Spearthrower Owl

"Spearthrower Owl" (or Atlatl Cauac) (<364 – 439 AD) is the name commonly given to a Mesoamerican personage from the Early Classic period, who is identified in Maya inscriptions and iconography. It has been suggested that Spearthrower Owl was a ruler of Teotihuacan at the start of height of its influence across Mesoamerica in the 4th and 5th century, and that he was responsible for the introduction of Teotihuacan-related cultural traits in the Maya area.

"Spearthrower Owl" is a name invented by archaeologists basically just describing the visual appearance of the Teotihuacan-originated spear-holding owl symbol stylised as one or two Maya glyphs usually used to represent his name. The symbols themselves are not readable Maya writing, even though inserted among otherwise normal glyphs.

However, in Tikal, the name appears written once as an ordinary Maya glyph compound that can be spelled out. The suggested spelling for the name is Jatz'om Kuh, meaning "owl that will strike". This naturally also looks like a verbal description of the spear-holding owl symbol.

Various logographs or glyphs depicting an owl and a spear-thrower are documented in Teotihuacan and in the Maya cities of Tikal, Uaxactun, Yaxchilan, and Tonina. They may or may not refer to the same individual, or have some other symbolic meaning.

Maya inscriptions at several sites describe the arrival of strangers from the west, depicted with Teotihuacan-style garments and carrying weapons. These arrivals are connected to changes in political leadership at several of the sites.

Inscriptions on the Marcador monument at the Petén Basin center of Tikal record that Spearthrower Owl ascended to the throne of an unspecified polity on a date equivalent to 4 May 374. Monuments at El Peru, Tikal and/or Uaxactun describe the arrival of a personage Siyaj K'ak' somehow under the auspices of Spearthrower Owl in the month of January 378. The exact date of his arrival in Tikal is identical with the death of the Tikal ruler, Chak Tok Ich'aak I. Tikal Stela 31 describes that in 379, a year after the arrival of Siyaj K'ak' at Tikal, Yax Nuun Ayiin, described as a son of Spearthrower Owl and not of the previous ruler Chak Tok Ich'aak, was installed as king of Tikal. His rule saw the introduction of Teotihuacan-style imagery in the iconography of Tikal. Stela 31 was erected during the reign of Yax Nuun Ayiin's son Siyaj Chan K'awil and describes the death of that ruler's grandfather, Spearthrower Owl, in 439 AD. Spearthrower Owl was mentioned in later texts; for example, on a door lintel of Temple One where the Tikal ruler Jasaw Chan K'awiil I celebrated the anniversary of Spearthrower Owl by "conjuring the holy one."

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