Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahkʼ (Ta Batzʼ) (died October 1, 630) was a

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

of the Kaan kingdom. He became a

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

on March 28, 622.

Reign

This ruler's accession is recorded on Caracol

Stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

22. It is not known where the event took place, and it may have been before the Kaan polity became centered at

Calakmul Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya civilization, Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul w ...

Stelae A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

28 and 29, the first Late Classic monuments at that site, date to AD 623, but the names of the royal couple depicted do not survive, nor is there any sign of the

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

-head

emblem An emblem is an abstract art, abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' ...

glyph A glyph ( ) is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A ...

of Kaan. At some point following the demise of Aj Wosal Chan Kʼinich in about 615,

Naranjo Naranjo (Wak Kab'nal in Mayan) is a Pre-Columbian Maya city in the Petén Basin region of Guatemala. It was occupied from about 500 BC to 950 AD, with its height in the Late Classic Period. The site is part of Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park. ...

repudiated the long-standing overlordship of the Snake kingdom. This may have come about as the result of the death of the powerful Kaan monarch Scroll Serpent and the temptation of client states to test the mettle of his successors. It may have taken place under Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahk's immediate predecessor Yuknoom Tiʼ Chan, who is known to have been on the throne by 619. It almost certainly had taken place by 626, in Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahkʼ's fourth year of

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-princes of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kin ...

, when Kaan client Caracol waged two victorious battles against Naranjo. Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahkʼ himself may have been involved in a warfare event the following year, but any efforts to rein in the rebellious Naranjo were cut short by his death in 630. Like his accession, his demise is recorded at Caracol, where an inscription also records a gift that he made to the Caracol ruler in 627.''Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens'' by Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube

References

{{Reflist Kings of Calakmul 7th-century Maya people 7th-century monarchs in North America