On This Day In History: Mayan King Bird Jaguar IV Assumes The Throne – On May 3, 752

AncientPages.com - On May 3, 752, Bird Jaguar IV (also called Yaxun B'alam IV), a Mayan king from Yaxchilan (modern-day Chiapas), located on the banks of the river Usumacinta, in the west-east of Mexico, assumed the throne.

Since 1882 there have been important epigraphic discoveries made from surviving altars, stelae, and lintels in Yaxchilan Maya center that thrived between 500 and 700 AD. Photo credits: World Monuments Fund

He ruled from 752 until 768 AD, continuing the period of prosperity started by his father, Itzamnaaj B'alam II.

Bird Jaguar IV was Yaxchilan's most famous ancient ruler.

He took the throne on May 3, 752, ten years after his father's death, Itzamnaaj B'alam II, in 742. This ten-year gap from his father's death to the beginning of the reign of Yaxun B'alam indicates a possible struggle for the throne of Yaxchilan.

Bird Jaguar IV also had problems holding power even after he succeeded. He was not supposed to be the rightful heir to the throne.

Bird Jaguar IV is considered the most prolific ruler of Yaxchilan. Yaxchilán is a classic Maya urban complex, with architecture covered with hieroglyphs and extensive relief sculptures

Yaxchilán is located on the border between Guatemala and Mexico and across the river from another ancient Maya city, Piedras Negras, in Guatemala. Yaxchilán thrived between A.D. 500 and 700. Since 1882, critical epigraphic discoveries have been made from surviving altars, stelae, and lintels.

Lintel 16 from Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico. Late Classic (AD 600-900). Now in the British Museum

Yaxchilán, an ancient jungle city, recorded its dynastic history in the lintels of several buildings.

Bird Jaguar IV created more than thirty impressive monuments and three hieroglyphic stairways. Bird Jaguar IV was the Maya ruler who focused much on - as researchers say - 'his legitimacy.'

Among his achievements are monuments dedicated to his grandfather, Bird Jaguar III, and even to K'nich Tatb'u Skull II, a remote Early Classic ancestor. He also created several monuments which referred to his victories and reflected the glory of other nobility at Yaxchilan.

Bird Jaguar IV was the son of Lady Eveningstar, a Maya queen consort and the second wife of Itzamnaaj B'alam I. Lady Eveningstar was from Calakmul.

Bird Jaguar was not the son of Lady Xoc (Itzamnaaj B'alam's first wife-aunt). He was not entirely of royal blood and would have difficulty acquiring the throne. Itzamnaaj B'alam commissioned a stele to be carved showing Yaxun B'alam and Lady Xoc in the same panel, thus legitimating Yaxun.

Yaxun B'alam created a series of steles that pictured him with his father to legitimize his claim to the throne.

His seventeen-year reign was much shorter than his father's, and he died in 768. He captured at least 21 people during his life, as evidenced by the statement on Yaxchilan Stela 11. Several buildings were constructed during Yaxun B'alam, including Temple 33 and Temple 21.

Within a generation of his death, the building projects at Yaxchilan had ceased.

He was succeeded by his son Itzamnaaj B'alam III in 769.

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