1000Places : photos : 2005-Route of the Maya : COPAN, HONDURAS - On Stela B, the Copan ruler "18-Rabbit" appears disguised as the ax-wielding executioner Chac, a god associated with Venus as Evening Star. The monument portrays him standing within the portal of the underworld, depicted as a great yawning monster whose blunt snout rears above his head and whose lower teeth are bared at the king's feet.- powered by SmugMug

We follow in the footsteps of the ancient Maya.

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1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Jorge Barraz had led tour groups and archaeologists around Copan for more than 20 years.

1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Another view of Stela H which depicts "18 Rabbit" reenacting the "Creation Dance." To reinforce his identity, he wears a huge zoomorphic Maize God headdress with the leaves and ear of the plant arching over his head. "18 Rabbit" was the 13th ruler of Copan and certainly its most prolific stelae builder - he was responsible for at least 10 of the site's stelae.

1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Stela D is the northern stela of the Great Plaza. Its eloquent imagery presents "18-Rabbit" in the guise of an old god.

1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - On Stela D, "18 Rabbit" wears a mask that covers the greater part of his face, with large oval openings left around his eyes and mouth. The mask has the features of an aged face, with prominently sagging jowls, wrinkles that surround the lips, and nearly toothless gums.

1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - To commemorate 9.14.0.0.0 (December 5, 711), the first k'atun-ending after his accession, "18 Rabbit" commissioned a larger-than-life-size statue of himself frozen in the midst of materializing beings from the Otherworld. Originally the Copan stelae were painted in vivid colors. Some of the red paint which covered the face of "18 Rabbit" on Stela C is still discernible today.

1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Perhaps the most beautiful of the stelae in the Great Plaza, depicts "18 Rabbit" (Waxaklajuun Ub'aah K'awiil). There is no clear indication, however, of what the event is that he is dressed for. The date on this stela is for early 732 A.D. only 60 days after Stela H.

1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Stela B - yet another of "18 Rabbit" - presents one of the most splendid portraits of a Maya ruler with a high turban depicting wound strips of cloth that is characteristic costume for Copan's ruling house. Being the 13th ruler of Copan was evidently unlucky for "18 Rabbit" - an inscription found elsewhere at Copan describes his demise using the Maya word for "chopped."

1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - One of few stelae in the Great Plaza that does NOT depict "18 Rabbit," Stela 1 is set back into a niche. The figure shown on the stela has been determined to be Smoke Imix God K (or Smoke Jaguar), the 12th ruler of Copán.

COPAN, HONDURAS - On Stela B, the Copan ruler "18-Rabbit" appears disguised as the ax-wielding executioner Chac, a god associated with Venus as Evening Star. The monument portrays him standing within the portal of the underworld, depicted as a great yawning monster whose blunt snout rears above his head and whose lower teeth are bared at the king's feet.