Parallel hierarchies

The sajals' inclusion in the discourse prompted artists to reinforce the established visual hierarchy, with the k'uhul ajaw as the primary focus. This aspect is entirely fulfilled in monuments such as Lintels 3, 12, and 42 of Yaxchilan; Lintels 3 and 4 of Site R; Lintel 1 of La Pasadita; Stela 2 of Dos Caobas; and Stelae 5 and 12 of Piedras Negras, among others, where the rulers possess the qualities of discursive salience that have been previously discussed. However, some compositions show an equalization of sociopolitical status between sajals and rulers, either through dress (see Parmington Reference Parmington2003), similar tension vectors, or through bilateral symmetry and chiasmus—a rhetorical figure that occurs when an element or phrase of a passage passes inverted to a second passage, generating the AB-BA structure (Bassie-Sweet and Hopkins Reference Bassie-Sweet and Hopkins2018:173; Christenson Reference Christenson, Hull and Carrasco2012:311).

Parallel hierarchies in discourse are a feature present mainly in monuments outside the capitals as a strategy for the sajals to increase their status in their areas of influence. Monuments of sites affiliated with the political sphere of Yaxchilan, such as La Pasadita and Site R, provide examples. Lintel 2 at La Pasadita registers a scattering ritual performed by Yaxuun Bahlam IV with sajal Tilo'm in a.d. 766, who appears to have a close relationship with the ruler.

The lintels of Site R tell the story of Ajkamo' and Yax Tok Wela'n―the local sajals―and their quest for political power within Pa'chan, the ruling lineage of Yaxchilan. Lintel 1 shows the tension vectors that emphasize verticality in the ruler (right). However, this feature is also present in the Ajkamo' representation (left), combined with the frontal view of both individuals' bodies, a convention that in Yaxchilan only concerned the k'uhul ajaw (Figure 5). The same happens in Lintels 2, 4, 5, and 6 of this settlement, in which the representations resemble the hierarchies between Yaxuun Bahlam IV and sajals (Figure 6).

Figure 5. Example of equalization of hierarchies between Kokaaj? Bahlam III and sajal Ajkamo’ in Lintel 1, Site R. Drawing by Peter Mathews (Jackson Reference Jackson2013:Figure 15).

Figure 6. Example of chiasmus and equalization of hierarchies between Yaxuun Bahlam IV and sajal Yax Tok Wela'n in Lintel 5, Site R (after Looper Reference Looper2009:Figure 1.18). Drawing by the author.

Figure 7. Chiasmus at Lintel 8, Yaxchilan. Underside: drawing by Ian Graham © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 2004.15.6.5.8.

As mentioned earlier, the chiasmus is a rhetorical figure that sculptors use to create a crossed parallelism. Allen J. Christenson (Reference Christenson, Hull and Carrasco2012) has analyzed the presence of chiasmus in colonial texts such as the Popol Wuj, the Rabinal Achí, and the Title of Tononicapan (among others), detecting that it occurs more frequently during dialogues. Therefore, the idea of its iconographic use to equalize the elements of the discourse would make sense, as would happen during a conversation.

Chiasmus appears on Yaxchilan's Lintel 8 (Bassie-Sweet and Hopkins Reference Bassie-Sweet and Hopkins2018:173). On the right is Yaxuun Bahlam IV apprehending “Jeweled Skull,” a politically significant individual whose capture—along with the capture of another prisoner named Ajuk—was incorporated into the titles of Yaxuun Bahlam IV. On the opposite side, the sajal K'an Tok' Wayaab holds Lord Kok Te', whose capture was similarly incorporated into the sajal's titles. Despite both capturing similarities in the scene, the text only records the imprisonment of “Jeweled Skull” at the hands of Yaxuun Bahlam IV, perhaps as a way of giving discursive salience to the k'uhul ajaw.

