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Reproduced after an original at The Palace of the Governor, Palenque, Mexico, 620 A.D.
This Maya art reproduction is part of a larger relief depicting a ceremony celebrating the retirement of King Pacal’s military chief. In the complete relief, he is shown with his parents, who must have been of royal blood as they are shown presenting him with offerings of important emblems of social status. This detail from the relief highlights the military chief's accomplishments as a warrior. He is seated on a throne of human captives, a symbol of his great success as a warrior. During the period of King’s Pacal reign, Palenque reached the height of its development and expansion. Pacal expanded Palenque's power in the western part of the Maya states, and initiated a building program at his capital that produced some of the finest art and architecture of the Mayan civilization.
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