Jasaw Chan K'awiil I

Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (reigned 682–734 CE) was the 26th divine king (K'uhul Ajaw) of Tikal (the Kingdom of Mutul), celebrated for ending the 130-year Tikal Hiatus, shattering the hegemony of arch-rival Calakmul in 695 CE, and launching Tikal's late-Classic architectural renaissance. His name translates from Mayan as 'K'awiil (the God of Lightning) Clears the Sky.'

Rising From the Ashes of His Father's Defeat

In 679 CE, Tikal's 25th ruler, Nuun Ujol Chaak, was defeated and killed in battle by his estranged brother B'alaj Chan K'awiil of Dos Pilas and allied forces from Calakmul. When Nuun Ujol Chaak's son Jasaw Chan K'awiil I was crowned on May 3, 682 CE, Tikal was surrounded by hostile states and at its lowest ebb.

Methodically rebuilding his army, Jasaw Chan K'awiil I revived the venerable warrior traditions and atlatl (spear-thrower) regalia associated with 4th-century Teotihuacan. In 692 CE, on the tenth anniversary of his accession, he erected Stela 30—the first carved Maya Stela raised at Tikal since 557 CE—proclaiming to the Maya world that Tikal's long hiatus was over.

The Triumph of August 5, 695 CE and the Temple of the Great Jaguar

On August 5, 695 CE, Jasaw Chan K'awiil I marched out to meet Calakmul's King Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ak' ('Fiery Jaguar Paw') in a decisive battle. Tikal's warriors 'brought down the flint and shield' of the Kaan king, routing Calakmul's main army, capturing high-ranking nobles, and seizing Calakmul's massive patron deity effigy palanquin, Yax Hal Chaak (a towering jaguar figure).

Carried in triumph through Tikal's Great Plaza atop the captured jaguar palanquin, Jasaw Chan K'awiil I immortalized the victory on the carved sapodilla-wood lintels of the Temple of the Great Jaguar (Temple I). Across his 52-year reign, he transformed Tikal's ceremonial core with monumental twin pyramids before passing away in 734 CE, when he was laid to rest in a lavish jade-filled tomb deep beneath Temple I.