For eleven generations, the Mayan ruler dynasty had ruled Copan, a city-state near the present-day Honduras-Guatemala border. From the fifth century AD until the seventh century, scribes painted the genealogies of his ancestors in manuscripts and carved them into stone monuments throughout the city.
Around 650 a certain piece of architectural history seems to have attracted his attention.
Centuries before, village masons built special structures for public ceremonies to view the sun – ceremonies temporarily anchored to the solstices, such as the one that will take place on June 20, 2024. Building these types of architectural complexes, which archaeologists call “E-groups”, had largely fallen out of fashion by the time of K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil.
But in order to realize his ambitious plans for his city, he seems to have found inspiration in these astronomical public spaces, as I have described in my research on ancient Mayan hieroglyphically recorded astronomy.
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