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

TY - CHAP

T1 - The Divine Rite of Kings

T2 - An Analysis of Classic Maya Impersonation Statements

AU - Nehammer Knub, Julie

AU - Thun, Simone

AU - Helmke, Christophe

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

M3 - Book chapter

T3 - Acta Mesoamericana

SP - 177

EP - 195

BT - The Maya and their Sacred Narratives

A2 - Le Fort, Geneviève

A2 - Gardiol, Raphaël

A2 - Matteo, Sebastian

A2 - Helmke, Christophe

PB - Verlag Anton Saurwein

CY - Markt Schwaben

ER -