Ebook: The apotheosis of Janaab' Pakal: science, history, and religion at classic Maya Palenque

The specific Maya site for this study is Palenque, and Aldana focuses on the ritual and political life of Janaab' Pakal and especially his son Kan B'ahlam, who, according to the author, used his scientific patronage as a ritual strategy to carry out his royal agenda of controlling local and international politics in pressured historical circumstances. Aldana has used this social contextualization and astronumerology to discover a "specific creative spurt underlying some of the thematic coherence of the architecture and iconography of Late Classic Palenque." From there, he suggests that the 819-day count was part of a ritual language created to ensure that the ruling elite remained in power. Aldana argues that he has uncovered in the Classic period what others have found in the Postclassic—namely, a secret language utilized by the nobility to "restrict the size of the community with access to the throne."

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The specific Maya site for this study is Palenque, and Aldana focuses on the ritual and political life of Janaab' Pakal and especially his son Kan B'ahlam, who, according to the author, used his scientific patronage as a ritual strategy to carry out his royal agenda of controlling local and international politics in pressured historical circumstances. Aldana has used this social contextualization and astronumerology to discover a "specific creative spurt underlying some of the thematic coherence of the architecture and iconography of Late Classic Palenque." From there, he suggests that the 819-day count was part of a ritual language created to ensure that the ruling elite remained in power. Aldana argues that he has uncovered in the Classic period what others have found in the Postclassic—namely, a secret language utilized by the nobility to "restrict the size of the community with access to the throne."