The Temple of Inscriptions tells a story about the site's mysterious history. (istock)

I think if I were to stumble across anything in the jungle, I’d like it to be an ancient abandoned city.

That’s what happened to a Spaniard named Father Pedro Lorenzo in 1567 when he stumbled into an ancient Mayan city in Mexico that he wound up naming Palenque. Today, Palenque’s inscriptions, architecture and tombs are researched heavily by archeologists hoping to learn more about Mayan culture. And its temple steps are climbed by many a curious traveler. (Watch Rachel and Matt’s video podcast on the place, then tack it onto your list of lost-cities-to-visit-before-I-die.)   

The cool thing about abandoned cities is that there are usually some relatively fuzzy and really odd stories behind them. And that’s my segue into the tale of Pakal the Great, ruler of Palenque, who was purposely disfigured to look like a Mayan god, according to art historian Mary Miller. Many of the statues that remain in Palenque are headless. When I was doing research, I couldn’t stop staring at this one picture in Art in America magazine of a stone Pakal head (that had become separated from its body). As ancient statue faces go, he’s handsome. He has a prominent nose, his eyelids look a bit lazy and his mouth is just a touch open. And then I read Ms. Miller’s article, which indicated that Pakal’s mother may have hung a bead between Pakal’s eyes when he was a baby to make him become cross-eyed. Why would she do that? Because if he were cross-eyed, he’d squint and he’d resemble the Sun God. According to Miller, the Mayan people thought that since they squinted at the sun, the Sun God squinted back at them. In addition to crossed eyes, Pakal’s teeth were filed into a T-shape, again to make him look as if he were squinting (which is probably why his mouth looks a bit open in that sculpture). His nose is prominent because many men of that age wore fake noses – large, long noses were simply in vogue.

Pakal was Palenque’s most prominent ruler. He lived from A.D. 603 to 683 — 80 years, which was a long time in those days. He took the throne at age 12. His tomb, which is a focal point of the site, was discovered in 1952, and studies of his bones indicate that he was a taller-than-average man with no signs of disease. After he died, he was pretty much revered as a deity.

Not a bad run for a deliberately disfigured man.

For more ancient city stuff…
5 Lost Cities
What would happen if Mount Vesuvius erupted today?
How Archeology Works
Mesoamerica – The Red Queen’s DNA
Assignment Discovery: The Red Queen’s Face

Sources:
Blume, Anna. “Royal Visions: Art of the Mayan Court.” Art in America. December 2004.
Miller, Mary. “Extreme Makeover.” Archeology. January/February 2009.