Kʼinich Yax Kʼukʼ Moʼ founds the royal dynasty of Copán

The founding is told in retrospect, above all on Altar Q, dedicated in 775 or 776 by the sixteenth king, Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat. Its text says that on 8.19.10.10.17 5 Kaban 15 Yaxkʼin Kʼukʼ Moʼ Ajaw “took the kʼawiil”, the sceptre of kings; three days later he left the Wiinteʼ Naah, a building associated with Teotihuacan; and on 8.19.11.0.13 5 Ben 11 Muwan, 153 days after setting out, he “arrived”. In the Julian calendar these dates fall on 3 or 5 September and 6 or 8 September 426 and on 6 or 8 February 427, depending on the correlation constant. Martin and Grube and Sharer give 5 September 426 and 8 February 427, the Julian dates for the constant 584285; David Stuart and the English Wikipedia, who use the proleptic Gregorian calendar, give 6 September 426 and 9 February 427. He is commonly depicted with a “goggle-eyed” headdress, a motif of Teotihuacan imagery, and he bore the title “Lord of the West” (ochkʼin kaloomteʼ) used a generation earlier by Siyaj Kʼakʼ, the war leader from Teotihuacan who had taken over Tikal in 378.

Where he came from is debated. Strontium isotopes in the skeleton from the Hunal tomb beneath Temple 16, identified as his, show that he spent his youth outside the Copán valley, apparently in the central Petén, near Tikal; David Stuart reads a title that links him with Uxwitzaʼ, that is, Caracol in Belize. The first buildings of the new dynasty at Copán included one temple in the talud-tablero style of Teotihuacan and another in the style of Tikal. He also installed a subordinate king, Tok Casper, at Quiriguá to the north. Kʼinich Yax Kʼukʼ Moʼ died around 437 and was succeeded by his son Kʼinich Popol Hol.

His dynasty ruled Copán for about four centuries, until 822; Altar Q, carved some 350 years after the founding, portrays its first sixteen kings, from the founder to Yax Pasaj. Copán has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980.