Based on an analysis of the imagery and inscriptions of seven stelae, this study argues that stelae were erected not only to support a ruler's temporal claims to power but more importantly to express the fundamental connection in Maya worldview between rulership and the cosmology inherent in their vision of cyclical time.

After an overview of the archaeology and history of Copan and the reign and monuments of 18-Rabbit-God K, Elizabeth Newsome interprets the iconography and inscriptions on the stelae, illustrating the way they fulfilled a co-ordinated vision of the king's ceremonial role in Copan's period-ending rites. She also links their imagery to key Maya concepts about the origin of the universe, expressed in the cosmologies and mythic lore of ancient and living Maya peoples. Elizabeth A. Newsome is Assistant Professor of Precolumbian and Native American Art History at the University of California, San Diego.