Ajaw (title)

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Ajaw (also: Ahau ) is the title of the Maya - Kings at the time of the classical Maya culture, and the 20th day in the ritual Mayan calendar Tzolkin .

Ajaw as the title of ruler

The Mayan hieroglyph “Ajaw”

The meaning of the title is given with: "Lord", "Ruler", " King ", rarely also " Chief ". As part of the name, "Ajaw" is also translated adjectivally , as is the case with Balam Ajaw , a ruler of Tikal , whose name is translated in German as "decorated jaguar".

The title is mostly used in inscriptions for the male person who exercised the highest recognized rule over an existing political unit of the Maya (in the classical period mostly a city-state). The term can also be found with female rulers, but the common term for female rulers was Ix (roughly "mistress").

The word is used with minor phonetic modifications in numerous Maya languages , both in classical times and in the present. "Ajaw" is the spelling in modernized orthography , as it was developed in 1994 by the Guatemalan Academy of Mayan Languages (Academia de lenguas Mayas) and has been adopted by most Mayan researchers to this day. Previously, the spelling "Ahau" was used for "Ajaw", corresponding to the orthography of the Yucatec Maya ( Mayathan ) from the 16th century in Spanish transcription.

In the post-classical period , especially in the Yukatán , the title of the respective highest territorial prince was Halach Huinik , which, if translated into German, could best be translated as "True Man".

Both titles, both "Ajaw" and "Halach Huinik", were inherited patrilinearly .

Ahau in the Mayan calendar

Ahau is one of the 20 glyphs in the Tzolkin calendar

In the Maya calendar , Ahau is one of the 20 daily changing signs. A significant date is 4 Ahau . On this day the creation of the current, fourth generation of mankind is said to have taken place. According to the Mayan calendar arithmetic, each additional calendar cycle of around 5000 years begins with the date of this day of creation ( 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahau… ). This was last the case on December 21, 2012. The 260-day cycle of the Tzolkin ends with 13 Ahau .

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