The first relief shows two standing figures guarding a pedestal with symbols referring ... to Teotihuacán." Snake imagery is common at both Teotihuacán and in the Maya area.

In Mayan iconography, the snake is associated with life above and ... on everything from pottery to friezes to stelae, the symbol would seem to suggest an association with greatness, lending ...

For a brief period one of those city-states prevailed and became the closest thing to an empire in Maya history. It was ruled by the Snake kings of the Kaanul dynasty, which until just a few ...