Monumental art of the Maya incorporates figural imagery and hieroglyphic texts to document dynastic and mythical history. One particular monument tells us that near the end of April in 752 A.D., Bird Jaguar IV was inaugurated as ruler of the Mayan city now known as Yaxchilan. Investigation of his sculptural programmes reveals a multiplicity of innovative solutions for Bird Jaguar's unparalleled problems in validating a tenuous claim to rulership of Yaxchilan. It appears that in order to compensate for his insufficient genealogical claim, Bird Jaguar fabricated a series of ritual events which proclaimed his political legitimacy. This study examines the intended integration of two parallel systems of communication: the visual and hieroglyphic languages of the Maya. Analysis shows how Bird Jaguar's artists presented symbolic references which manipulated the past history, justified the current history, and established the future political history of Yaxchilan. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

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