Abstract (English)

The nature of Precolumbian imperialism always was an important topic of discussion in Mesoamerican studies. Recently this issue again attracted a lot of attention in the context of the 500 years of the Spanish Conquest of the Late Postclassic Empire of Triple Alliance (or Aztec Empire). From the other side, as Michael Smith (2017) noted, analysis of territory, boundaries, and networks became less popular in archaeology because of the theoretical transformations in the 1990s.

The nature and scope of the Early Teotihuacan imperialism of the Classic period is even more debatable. One of the key points in its history was the conquest (entrada) to the Maya Lowlands in AD 378. Various works were dedicated to this event and its immediate consequences, including the establishment of the so-called ‘New Order’ when the Maya Lowlands were dominated by foreign elites (Huston et al 2021; Martin 2020; Stuart 2024). However, the longevity of Teotihuacan hegemony is not clear at all, and many scholars believe that it was short-lived.

Combining new epigraphic evidence and re-interpretation of the well-known Early Classic Maya inscriptions, we suggest that Maya polities stayed under the Teotihuacan aegis for several decades after the entrada and that the members of Teotihuacan nobility were actively engaged in the internal Maya politics. Teotihuacan hegemony in the Southern Maya Lowlands probably lasted until ca. AD 460 when Tikal dynasty claimed to hold “western power”.