One of the greatest rulers of this civilization was seen in the shape of Lord Pacal or Lord Pakal the Great, K'inich Janaab' Pakal (23 March 603-28 August 683). He took over the reins at the age of 12 on July 29th, 615 a.D., a mature age for the Mayan people, and continued his rule for the next 68 years. It was during his time that the city of Palenque reached significant height. The tenure of Lord Pacal is dated from 615 to 683 CE, and falls under the late Classic Period. The most prominent of buildings from this time include the northern complex made up of "five temples, two nearby adjacent temples, and a ball court. A third group of temples lies to the southeast." It was in the year AD675, as he approached his end that he built for himself a burial temple, which has come to be known as "The Temple of Inscriptions." The fact that the temple was in a fact a burial temple for Lord Pacal only became known in the year 1952, when Alberto Ruz Lhuillier, an archaeologist, discovered "a corbel-vaulted stairway beneath the summit shrine." This stairway then descended 80 feet under to a small chamber where the tomb of Pacal lied. The size of the chamber suggests that it was probably built before even the temple was made and the body was only moved into it later. This was then covered with a lid which depicted a scene in which Lord Pacal hangs between the mortal and the immortal world. Pacal's Sarcophagus Lid

The sarcophagus lid in question is one of the most impressive works of the Mayan Civilization, depicting the...

The sarcophagus has an immense significance, since it depicts many of the rituals and beliefs which were a part of the Mayan civilization, associated with the concept of life and death. The entire lid is a mix of many symbolic elements, contained within a band which runs around the entire lid. This band represents the heaven, with the "kin" or the day or sun on the upper right hand corner, while the "akbaal" or the night or darkness being on the left hand corner. The movement of the sun, from east to west, in this lid is the symbolic representation of the life of Pacal's own journey in the mortal world.
Lord Pakal himself is seen seated on top of a creature which resembles a U-shaped container shown at the bottom of the lid, which can be identified as the Maw of the Underworld. His posture is relaxed, with his hands and feet in a position which do not reflect any sort of panic, for his fate is already assumed, as one in which he will move towards the heaven, much like the Hun-Nal-Ye the great creator God. This can be reaffirmed with the image of the turtle pectoral, through which emerged Hun-Nal-Ye. He can be seen wearing a net skirt with his hair bound up and ornamented heavily, calculated to amount to almost 700 pieces of jade. More so, he seems to be donning heavy anklets, bracelets and necklaces. There is also on his neck an ornament that represents the "calabash fruit, the same fruit that hung from the world tree and mimicked the skull of One Hunahp