The Divine Rite of Kings: An Analysis of Classic Maya Impersonation Statements

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearch

Impersonation rituals were undoubtedly one of the most important rites of divine Maya kingship in the Classic period. While such rituals are attested in both the iconographic and epigraphic corpus of the Classic Maya, our focus here is on the latter. In their most common form these expressions are rendered hieroglyphically as u-B'AH-hi-li-AN-nu, though a variety of abbreviations and associated spellings have been documented. While the phonetics of these impersonation statements are relatively clear, the semantic dimension remains somewhat opaque. In order to refine our understanding we have conducted an extensive review of the hieroglyphic corpus so as to obtain a comprehensive sample of impersonation expressions. This research has subjected the sample to a series of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The most promising results of this research are presented in this article. The salient trends of impersonation statements are reviewed in light of their temporal distribution, diachronic spelling, the deities involved and associated imagery, the timing of these rituals and concurrent events, as well as the gender of the agents.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Maya and their Sacred Narratives : Text and Context in Maya Mythologies
EditorsGeneviève Le Fort, Raphaël Gardiol, Sebastian Matteo, Christophe Helmke
Number of pages19
Place of PublicationMarkt Schwaben
PublisherVerlag Anton Saurwein
Publication date2009
Pages177-195
Publication statusPublished - 2009
SeriesActa Mesoamericana
Volume20

ID: 20171931