Ajaw


Ajaw or Ahau is a pre-Columbian Maya political title attested from epigraphic inscriptions. It is also the name of the 20th day of the tzolkʼin, the Maya divinatory calendar, on which a ruler's kʼatun-ending rituals would fall.
for the 20th named-day of the Tzolkin Maya calendar cycle, Ajaw

Background

The word is known from several Mayan languages both those in pre-Columbian use , as well as in their contemporary descendant languages. "Ajaw" is the modernised orthography in the standard revision of Mayan orthography, put forward in 1994 by the Guatemalan Academia de Lenguas Mayas, and now widely adopted by Mayanist scholars. Before this standardisation, it was more commonly written as "Ahau", following the orthography of 16th-century Yucatec Maya in Spanish transcriptions.
In the Maya hieroglyphics writing system, the representation of the word ajaw could be as either a logogram, or spelled-out syllabically. In either case, quite a few glyphic variants are known. Not surprisingly, a picture of the ruler sometimes substitutes for the more abstract day sign.

Meaning

Ajaw denoted any of the leading class of nobles in a particular polity. It was not limited to a single individual, with a meaning variously rendered as "leader", "ruler", "lord", "king", or "queen", depending on the individual. Since the ajaw performed religious activities, it also designated a member of the Maya priesthood. The variant kʼuhul ajaw indicates a sovereign leader of a polity, although the extent of the territory and influence controlled by an ajaw varied considerably, and kʼuhul ajaw could also be applied to persons who, in theory, recognised the overlordship of another person, dynasty, or state. When the title was given to women rulers, such as K'awiil Ajaw of Coba, the term was sometimes prefixed with the sign Ix to indicate their gender.

Earliest evidence

The archaeological site of Kʼo, associated with the Classic Maya city of Holmul located in modern-day Guatemala, boasts what may be the royal tomb of the earliest known Mayan ruler. This tomb has been dated to 350-300 BC. It contains the earliest evidence of the institution of ajaw in the Maya Lowlands.