ieroglyphic
texts incorporated into the city's architecture and smaller altars. Texts make
an obscure reference to his father but his mother was a noblewoman from distant
Palenque in Mexico. He built the platform of Temple 11 over the tomb of the
previous king in AD 769 and added a two-storey superstructure that was finished
in AD 773. Around AD 776, he completed the final version of Temple 16 over the
tomb of the founder. At the base of the temple, he placed the famous Altar Q,
which shows each of the 16 rulers of the city from K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'
through to Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, with a hieroglyphic text on top describing
the founding of the dynasty. By the latter 8th century, the nobility had become
more powerful, raising palaces with hieroglyphic benches that were as richly
constructed as those of the king. At the same time, local satellites were
displaying their own local power, as demonstrated by the ruler of Los Higos
erecting his own stela in AD 781. Towards the end of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat's
reign, the city of Copán was struggling with overpopulation and a lack of local
resources, with a distinct fall in living standards among the populace. Yax
Pasaj Chan Yopaat was able to celebrate his second K'atun in AD 802 with his
own monument, but the king's participation in the K'atun ending ceremony of AD
810 was marked at Quiriguá, not at Copán. By this time the city's population
was over 20,000 and it had long needed to import basic necessities from
outside.
The troubled times enveloping Copán at this time are evident from the
funerary tomb of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, which bears sculptures of the king
performing war dances
