Ajaw

Ajaw or Ahau /ɑːˈxaʊ/ ('Lord')[1] is a pre-Columbian Maya political title attested from epigraphic inscriptions.

Before this standardisation, it was more commonly written as "Ahau", following the orthography of 16th-century Yucatec Maya in Spanish transcriptions (now Yukatek in the modernised style).

In the Maya hieroglyphics writing system, the representation of the word ajaw could be as either a logogram,[2] or spelled-out syllabically.

When the title was given to women rulers, such as K'awiil Ajaw (640-681 AD) of Coba, the term was sometimes prefixed with the sign Ix ("woman") to indicate their gender.

The archaeological site of Kʼo, associated with the Classic Maya city of Holmul located in modern-day Guatemala, boasts what may be the royal tomb of the earliest-known Mayan ruler.