The rhetorical figure in question is also applied in Lintels 5 and 6 of Site R. In Lintel 5, two individuals dance while wearing identical attire except for their headdresses (see Figure 6). The dancer on the right wears a headdress with a vulture head in front, and the one on the left wears a headdress with a macaw head. A hieroglyphic text divides and balances the representation in the scene's center by directing tension vectors outward and toward the center again, as indicated by the reading order of the texts. The vectors on the sides of the monument promote verticality in dancers without indicating hierarchy or discursive salience. The assumption is that the ruler is on the right side, but a complete identification can only be made by referencing the text that contains his name. The lintel mentions that on February 2, 766, Yax Tok Wela'n ―a young sajal of Yaxuun Bahlam IV― danced wearing Utmo'hu'n, the name of the macaw headdress.

Like Lintel 2 of Site R, the representation of the two dancers is similar because it aims to equalize their sociopolitical hierarchies. It should also be noted that the name of the dance is associated with the headdress of the sajal rather than the attire of the ruler. Consequently, both in image and text, we observe that the sajal becomes a discursive focus—a characteristic absent in other monuments—and that it will be a more recurrent element in discourses of the secondary sites of Yaxchilan during the latter half of the eighth century. Lintel 6 of Site R has a scene similar to Lintel 5 but without any dance references. Yaxuun Bahlam IV stands on the right, wearing clothes similar to the accompanying sajal, distinguished by his headdress and front-knotted pectoral. The two individuals hold spears and banners, but the ruler's spear divides the scene along with the hieroglyphic text; the composition produces the chiasmus.

Chiasmus also manifests itself in the political sphere of Piedras Negras, particularly in Panel 15 (dating to ca. a.d. 707), whose composition produces the structure AB-C-BA (Figure 8). The main element―the C―corresponds to the figure of ruler Itzam K'an Ahk I (a.d. 639–686), who is represented with all the conventions to mark his hierarchical significance. The k'uhul ajaw directs a tension vector toward element A, a possible sajal or official in profile; he presents three prisoners―naked and kneeling―who constitute the B motif of the scene. On the other side, element B represents two captives with the same disposition as the previous ones, whereas element A shows another possible sajal that presents the prisoners to the ruler.

Figure 8. Chiasmus at Panel 15, Piedras Negras. Drawing by Stephen Houston (Houston et al. Reference Houston, Escobedo, Child, Golden, Terry and Webster2000:Figure 5).

Palenque's Tablets of the Orator and the Scribe use chiasmus in their short texts (Bassie-Sweet and Hopkins Reference Bassie-Sweet and Hopkins2018:170). The Orator Tablet features a diphrasism in section A: “Is the image […] in your penance, in your darkness.” This is followed by section B that corresponds to the subject: “The yajawte' K'ihnich Ahku'l Mo' Naahb III, the baahkab […].” For its part, the Scribe Tablet begins with section B, composed of the verb and the subject: “Ni' Sak Kamaay was adorned, [it is] the achievement of Chak Sutz': And then section A: “It had seen your image, in your penance, in your darkness” (Figure 9). In this way, the chiasmus would have the purpose of generating a parallel between the k'uhul ajaw K'ihnich Ahku'l Mo' Naahb III (a.d. 722–736) and the sajal Chak Sutz'.

Figure 9. Chiasmus in the texts of Orator and Scribe Tablets, Palenque (after Schele and Mathews Reference Schele and Mathews1979:Figures 141 and 142). Transcription, translation, and drawing by the author.

Titles associated with counting katuns and capturing prisoners of war were also used by sajals and other members of the intermediate elite to imitate the sociopolitical status of the k'uhul ajaw. For the counting katuns, we have some examples: Ixik Pakal, who uses the title “lady of the seven katuns”; K'in Mo' Ajaw, “sajal of three katuns”; Aj Sak Maax, “lord of two katuns”; Aj Chak Wayib Kutiim, “sajal of four katuns”; Chak Sutz', “lord of four katuns”; and Ajsul, “ajk'uhu'n of two katuns.” Regarding war titles, the sajals did not only tally the number of prisoners held in the same style as rulers; they also recorded the names of the most important captives in the titles, but this was only done in the Yaxchilan region. This is the case of K'an Tok Wayaab, who used “the possessor of Kok Te'”; Ajkamo', “the possessor of Job” and “one of the four captives”; the sajal with the title “the possessor of Sak Sutz'al?”; and Chak Joloom, “one of the seven captives” (Table 2).

