V. Talakh, Dr. habil. (History)

Independent researcher

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2018.136.1.15

THE AFTERWORLD IMAGE OF THE CLASSIC MAYA ON THE EPIGRAPHS FROM THE ‘TEMPLE OF THE INSCRIPTIONS’ IN PALENQUE, CHIAPAS, MEXICO

The article deals with the interpretation problems of the figures and the translation of the epigraphs from the Classic Maya language, that had been found in the Temple of the Inscriptions – the funerary monument for K'inich Janaab' Pakal, the ruler of Palenque in VII century. The author made a translation of the inscriptions from Maya language into Ukrainian. The indicated images and inscriptions convey the idea of the eternal posthumous life of the ruler with the gods and ancestors. This interpretation is in contradiction with typical representations of the classical Maya on the degeneration of the dead, since the inscriptions in the Temple of the Inscriptions are unique and similar are not found on other monuments. The author supposed, that during the reign of K'inich Janaab' Pakal there had been a religious reform, which was reflected in the change of representations of the afterlife being by the Maya people in Classic period.

Keywords: classic Maya, Palenque, K'inich Janaab' Pakal I, Pacal the Great, Temple of the Inscriptions, afterlife being.

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