Yax Nuun Ayiin I

Yax Nuun Ayiin I
Residence Tikal
Other names King Curl-Nose
Title King of Tikal
Predecessor Chak Tok Ich'aak I
Successor Siyaj Chan K'awiil II
Religion Maya religion
Children Siyaj Chan K'awiil II
Parent(s) King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacan

Yax Nuun Ayiin I[1] was a ruler of the Maya civilization polity of Tikal in the Petén Basin, during the Early Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology in the late 4th century.

He was sometimes referred to by the nicknames King Curl-Nose or Curl-Snout before the hieroglyphs for his name were deciphered phonetically.

Biography

He took the throne of Tikal on 13 September 379, soon after the death of the previous king Chak Tok Ich'aak I, apparently killed by the Teotihuacano conquerors.

Yax Nuun Ayiin was a son of Spearthrower Owl, a lord of Teotihuacan (probably that city's king) in central Mexico. The installation of a Teotihuacano noble on the throne of Tikal marks a high point of Teotihuacan influence in the central Maya lowlands.

Yax Nuun Ayiin may have been a child or youth at the time of his coronation, and the early years of his reign seems to have been dominated by one of his father's generals, Siyaj K'ak', in a sort of regency.

His tomb, known as "Burial 10", was discovered by University of Pennsylvania archaeologists.

He was succeeded by his son Siyaj Chan K'awiil II probably in 425.

Notes

  1. The regnal number "I" is sometimes added to his name by modern scholars, in order to distinguish this personage from the similarly named 8th-century Tikal ruler, Yax Nuun Ayiin II. Regnal numbers were not used in the Maya inscriptions themselves.

References