Table 2. Sajals’ titles associated with counting katuns and capturing prisoners of war.

Narrative imitation

The sajals adopted some narrative structures of cities' monuments into their discourses; for instance, the narrative style of funeral monuments honoring a k'uhul ajaw, which records the individual's life, including birth and death dates, office ascension, lineage, and funeral ritual (Tokovinine Reference Tokovinine, Rivera and Le Fort2006). In Piedras Negras, evidence of ancestor veneration style can be found in tombs, monuments such as Stela 40, and panels honoring distinguished ancestors, such as Panels 4, 12, and 15 (Hammond Reference Hammond1981; Scherer Reference Scherer2015). As a biography, this narrative style was used by sajals of the El Cayo area to honor their ancestors and lineages, thereby validating their local status and differentiating themselves hierarchically from other members of the intermediate elite.

The K'an Xook Panel is an excellent example of this practice; it is the only one from the time of Itzam K'an Ahk I, created by a sajal named K'an Xook. The hieroglyphic text contains four clauses (Figure 10). The first clause describes the adornment of Itzam K'an Ahk I on July 17, 685. He was embellished with different warrior insignias, including clothing, the ko'haw (war helmet covered in jade plaques), a spear with feathers, and a bundle. This action, referred to in a passive voice verb―nahwaj―to omit the person who embellished the ruler, was supervised by the ajbaak of Yuhkno'm Ch'e'n II, the k'uhul ajaw of Kanu'l (Calakmul). The second clause corresponds to the death of K'an Xook on May 13, 686, followed by the third clause that records the death of Itzam K'an Ahk I just six months later. Perhaps both deaths constitute a parallelism that aims to equate both individuals. Finally, the fourth clause closes with the funeral ceremony at the tomb of K'an Xook on December 20, 687.

Figure 10. K'an Xook Panel structure indicating the parallelism between the deaths of the sajal and the ruler.

The Dumbarton Oaks Panel also documents the posthumous biography of sajal Chak Tok' Tuun Ahk Chamiiy. The text imitates Panel 15 of Piedras Negras, so the discourse opens with the date of birth of Chak Tok' Tuun Ahk Chamiiy on April 28, 649, followed by the names of his parents, Ixik Ahk […]oxo'm and the sajal Mo' Ahk Chamiiy. The panel also registered when Chak Tok' Tuun Ahk Chamiiy became sajal, like the recording of Itzam K'an Ahk I's enthronement in Panel 15.

K'ihnich Yo'nal Ahk II (a.d. 687–729) oversaw the accession to the sajal office referred to as johyaj ti sajalil, similar to the expression johyaj ti ajawlel, used by rulers to indicate their debut in lordship. The purpose was to show a political structure like the ajawlel, but on a smaller scale, to imitate the act of enthronement. The son of Chak Tok' Tuun Ahk Chamiiy―Siyaj Chan Ahk―used this exact phrase to mention his ascension to office, now under the supervision of Itzam K'an Ahk II (a.d. 729–767). Based on the expression johyaj ti sajalil, the political ritual to take office could involve a procession, as Alejandro Sheseña Hernández (Reference Leeuwen2015:18) has pointed out, similar to that performed by the k'uhul ajaw but different in that it was the ruler who supervised the sajal, recognized him in office, and gave him greater status (Tokovinine Reference Tokovinine, Rivera and Le Fort2006:10). Finally, the discourse closes with the funeral ritual at the burial of Chak Tok' Tuun Ahk Chamiiy, as in Panels 4 and 15, K'an Xook, and New Orleans.

