After walking past Ball Court A-III, we came to my favorite temple at Copan: Temple XXVI.  I sat before the zoomorph and felt energy rushing down the staircase through Stela M and the zoomorph towards me, energizing me.  After a while I felt totally charged and energized and alive.  What a fantastic experience!  I love this temple.

According to the government signs, Temple XXVI features the longest Pre-Columbian hieroglyphic inscription in America and comprises 1 of the most remarkable monuments that the Maya built during the Classic Period.  In over 2,000 hieroglyphs carved on 63 steps, the text recounts Copan’s Dynastic History beginning with references to the dynasty’s founder K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo.  The Mayans built several structures beneath/before Temple XXVI; some dating back to the 1st Ruler K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo.  Many of these earlier buildings faced west, as does Temple XXVI.  Archaeologists found a stela here that might be the 1st made at Copan.

According to the LONELY PLANET GUIDE to HONDURAS, 1st Edition, January 2007, ISBN 978-1-74059-150-8, page 152, the 15th Ruler K’ak’ Yipyaj Chan K’awil built the Hieroglyphic Staircase.  Ramps with more reliefs and glyphs border the staircase.  When archaeologists uncovered the Hieroglyphic Staircase, the upper section had collapsed.  So the bottom 15 steps are in their original position, but the remaining stones were jumbled.  the archaeologists replaced them with no way of knowing the correct order, so only about 45% of what’s written on the steps is decipherable.  Beside the Staircase is a tunnel leading to a nobleman’s tomb, a royal scribe who might have been Ruler 12’s (K’ak’ Uti’ Ha’ K’awil) son.