page_title: Motul de San José
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Motul de San José / History / Classic Period / Late Classic / Politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Maya site of Yaxchilan, Mexico, Late Classice Period. Lintel 15 of Structure 21 depicting Lady Wak Tuun, one of the wives of king Bird-Jaguar IV, during a bloodletting rite (detail). British Museum
context_page_description: Motul de San José is an ancient Maya site located just north of Lake Petén Itzá in the Petén Basin region of the southern Maya lowlands. It is a few kilometres from the modern village of San José, in Guatemala's northern department of Petén. A medium-sized civic-ceremonial centre, it was an important political and economic centre during the Late Classic period.
  The site was first settled between 600 and 300 BC, in the latter portion of the Middle Preclassic period, when it most likely was a fairly small site. This Maya city then had a long and continuous occupational history until the Early Postclassic, up to around AD 1250, with peaks in the Late Preclassic and Late Classic periods. Motul de San José had begun to refer to Tikal as its overlord in the late 4th century AD; by the 7th century it had switched its allegiance to Calakmul, Tikal's great rival, before returning its allegiance to Tikal in the early 8th century. In the late 8th century Motul de San José appears to have been conquered by Dos Pilas, capital of the Petexbatún kingdom.
  Most natural resources were easily available in the immediate vicinity of the city.
context_section_description: In the Late Classic period Motul de San José was located between two mutually hostile powers, the great city of Tikal to the north and the breakaway kingdom of Petexbatún to the southwest, which had become a vassal of Tikal's implacable enemy Calakmul. In Mesoamerica, such border states as Motul de San José became centres of political activity as they tried to manipulate the shifting political fortunes of their neighbours to their own advantage. This seems to be the case at Motul de San José with its rich ceramic tradition being a testament to the politically motivated banqueting that took place in the city. In the 8th century, although Motul de San José was the capital of the Ik polity, the aristocracy of its satellite sites wielded great power and were able to challenge their own position within the political hierarchy of the state while remaining subordinate to the ruling lord of the capital city.
  During the 7th century AD, Motul de San José is recorded in hieroglyphic inscriptions as being a vassal of Calakmul. By the early 8th century the city had switched its allegiance to Jasaw Chan K'awiil I, king of Tikal, then falling under the power of Petexbatún, itself a vassal of Calakmul, in the middle of the 8th century, before once again switching its allegiance to Tikal. In 711, Jasaw Chan K'awiil I, Lord of Tikal, was recorded as overlord of Motul, perhaps reflecting Tikal's traditional overlordship of the city. In spite of these shifting alliances, Motul de San José acted with a degree of independence and was a powerful kingdom in the 8th century AD, with its ruler using the kaloomte title given to high kings. The city's rulers became very successful on the political scene in the wider Maya region, with the use of politically motivated feasting, war, economics and political marriages.
  There is a glyphic record that sometime before 731 a lord of Motul was captured by a lord (Ruler B) of Machaquilá. In 740, Machaquila attacked Motul de San José. Hieroglyphic Stairway 3 at Dos Pilas records that in 745 a lord of Motul was captured by K'awiil Chan K'inich of Dos Pilas. In the middle of the 8th century AD, Motul de San José was closely allied with the important city of Yaxchilan on the Usumacinta River, as demonstrated by the fact that the king of Yaxchilan Yaxun B'alam IV ("Bird Jaguar IV") who ruled from 752 to 768, took two wives from Motul de San José. They are named in inscriptions at Yaxchilan as Lady Wak Tuun and Lady Wak Jalam Chan Ajaw. Lady Wak Jalam Chan Ajaw is shown preparing her husband for a battle that took place in 755 on Yaxchilan Lintel 41, now in the British Museum in London. In fact, the alliance with Yaxchilan may date further back to the early 8th century since Yaxchilan Lintel 25 (dedicated in AD 723) used the so-called X-ray style of imagery that is closely associated with the Motul de San José polity. However, relations with Yaxchilan were not always peaceful and Hieroglyphic Stairway 5 at Yaxchilan records that Itzamnaaj B'alam III of Yaxchilan defeated the lord of Motul some time in the latter part of the 8th century.
caption: Lady Wak Tuun of Motul de San José married Yaxun B'alam IV of Yaxchilán. Here she is depicted performing a bloodletting rite in AD 755. Yaxchilán Lintel 15, now in the British Museum.[45]
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