Palenque

Palenque is one of the many ruins found in what used to be the Mayan Empire. While Palenque is not one of the biggest ruins that they built, it is still important for the architecture and the art seen there. Palenque is one of the more impressive of the ruins, while being covered by a large jungle. It actually wasn't discovered until the mid-1500's by some Spaniard explorers. One of the rulers of Palenque, and probably the most famous of them, was Pacal the Great. He was responsible for helping rebuild the city after it was attacked by another city-state. However, Pacal had a really elaborate funeral monument. While Palenque is still growing with excavations, much is still needed to be done as around 500 buildings are estimated to be in the area, while only 34 have been opened.

Palenque first showed up around 300 BC, now known due to some pottery. Yet while it was there for a long time, it wasn't of much use until 600 AD. In 603, Pacal (mentioned above) took over as King and ruled until 671. Pacal was known for his power, and to show that he built many spectacular buildings there, including the 'Palace.' The Palace itself was quite amazing. There were many rooms, and had many carvings on the inside. However, one of the greatest things for the Palace was running water. It was still early in history, and running water was seen as such a brilliant idea. When Pacal was 80, he died and was buried in the Pyramid of Inscriptions. Not only did he have a jade mask, but his whole body was adorned with jade armor. Not only that, but gold wire was used to put together all the jade. This was the most jade ever seen for a Mayan tomb.

The Temple of Inscriptions are probably the most important building of them all in Palenque. The building for it could have started as early as 675 CE, and this is used to hold the body of Pacal. It is a very amazingly built building and many impressive things are in the temple such as: the second longest glyph text in the Mayan world, about 180 years worth of Mayan history there, and the documenting of rituals performed there by a king. On the actual tomb, it looks as if Pacal is being the mazie (corn) god. The passage to the actual tomb wasn't found until 1952, in which a back passageway led directly down to the tomb. It is a pretty amazing place.

media type="youtube" key="cOtEMi1aj3M&hl=en" height="355" width="425" This is a good 4 minute and 51 second video of the ruins at Palenque. It is purely just showing the ruins still standing today. Towards the end, some artifacts are shown. Getting the first minute gives a good look at the ruins, but the ending is also good for more and possibly better pictures.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KrXFs1xunn4 This video pays tribute to Pacal. It has a theory of an interesting prophecy about Pacal and 2012, coincidentally the year the Mayans predicted the calendar would end and a new era would be ushered in. It’s a short 2:18 video that has a 3-d model of Palenque in the middle of the video. In the video, the prophecy is stated by saying when Pacal's tomb is opened (1952), a male baby would be born at that time and he would rise and become a time witness and king in 2012. It said that after his initial death, he was worshipped as a god and many believed he would return again some day.


 * [[image:Palenque.png width="458" height="353" align="center" caption="A picture of the Palenque Ruins"]] ||
 * A picture of the Palenque Ruins ||


 * [[image:Temple_of_Inscriptions.png align="center" caption="Temple of Inscriptions"]] ||
 * Temple of Inscriptions ||


 * [[image:The_Palace.png align="center" caption="The Palace"]] ||
 * The Palace ||


 * [[image:Jade_Mask.png width="275" height="340" align="center" caption="Pacal's Jade Mask"]] ||
 * Pacal's Jade Mask ||

-Andrew Tie
 * [[image:Map_of_Ruins.png align="center" caption="Map of the Ruins (including river, Temple of Inscriptions, and Palace)"]] ||
 * Map of the Ruins (including river, Temple of Inscriptions, and Palace) ||