Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, also known as Yax Pasaj Chan Yoaat, Yax Pac and Yax Pasah, was ruler of the

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 ...

kingdom of Xukpi from 763 to 810 or later. This is on the site of the city of

Copán Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. It is one of the most important sites of the Maya civilization, which was not excavated until the ...

in western

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. He is the king who made Altar Q. He was the sixteenth and last king in line, whose name translates as 'New son on the Horizon'. He was the son of Smoke Shell and a noble woman of

Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the Itza Language as Lakamha ("big water" or "big waters"), was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD ...

, and as soon as he had been crowned in AD 763 he began a program of artistic and architectural improvement of the city, which included the renovation of the structures built by his predecessors and the encouragement of the work of scientists and scribes. Moreover, he was also responsible for a series of agricultural improvements which led to a great increase in population. It was this king who commissioned Altar Q. In a frieze he is depicted receiving the royal scepter from the founder of the dynasty K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'. He is also depicted on a travertine vase now belonging to the Princeton University Art Museum.https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/40297 By the time of his death in 800, nearly all the structures still visible on the Acropolis of the city today were standing complete. After his death

begun to sink into a period of decline, due to ineffective ruling authority. This resulted in the emigration of Copan's people to other city states.

References

8th-century births 9th-century deaths Kings of Copán 8th-century monarchs in North America 8th-century Maya people {{Mesoamerica-stub