10 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
it. This court is 70 meters long and 33 meters wide, and its floor-level is 
g meters above the general level of the plain. In addition to Temple 16, 
there are two platforms, 13 and 14,and a reviewing stand at the northern end. 
The floor of this court is strewn with sculptured fragments, probably the 
wreckage of the facade of Temple 16, and there are 5 or 6 sculptured monu- 
ments in it—Stela P and Altars Q, V, H’, and I’, and possibly Altar W.? 
Temple 16 was excavated by Maudslay in 1885, and a headless seated 
human figure in stone and several smaller objects were found in the single 
chamber preserved.? The reviewing stand at the northern end of the court 
was partially excavated by Gordon in 1892-1895 (right end) and was com- 
pleted by the writer in 1912 and 1915. It bears the date 9.17.0.0.0 of the 
Maya Era. 
The Eastern Court was probably the most holy part of the city. Here 
is the most magnificent temple, No. 22, and here clustered a greater number 
of sacred buildings than anywhere else in the valley (Nos. 18, 19, 20, 21, 21a). 
This court is 42 meters long and 33 meters wide, and the level of its floor is 
very slightly higher than the floor of the Western Court. 
In the center of the northern side, rising from a terrace 8 meters high, is 
Temple 22, the most ornate, the most elaborately sculptured, in short, the 
most magnificently embellished structure in the Maya area, and beyond 
doubt the principal temple at Copan. It is 26 meters long and 12 meters 
wide. There is an outer chamber terminating in two small lateral chambers, 
and a back chamber or sanctuary. The facade, now fallen, was once 
decorated with an elaborate sculptured mosaic. ‘This temple’s chief claim to 
distinction, however, lies in the sculptural decoration above the doorway 
leading into the sanctuary. ‘lwo gigantic death-heads, one on either side of 
the interior doorway, support squatting human figures of heroic size, on top 
of whose shoulders curl upward two grotesque monsters, in whose coils are 
caught smaller human figures. The tails of these two monsters meet over 
the center of the doorway, where another small human figure sits. 
Finally, the riser of the step leading into the sanctuary is sculptured with 
a double row of finely carved glyphs. The barbaric splendor of this door- 
way, its central position in the temple, 7. ¢., leading into the sanctuary, and 
the commanding position of the temple itself, dominating the principal court, 
all tend to indicate that in Temple 22 we have the most important religious 
structure in the city. 
Maudslay gives some excellent views of Temple 22 during and after 
excavation, and also a restoration of this inner doorway. ‘The latter, 
though falling far short of the original in artistic feeling, gives an adequate 
idea of the appearance of the approach to the sanctuary in ancient times.° 
To the east of Temple 22, and arranged around the northeast corner of 
the Eastern Court, are three other temples, Nos. 21a, 21, and 20, all of 
1The exact provenance of Altar W is unknown (see pp. 364, 365). It has been referred to the Western Court 
in plate 6 for want of more accurate information as to its original position. 
2Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1 of text, p. 25, and vol. 1, plate ro. 
3[bid., vol. 1, plate 12; see also plates 13-16. 
