years and a dozen or more generations. Nevertheless, there are numerous questions that hang over the reconstruction of Palenque's royal genealogy, for there are several periods and relationships where we have to resort to what could best be termed 'informed speculation'. This has led to several different proposals for the royal genealogy of Palenque.

The first attempt at reconstruction of Palenque's royal genealogy was made in the early 1980s, in the wake of the discovery of explicit parentage passages in Maya inscriptions. Statements of parentage were identified at Tikal by Christopher Jones (1977), and at Yaxchilan, Palenque, and other sites by Linda Schele, Floyd Lounsbury, David Kelley, Merle Greene Robertson and yours truly (Schele, Mathews, and Lounsbury 1977ms; see also Coe 1992:214). The earliest publication of this model was by Linda Schele (1983:122); it has also been published (sometimes with minor variations) in a number of other sources (e.g. Greene Robertson 1985:114-117; Schele and Freidel 1990:219-233; Schele and Mathews 1998:119-122; Drew 1999:265; Bernal 2000).

The first major break with this scheme came from Karen Bassie-Sweet (1991:206, 241-249; see also Bassie-Sweet 1998:216-217). Bassie-Sweet believed that the ruler K'uk' B'alam I, whom Schele et al. considered to be the Early Classic 'founder' of Palenque's royal lineage, was in fact much earlier—dating to Early Preclassic times. Bassie-Sweet's other major proposed revision concerns the time between the reigns of Kan B'alam I (who ruled between AD 572 and 583) and K'inich Janab' Pakal I (who officially acceded to the throne in AD 615).

This half-century or so, from ca. AD 583-630, was a most traumatic period in Palenque's history, with the kingdom suffering several military defeats (AD 599, 603, 611, and 624), the deaths of several high-ranking individuals (K'an B'alam I died in AD 583, Ix Yol Ik'nal in 604, and both Ajen Yol Mat and the non-ruler Janab' Pakal I in 612), and the rare and unusual accession to the throne of at least one woman, possibly two. It also is a period that 'falls between the cracks' of Palenque's dynastic annals. The latest birth date recorded in the Tablet of the Cross is that of Kan B'alam I in AD 524. The next ruler whose birth date is recorded is K'inich Janab' Pakal I, in AD 603. Between AD 583 and 603 are three rulers (Ix Yol Ik'nal, Ajen Yol Mat, and Ix Sak K'uk'/"Muwan Mat"), and not knowing how they fit in generationally with the other Palenque rulers is a core impediment to our understanding of the Palenque royal family.

I also include below two other plausible versions of the royal genealogy of Palenque that I have considered over the past few years. I shall not enter here into a detailed discussion of all the points of difference among the various versions. The ruler Ajen Yol Mat is a good illustration of how much various plausible reconstructions can differ. He can plausibly be reconstructed as the son or grandson of Ix Yol Ik'nal, and the great-uncle, uncle, or brother of K'inich Janab' Pakal I.

I should also like to note here that a number of other scholars have made important contributions to our understanding of Classic Maya genealogy and/or the royal genealogy of Palenque. These include Hopkins 1988, 1991; Ringle 1996; and Bernal 2000.

Below I present four alternative reconstructions of Palenque's royal genealogy. The first is the 'traditional' view, the basic scheme of which was first outlined by Schele, Mathews, and Lounsbury (1977ms; see also Schele 1983:122, 1989a; Greene Robertson 1985:114-117; Schele and Freidel 1990:219-223; Schele and Mathews 1998:119-122; Drew 1999:265; Bernal 2000; Martin and Grube 2000:154-175). It incorporates additional suggestions from Ringle (1996:55), Bernal (2000), Martin and Grube (2000:161), and Mathews (2002ms). The second proposal is by Bassie-Sweet (1991:206, 241-249; 1998:216-217). The third and fourth are schemes that I have reconstructed over the past several years, taking particular account of possible generational spacing among the rulers.

Please note that the insertion of approximate dates (prefixed by '~') are my suggestions, and the names used below are the Who's Who versions rather than the earlier versions used in the various cited works. Rulers of Palenque are in bold-face letters.

Abbreviations used and other comments:
a. acceded
b. was born
d. died
r. ruled
v. lived
~ approximately
??? possible genealogical tie
— definite genealogical tie
Dates are AD unless otherwise noted; they are Julian date calculations, using the 584,285 correlation constant.

Documented versions of the genealogy - Click on the links below to view chart.

Version 1: The 'traditional' view

Version 2: The view of Karen Bassie-Sweet (1991:206,241-249; 1998:216-217)

Version 3: Proposal 1 by Peter Mathews, 2000

Version 4: Proposal 2 by Peter Mathews, 2000