For the first time, as Sarah Jackson (Reference Jackson2013) has previously highlighted, the Dumbarton Oaks Panel allows us to reconstruct the genealogy of a sajal and determine that, in this case, the office was inherited and belonged to hierarchical corporate groups connected through lineage (see Figure 11). The reference to the parents of the sajal―Ixik Ahk […]oxo'm and Mo' Ahk Chamiiy―occurs after the introductory clause that refers to his birth, exactly as it does in Panel 15 of Piedras Negras. It is important to remember that both panels are biographies created after the deaths of the leaders; therefore, the sajal Siyaj Chan Ahk could also perform the mortuary ritual to honor Chak Tok' Tuun Ahk Chamiiy and establish his family's legitimacy and identity.

Figure 11. Genealogy of sajals from the Ahk Chamiiy and K'utiim lineages.

Despite the prominence that Chak Tok' Tuun Ahk Chamiiy has in the Dumbarton Oaks Panel, he was never mentioned in the monuments of the k'uhul ajaw K'ihnich Yo'nal Ahk II, unlike the sajal K'an […] Te', who stands next to the ruler on Stela 5 of Piedras Negras. Consequently, two discourses are co-occurring, one belonging to the sajals of the Dumbarton Oaks Panel, who seek to legitimize themselves within their political sphere without being, apparently, so close to the ruler.

In addition, like the Dumbarton Oaks Panel, the Supports of Altar 4 from El Cayo include a posthumous biography. In this monument, the sajal Aj Chak Wayib K'utiim referred to his parents―Xaakil Ochnal K'utiim and Lady Hiib―and his birth on September 5, 664. The Dumbarton Oaks Panel and Altar 4 are from the same period and contain sajals that record information about their lineage and political and religious development within their communities. However, the Aj Chak Wayib K'utiim monument does not mention any ruler of Yokib, the name of the Piedras Negras lineage (Figure 11).

The posthumous biography style is also present in the Palenque area, although in a different format from that of Piedras Negras. The first case is in a stone censer from Group IV that mentions members of the Ajsik'ab lineage, who served as ti' sakhu'n, yajaw k'ahk', and sajals during the reigns of K'ihnich Janaab Pakal (a.d. 615–683), K'ihnich Kan Bahlam II (a.d. 684–702), and K'ihnich K'an Joy Chitam II (a.d. 702–720). Another example is the K'an Tok Tablet, which lists the taking office of “banded bird” priests from the K'an Tok' Wawe'el lineage, who may have lived in Temple XVI (for the title “banded bird,” see Bernal Romero and Venegas Durán Reference Bernal Romero and Durán2005:10; Biró et al. Reference Biró, MacLeod and Grofe2020:133–136; Izquierdo and Bernal Romero Reference de la Cueva, Luisa, Romero, Izquierdo and de la Cueva2011:164; Jackson Reference Jackson2013:15; Polyukhovych et al. Reference Polyukhovych, Gamboa and Garcíain press:746; Stuart Reference Stuart2005:113). Although no information indicates they were sajals, the record of this lineage is akin to the abovementioned examples and relevant to understanding how the intermediate elites were structured in Palenque.

The sajals and their separate representation

So far, the discourse of the sajals from the Western Maya Lowlands shares features with and emulates the k'uhul ajaw monuments. In one way or another, most sajals are associated with rulers to legitimize their political power. However, the discourse changed significantly as sajals gradually stopped alluding to rulers, indicating individual hierarchical positions. This phenomenon is critical because it could show the loss of cohesion of some political segments, whose independent action could have destabilized the regional system headed by the k'uhul ajaw. I will return to this discussion later.

The sajals gained discursive salience in iconography through bodily frontality, dressing like rulers (Parmington Reference Parmington2003), and being depicted on the right side of monuments where only the k'uhul ajaw had previously been shown. This pattern is visible in Lintel 2 of La Pasadita, Lintels 2 and 3 of Site R, and Lintel 6 of Yaxchilan, where Yaxuun Bahlam IV appears on the left side. The new composition suggests that these officials were being recognized at a higher level and playing a more prominent role in local politics.

