212 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
was being expended upon the erection of the mounds and terraces in the 
neighborhood of the Great Plaza (the Hieroglyphic Stairway of Mound 26 
for example, see page 272), at least no monuments dating from this katun 
have been found, and as already pointed out, the last monument of the 
period, Stela 5, was not even erected at the Main Structure. 
We may say, in closing, that by the middle of the Middle Period the 
tide of concentration had finally turned toward the settlement standing 
where the Main Structure later was to grow up, and that although all future 
monuments were not erected there, the great majority were. This settlement 
doubtless grew at the expense of the others, and became, during the Great 
Period, the principal city of the region, and indeed one of the very largest in 
the Old Empire.’ 
Turning to a more detailed consideration of the monuments of the 
Middle Period, it will be found that there are twelve stele and twelve altars. 
Of the latter, however, all except five are now correlated with their original 
stele, or if not now actually with them, have been assigned to them in the 
foregoing pages, as, for example, the East Altar of Stela 5 with Stela 1, which, 
after the practice followed in classifying the monuments of the Early Period, 
reduces the number of altars from twelve to five.’ 
The stele of the Middle Period may be arranged into three groups 
according to the arrangement of their designs, as follows: 
3.4 Stelz having inscriptions on all four faces: Stela 12, 10, 19, 13, and I. 
4. Stele having inscriptions:on three faces, the fourth being carved with the 
representation of the human figure: Stele 2, 23, 1, I, and 6. 
5. Stele having inscriptions on two alternate faces, the remaining two being 
carved with representations of the human figure: Stele 3 and 5. 
Although the stele of the Middle Period differ in the arrangement of 
their designs,’ all of them have one important point in common, namely, all 
stele of the Middle Period present Initial Series. A list of these follows: 
Stela 12 9.10.15. 0. 6 Ahau 13 Mac 
Stela, 2°9:10.15.-0. 
Stela 23 9.10. ? ? 
Stela 10 9.10.19.13. 
Stela 19 9.10.19.15. 
Stela 13 9.11. 0. 0. 
9.0: O04 0, 
Stela eee Oo. O. 
ptela’I°O.17.16.14. 
Stelay 1 oz 3.14. 
Stela 6 9.12.10. 0. 9 Ahau 18 Zotz 
stela J 9.13.10. 0. 7 Ahau 3 Cumhu 
Stela §' 9.13.14. 0.15 6 Men 18 Kayab? 
1z2 Ahau 8 Ceh 
8 Ahau 13 Ceh and 
12 Ahau 8 Ceh 
11 Ahau 8 Zotz 
5 Ahau 8 Uo 
He co biesd Gio ado 


1 For a review of the contemporaneous history of the other Old Empire cities, see Chapter V, pp. 433-442. 
2 See Appendix IX. 
3 It is evident in the cases of Stele FE, 19, 13, and I, that the associated altars have inscriptions which are to be 
regarded only as continuations of the texts on their respective stele; and further, that textually considered, they 
can not be regarded as independent monuments. 
4 Classes 1 and 2, see p. 125, are not represented in the Middle Period. 
5 Such differences are not vital, being probably due to the increasing importance and elaboration of the human 
figure and its attire. As we shall see in the Great Period, the latter finally became so ornate as to crowd the glyph 
panels off the adjacent faces altogether. (See Stele D, M, H, F, and 4.) 
