Episode 9.6 - Yuknoom the Great

Yuknoom led the powerful Maya kingdom ruled by Snake Dynasty. He installed vassal kings in neighboring cities and succeeded in dividing the royal line of his main rival, the city of Tikal. He eventually sacked Tikal itself, and continued to grow the power and influence of his city, in what many historians consider the golden age for the Snake Kingdom.

Sources

  • Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens

  • Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube, Maya Superstates

  • David Freidel, The origins and development of Lowland Maya Civilisation

  • Francisco Estrada-Belli and Alexandre Tokovinine, Chochkitam: A New Classic Maya Dynasty and the Rise of the Kaanu’l (Snake) Kingdom

    Ramón Carrasco Vargas, Verónica A. Vázquez López and Simon Martin, Daily Life of the Ancient Maya Recorded on Murals at Calakmul, Mexico

  • Josh Gabbatiss, “Thousands of Ancient Maya ‘Snake King’ structures discovered hidden in the depths of the Guatemalan jungle”, The Independent

Names Mentioned