Is Copan the Athens of the New World?

The Maya civilization is certainly one of the most impressive of the New World and, fortunately, the remnants of their buildings are scattered throughout Mesoamerica at places such as Chichén Itzá, Palenque, Tikal, Caracol and, of course, Copán, considered by academics and other experts to be the grandest of the Classic Maya city states, particularly in terms of art and architecture.

In the book, Scribes, Warriors and Kings, the author William L. Fash wrote about the significance of Copán: “The reason for all this interest is simple: Copán has more hieroglyphic inscriptions and other sculpted monuments than any other Maya ruin, or any other site in the New World, for that matter.”

(Unless otherwise noted, all quotes in this article come from Fash’s book.)

Perhaps the most spectacular aspect of Copán is the Hieroglyphic Stairway, which covers the western face of a pyramid where the twelfth king of Copán’s greatest dynasty was entombed around A.D. 700. The steps of this imposing stairway are covered with date, emblem and name glyphs, as well as statues (seated figures) of Copán’s many prominent kings. There’s nothing quite like it in the Maya world!

Another imposing artifact at Copán is Altar Q, which rests directly in front of the Hieroglyphic Stairway. Dedicated by king Yax Pahsaj Chan Yopat in A.D. 776, the structure depicts Copán’s 16 dynastic rulers along its side, with a hieroglyphic text along the top relating to the founding of the dynasty in A.D. 426, linking the founder of the dynasty K’inich Yax K'uk' Mo' with the last established ruler Yax Pahsaj Chan Yopat.

Also found at Copán is Temple 10L-22, the inner chamber of which contains a “cosmogram” of the Maya world, showing the levels of the Underworld (Xibalba), represented by the skulls of buried ancestors. Also depicted is the middle world, where mortals reside, which rests upon the sky-bearers (or Bacabs), whose task it is to support the sky and the heavens, represented by a two-headed sky serpent, in whose entwined body dance the gods themselves.

Still another wonder found at Copán is the ruins of a Ball Court once used in the Mesoamerica’s soccer-like ballgame - yet in this complex game the ball was never supposed to touch the ground! This game offered a kind of ritualized combat, or proxy for warfare, the losers of which were often sacrificed after its conclusion. (Some sources show that the “winners” were actually sacrificed, this perhaps being the greatest honor for contestants!)

And, as in Athens, Greece, Copán even includes a kind of Acropolis, or high city, upon which many of its temples rest. However, this Acropolis wasn’t built on a hill like the one in Athens. Instead, Copán’s version represents the superimposed constructions of over 400 years of Copán history and its many labor projects.

History of Copán

Mayan presence on the fertile bottomlands near the Copán River in western Honduras began about 2000 B.C. But the city state that would eventually become Copán developed much later, around A.D. 300 to 450, roughly around the beginning of the Classic Maya era, which lasted until about A.D. 900. This cult of personality, if you will, comprised some 16 rulers. For instance, becoming king at the age of 15 in A.D. 612, Smoke Imix (aka Ruler 12) was the longest reigning king of Copán, ruling from A.D. 628 to 695, some 67 years!

And Ruler 13, Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil or 18 Rabbit, was perhaps Copán’s greatest builder, erecting numerous temples and stelae. But a coup d’état led by Cauac Sky of Quiriguá, who captured and beheaded Ruler 13, nearly ended the dynasty. Cauac Sky ruled a much smaller vassal state, so this blow was particularly devastating to Copán’s dynastic sovereigns.

Copán’s Classic dynasty lasted until the early 800s, when it collapsed because of deforestation, soil erosion, disease and/or a loss of political stability, though experts can only speculate about such causes by drawing analogies to other civilizations around the world. Reflecting on this uncertainty, Copan’s final ruler, number 17, U Cit Tok’, who proclaimed on his monument the beginning of a new dynasty, never attained the political backing of his predecessors. In fact, this lone stone monument was never completed! Had the dynastic tradition of Copán simply faded away because of a lack of interest?

Exploration

By exploration of the site, one refers to when people of European ancestry finally showed up and took notes or whatever and later had their work published. In 1834, Colonel Juan Galindo spent several months at Copán, and some of his writings about the site were published in newspapers and literary journals throughout the “civilized world.”

Galindo’s descriptions caught the eye of John Lloyd Stephens who visited the site around 1840 and later wrote a book entitled, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán. In addition to a fascinating narrative, the book includes many impressive illustrations by English artist Frederick Catherwood. Incidentally, at one point, Stephens actually purchased the ruins at Copán for $50 US!

Next, Alfred Percival Maudslay began in 1885 the first scientific investigation at Copán. This work included making plaster casts of the site’s numerous inscriptions, glyphs and free-standing statues (or stelae). Maudslay eventually produced the five-volume book Biologia Centrali-Americana – Archaeology from 1889 to 1902. This work spurred an intensive systematic study of the Maya world.

In 1920, archaeologist Sylvanus Griswold Morley, under the auspices of the renowned Carnegie Institution, spent weeks at a time at the site and later produced the tome, The Inscriptions at Copán, a monumental work of scholarship that became the definitive work on Classic Maya society. For instance, Morley was the first to suggest that Mayan inscriptions and glyphs referred to actual historical and astronomical events, discoveries that led to the eventual decipherment of the Mayan text from the 1960s to the present.

Restoration

In 1935, the Carnegie Institution, in collaboration with the government of Honduras, began a long-term project of investigations and restoration at Copán. During this time, many buildings and monuments, including the spectacular Hieroglyphic Stairway, ball court and many temples were rebuilt to resemble how they had appeared in antiquity.

More recently, co-directors Barbara Fash and Rudy Larios began in 1985 the Copán Mosaics Project, designed to document, conserve, reconstruct and interpret Copán’s numerous sculptures, eventually cataloging some 28,000 pieces, a process that eventually led to the establishment of a new Sculpture Museum at the site. One of the most prominent exhibits at the museum is a reconstruction of the Rosalila, an Early Classic temple built by “Moon Jaguar” (the city’s tenth ruler) about A.D. 571.

To date, Copán’s many restorations are breathtaking, making it a must-see for archaeologists, scholars and laypeople. Compared to similar restorations at other Mayan sites such as Tikal, Palenque, Calakmul and Uxmal, Copán’s seems to be one – if not the best. Go there and see for yourself!

In the aforementioned book, Fash wrote, “The great challenge for present and future Mayanists at Copan and elsewhere is to document, conserve, and interpret the material remains left behind by all the social strata (including the royal family), that chose to reside close to the centers of dynastic power. By reconstructing the larger social and economic contexts that framed the growth, maintenance, and decline of the Classic period kingdoms, we can begin to grasp the multivalent meanings of the great public works and proclamations of the divine kings that have fascinated the world since ancient Maya civilization came back to light.”

Conclusion

Of course, like just about every ancient civilization, that of the illustrious Maya eventually collapsed or “disappeared” as some people like to express it, as if the Maya may have entered a giant spaceship and left the planet altogether! Be that as it may, when the Spanish showed up in the early 1500s the Maya were still around, so they had hardly disappeared overnight! Actually, Tayasal in Guatemala, the last Maya independent polity, wasn’t subdued by the Spanish until 1697.

We may never know for sure what brought about the demise of Copán and the other Mayan city states, but does it really matter? We know the fragility of all civilizations, as well as that of life itself on earth. We’ll continue to connect the dots and see what we come up with. Nevertheless, in places like Copán, we have marvelous ruins upon which to gaze and about which to wonder of magnificent times past. Athens of the New World or not, we’re lucky to have Copán!

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Here's a link for more information about the Maya:

http://www.copanpark.com/explorers.htm