9. Juni 2021
Tobias Mercer
The only known ruler of La Amelia is mentioned in the inscriptions with two appellatives, which have been tentatively read as Lachan K'awiil and ˀAjaw Bot in previous publications. The present note revises these readings. A re-examination of the inscription on Hieroglyphic Stairway 1 showed that his first appellative is to be read as K'ahk' Hoplaj Chan K'awil, “As for the fire, it is (the rain god) K'awiil who is burning in the sky”. This reading is consistent a wide-spread onomastic formula, which was popular in the Eastern Maya Lowlands in the Classic Period. It is also suggested that the initial ˀa phonetic complement of his second appellative should be interpreted as an indication of a non-standard reading order. Thus, this widely accepted and tentative reading order ˀAjaw Bot receives a well-grounded interpretation.