Monuments featuring individual representations of sajals were prevalent in the Piedras Negras region during the eighth century. Nevertheless, the earlier examples come from the Palenque area, as is the case of the sajal and yajaw k'ahk' of the Miraflores Tablets—whose name is unknown—and Ajsul in the Stone Censer of Group IV. In the Usumacinta area, all the examples were elaborated in the peripheries of the cities, such as Aj Chak Wayib Kutiim at Altar 4 of El Cayo (a.d. 731); Chak Tok' Tuun Ahk Chamiiy in Dumbarton Oaks Panel (a.d. 733); Tilo'm in Lintel 4 of La Pasadita (a.d. 771); K'uhul Ka[…], represented in Panel 2 of El Cayo (a.d. 792); and Lady Hoob in the Cleveland Panel (a.d. 795) (Figure 12).

Figure 12. Individual representations of intermediate elites in the western Maya Lowlands.

It is worth noting that this phenomenon appears to follow a circulation pattern originating from the northwestern region and moving toward the Usumacinta. Earlier examples of individual representations of intermediate elites in Tonina predate those of Palenque. In Monument 173, the ajk'uhu'n Aj Mih K'inich appears individually in a.d. 612, whereas in Monument 181, dedicated in a.d. 633, it is Juun Tzihnaj Hix Tuun who is represented independently and who narrates his investiture as ti'hu'n (Sánchez Gamboa et al. Reference Gamboa, Ángel, Sheseña, Krempel and Angulo2019:450–452). Both individuals wear a band with the “jester god” on the forehead, which is believed to be an exclusive insignia to the k'uhul ajaw (Fields Reference Fields, Robertson and Fields1991:3), but which is also worn by the baah sajal K'an Tok Wayaab in Lintel 42 of Yaxchilan. These examples show a trend of nonruling officers depicted individually on monuments, with symbols of power previously exclusive to the k'uhul ajaw.

The artists

The individual representations of sajals in the monuments and their implications at the discursive and political levels are linked to artists as agents of this change in the stage of discourse production (see Table 1). Recall that several sculptors elaborated stone monuments, although only the most experienced left evidence of their authorship through their signatures (Houston Reference Houston and Costin2016). The expression that predominates is “yuxul [name of the artist] [Title],” “It is the sculpture of Mayuy Ti' […], aj k'ihna'.” Signatures were often added to monuments in the late seventh century and were typically positioned at the periphery of the sculpture, in small areas, and away from discursive foci (Houston Reference Houston and Costin2016:413; Montgomery Reference Montgomery1995:27). In other words, artists’ signatures were placed outside the central area of the sculptural space or the representation of the ruler, and their hieroglyphic cartouches were smaller and incised, which meant that the viewer had to approach the sculpture to read them (Houston Reference Houston and Costin2016:413).

The increase in sculptors' signatures during the Late Classic period was probably related to demographic growth and sociopolitical changes, particularly those involving sajals. Over time, as agents of discursive transformations, artists made their presence known by increasing the size of their signatures and incorporating them in important places within the pictorial spaces of monuments. Like the individual representation of sajals, this modification could reflect a more complex and fragmented elite in competition for power with other leaders. This is clear in Panel 2 from El Cayo and the Cleveland Panel, where artist signatures are incorporated into the background of the scenes, often near the principal figures. The same phenomenon is in the Dumbarton Oaks Panel, but the cartouches are now sized similarly to the main text and are situated on the right side of the depiction, a location that constitutes a discursive focus.

