It was Palenque 's most important ceremonial compound. The oldest indictions of ritual activity date back tot he 6th Century AD, as suggested by the presence fo incense burners. Pakal had only one building dedicated to him during his 68 year reign, while his son Kan Balam II had four, known today as the Cross Group. (What mean you with this ?) These are all arranged in a beautiful formation around the plaza sountheast of the Temple of the Inscriptions. The cross carvins figuring in some buildings here symbolize the ceiba tree, which was held sacred by the Maya, who though this tree held the Universe up. Kan Balam II ruled between 684 Ad and 702 Ad. The Cross Group is formed by the Tmpel s of the Sun, the Temple of Cross and the Temple of the Folliated croiss and are all built on natural hills, on the north sides, east and west of the plaza respectively. The buildings are formed by pyramidal basements, finished by spacious temples of double vaults at the top, in whose interiors are independent sanctuaries found, that house extraordinary sculpted limestone tablets with elaborate iconography depicting scenes from the cosmos, while containing extensive texts in Maya hieroglyphs... The tmeple of the Corss is associated wiht6 the Blue HOused and represented the mithical realm where its ruling deity had been born, Chak or God G I of the Palenque triad. (God GI is the sun god. He often acts on the upper Grenzschicht von der Unwelt. After Hellmuth. After Schele he can also be an atavar of the maize god and have nothing to do with the sun. Other means he is the Venus god. We have the choice!) The temple of the Folliated Cross is linked to the terrestrial or Earth level and its ruling God was K'awil (God G II), associated with agriculture (But he is the god of the rulig Lineage). The temple of the Sun was representing the underworld and it ruling deity was Kinich Ahaw Pakal (??) or Shield of the Sun Faced Lord, also named JAguan Sun of the Underworld (G III). He is, after Sharer, also connected with war. This triad formed on this platform is reminiscent of triadic schemes elsewhere since as early as La Danta. (Then you must explain what is La Danta.) All of this Temples are connected with the inthronisation of Chan Balum (684 A.D.). And all of them are scantified 692 A.D.There also esoteric themes in the text of the temples. Im Temple of the Cross it startet with the birth of a woman called *Lady Beast* or First Mother. The Text also told us that Lady Biest was the first king of Palenque . She come in this office in the age of 815 815 (2305 B.C.).Then the text give us the info rmation that bevor her, God GI was born. Then that GI 1.9.2. that are 542 days after our era startet GI makes a new world order. Chan Balum then linked together the birth date from Pacal to this of *Lady Biest*. The Text in the Temple of the foiliated Cross told us, that Lady Beast make a blood offering by the celebration of the end of the 2.Katun. The text also told us the birthday from the God GII. The sun temple give us the date of the birth from GIII. He is born 4 days later as GI and GII ist born 16 days later. The birth from GI was in the year 2360 B.C. Kan Balam used this three Temple to secure his legitimation on the thron. The problem was, Pacal – his father – inherited the thron from his mother. This was not the normal way. So also Pacal startet to explain that it was in order that he became the ruler. And his son makes the same efforts. He linked together the birth date from his father to that of First Mother and let us know, like God GII comes from the first Mother and the First Father, he Kan Balam was the son of the godlike Pacal. He also told us, the First Mother was the first king of Palenque . So the people have to accept that ist is not unnormal that a woman ruled over Palenque how it is done his grandmother Lady Tz'akb'u Ajaw. And he also closed the gap between the founder of the dynastie and Lady Beast. He tell us from a mythic ruler named U-Kix-Chan. This ruler was born November 11 993 B.C. and came on the thron March 28, 967 B.C. From this person Chan-Bahlum goes to the founder Bahlum-Kuk. It is important to point out that the associations of Gods with those levels is not static but dynamic, th deities complemented each other or connected to each other to symbolize the movement of the Universe, expressed by the switching between day and night, the Sun's daily cycle, and for the changes in season through the stages of the agricultural cycle. After all, according to Maya belief, those Gods were brothers and shared certain powers and contributed as one to maintain order and the sacred mechanisms of the World... The architectural landscape at the Cross Group was modified after the reign of Kan Balam II, in the course of the 8th Century, when Temple XIV and Group XV were built. ( Sorry, this is not the lates knowledge. After ceramics found in a Tomb of Temple XV it is now clear that this Structure was the earliest Temple of the group. They conclude that is must give an early stage of the Cross Groupe .)The first, Temple XIV was built during the reign of K'an Hoy Chitam II (702 AD to 711 AD ) He was heir to his older brother, Kan Balam II, son of Pakal II. Group XV came last and had funerary, ceremonial and perhaps even housing functions. Not perhaps. In structure C of this group they find incense burners. Structure D, with a building made from perhisable material has traces of household activity (manons and metates for example). In Structure A they found a vase in orange and black. This vase was decoradet with a water fall. The triad Gods were represented in incence burners, the people of Palenque called these P'ulut K'u, or God Incenseburner. At the top they placed the incense and blood burner they offered these Gods. They were used for a whole katun, or ending of a 7,200 day cycle, at the end of which they were replaced with new ones. The old incense burners were burried in the base of the Cross Group. The ritual included a last burning of incense in them, probably smaller ceramic pots with food offerings, and in some cases human finger bones were offered.
½ Index ½ Info ½ Arts ½ Sciences ½ Travel ½ Palenque Map ½ Contact Us ½ |