Pacal and his predecessors not only built elaborate temples and pyramids. They expanded their city-state into a thriving empire. Under Yikʼin Chan Kʼawiil, Tikal conquered Calakmul and the other cities around Tikal, forming what could be referred to as a super city-state. Pacal achieved in creating a major center for power and development. Took the throne almost a year following the death of Ha' K'in Xook. Despite this time gap, there is no evidence anyone was ruling Piedras Negras in the interim. He was later captured by K'inich Tatbu Skull IV of Yaxchilan. [57] [58] [51] [59] Kaanul leaders recruited vassals through violence and perhaps economic pressure, but weddings also figured prominently in their statecraft. Throughout its heyday, the Snake Dynasty arranged strategic marriages between royal Kaanul women and lower-ranking men who ruled regions the Kaanul wanted to bring under their control. As these queens moved to the lands their husbands controlled and bore children, securing lines of succession, this system of alliances promised to endure for generations.

In 2013 Estrada-Belli and his team worked their way into one of the larger pyramids, tracing an ancient staircase to the entrance of a ceremonial building. Cli By analyzing hieroglyphic inscriptions and illustrations of costumed queens, poring over evidence from royal tombs and reconstructing royal dynasties, Reese-Taylor and her colleagues have revealed for the first time how some Maya queens ruled alone in turbulent times, securing their dynasties and their kingdoms from usurpers, while others led their subjects to war, presiding over battles of attrition against enemy kings. “These queens are really important,” says Reese-Taylor, “and we had just given them lip service before.”In the early 1980s, fate stepped in with a Texas banking crisis. The family bank collapsed, and Gill was suddenly out of work and free to follow his dream. He went to college to study anthropology and archaeology. He probably saw himself as the legitimate heir to the Tikal throne. Howwever, moved away from the capital to found a new one at Dos Pilas, which grew to become a rival kingdom, under overlordship of Calakmul. One of his children was Lady Wak Chanil Ajaw, queen regnant Naranjo, who, by using the Tikal emblem, proved her ascendance, through B'alaj Chan K'awiil, from Tikal royal line. This is a highly informative work considering that most of Maya history comes from the Glyphs/writing left on buildings and monuments.

Reents-Budet, Dorie. Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Museum of Art, 1994. Muwaan Mat was a Mayan queen who is also named Lady Beastie in different Mayan sources. She ascended to the throne of Palenque in 612 and remained the ruler until 615. She was the daughter of Janahb Pakal. Since Pakal had no male heirs, Muwaan Mat became his successor as his daughter. Very little original information regarding her exists among extant Mayan sources. The sources do mention that she reigned for a brief period because soon her son K’inich Janaab Pakal I reached the age of maturity and so, he replaced her as the ruler of the city. There is some evidence that she continued to be politically influential by practicing and wielding considerable power over her son. Lady Six Sky The lists may not be completed. However, take in consideration that some lists are more completed than others in different aspects.

Lady Yohl Iknal

Throughout the eighth century, potters and painters produced elegant vessels for royal feasts; Calakmul and nearby centers in northern Guatemala are known as major producers of "codex-style" pots, so named for the calligraphic similarity to the later painted books. One of the last great rulers at Calakmul, Yuknoom Took' K'awiil (r. A.D. 702–731) also commissioned some of the finest known stelae from his atelier of sculptors.

Maya kings felt the need to legitimize their claim to power. One of the ways to do this was to build a temple or pyramid. Tikal Temple I is a good example. This temple was built during the reign of Yikʼin Chan Kʼawiil. Another king named Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal would later carry out this same show of power when building the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque. The Temple of Inscriptions still towers today amid the ruins of Palenque, as the supreme symbol of influence and power in Palenque. Guenter, Stanley Paul (2014). "Dating Stela 26 of Tikal". The PARI Journal. Ancient Cultures Institute. 14 (3): 13–17. Lady Tikal because the queen of the famous Mayan city of Tikal during the second decade of the 6th century. She became queen at the age of six and ruled with another individual named Kaloomte, although it is unclear whether or not she had a personal relationship with this individual. In the extant evidence from the city of Tikal, Lady Tikal is mentioned on a number of stelas. The stelas also mention one “Bird Claw” in association with her and some researchers believe that this individual indicates her successor. However, no other evidence supports this theory. Lady Yohl Iknala b Nikolai Grube 1994 Epigraphic Research at Caracol, Belize. In Studies in the Archaeology of Caracol, Belize, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco, California