On the Place of Sa-ja-la Title Holders in the Classic Maya Regime

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since they began to be discerned in the 1980s, much has been written about the political offices and roles of various secondary members of the Classic Maya court. In particular, the political office of sa-ja-la has come to be seen as that of a “governor” of smaller settlements within and between Classic Maya centers. However, the presumed role of sa-ja-la largely derives from contextual and functional analyses, since the glyphic title itself remains of uncertain pronunciation, with an opaque etymology, and no discernible descendants in either colonial or modern Mayan languages. Further, the contexts in which these title-holders appear requires reappraisal: texts commissioned by them are few and far between, and such as there are often exhibit different concerns than the more numerous texts in which they are referenced by the higher-ranking lords who placed them in office, often within months of their own accessions. In this paper, we not only reassess what is currently known but also soberly consider what can be known about the holders of the sa-ja-la title. We hope this will provide a firmer foundation for comparative and conjunctive approaches to the scope and significance of sa-ja-la within the Classic Maya regime.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Regimes of the Ancient Maya   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37213.0