At Bench 1 at the Palace of Palenque, Ajen Sak Ik' added his signature to the main text, similar to Lintels 3 and 4 of La Pasadita with the sculptor Chakjalte'. In Lintel 3, the signature appears next to the name of Yaxchilan's ruler Kokaaj? Bahlam IV, whereas in Lintel 4, the size of the cartouches is the same as the clause that includes the name of the sajal Tilo'm, implying equal status (Figure 13). In Laxtunich Lintel 1 (KAM), although with small cartouches, the signature of Mayuy Ti' is in the center of the captive-presenting scene. In Lintel 3 of the same site, the artist incorporated his signature in the body of the Starry Deer Crocodile and the eyes of a Witz representation (mountain)—the central element of the entire composition (see Figure 13).

Figure 13. Signatures of Chakjalte’ and Mayuy Ti’ (after Teufel Reference Teufel2004 and Houston Reference Houston, Scherer, Taube and Houston2021). Drawings by the author.

Mayuy Ti' is an exceptional case. He is an artist from the Piedras Negras area―the enemy capital of Yaxchilan―who produced two of four high-quality lintels for Kokaaj? Bahlam IV. He used the standard hierarchical-palatial style of Piedras Negras and the surrounding area, featuring depictions inside the palace where the individuals represented generate tension vectors to mark different visual and sociopolitical hierarchies. The style is not typical in Yaxchilan, nor is the use of blue backgrounds (Houston et al. Reference Houston, Scherer, Taube and Houston2021:73; Zender Reference Zender and Stone2002:172–173).

Mayuy Ti's lintels refer to the ruler of Pa'chan as Chelew Chan K'inich, the name of his youth, instead of his official name (Kokaaj? Bahlam). Stephen Houston, Andrew Scherer, and Karl Taube (2021:75) detect variations in the paleographic writing of certain words―such as k'inich―compared to the Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan corpus, which could be an indication of the inventiveness of this artist. Based on the inferior quality of the monuments in Yaxchilan during this period and the extensive skill demonstrated in the monuments of Mayuy Ti' in Laxtunich, it is possible to speculate that local sajals―Aj Chak Maax (Lintel 1 KAM) and Aj Yax Bul K'uk' (Lintel 3)―provided the sponsorship for the lintels rather than a k'uhul ajaw of Yaxchilan.

It also has been suggested that Mayuy Ti' was either a traitor or an artist who was captured by Yaxchilan and forced to create monuments at the capital's periphery (Houston et al. Reference Houston, Scherer, Taube and Houston2021:42; Matsumoto Reference Matsumoto2021:514; Safronov Reference Safronov, Eeckhout and Font2005:50). However, other aspects suggest an alternate possibility: that Mayuy Ti' had the freedom to move around during a period of political decentralization in the Usumacinta region. As part of this discussion, it is essential to mention that the two monuments signed by Mayuy Ti'—in addition to manifesting the hierarchical-palatial style absent in Yaxchilan—are related to other discursive units manufactured in the periphery, such as Stela 2 of La Mar.

Lintel 3 of Laxtunich and Stela 2 of La Mar seem to reproduce small cosmograms in which the ruler is the axis mundi. Nevertheless, the central part of Laxtunich Lintel 3 is occupied by Chelew Chan K'inich and the sajal Aj Yax Bul K'uk', with two sajals serving as symbolic supports (Houston et al. Reference Houston, Scherer, Taube and Houston2021:100). This suggests that both political agents share status and are cosmic axes, sustaining their power in a shared way from the sacred realm. In contrast, the iconography of Lintel 2 of Laxtunich resembles Lintel 3 of El Chicozapote, so I could suggest that the artists of these sites shared their styles—absent in the capitals—and transited more frequently between peripheral sites during this moment compared to previous years.

In addition, the stylistic particularities of Mayuy Ti' show that the intermediate elites may have had more agency and influence in the late eighth century. This would explain the significant changes in the representation of political hierarchy in the discourse, where sajals were depicted individually, with symbols of high honor, and even sharing cosmic positions with the k'uhul ajaw, as in the examples above. In Piedras Negras and Palenque, no contemporary examples match the technical prowess of Laxtunich; this proposes that sajals may have gained prestige and political influence that could have challenged the power of the regional k'uhul ajaw.