Drawing of the Hieroglyphic Stairway at Palenque

This drawing by Annie Hunter was created from a plaster cast at the British Museum in the late 19th century and published by Alfred Maudslay in the Appendix to the Biologia Centrali-Americana. The red colour highlights the fourth passage of the hieroglyphic text, relating details about the successful military campaign of K'ihnich Janaahb Pakal. This campaign by the ruler of ancient Palenque in 659 AD was against an enemy city state in the modern Mexican state of Tabasco.