The God C title, found in numerous hieroglyphic texts, refers
to junior members of the royal court and is therefore crucial
to our understanding of Classic Maya political structure. Over
the past two decades, the amount of epigraphic work on the God
C title has been significant. A consensus on its reading and
meaning, however, has yet to be reached. In this article, we
build on earlier research to suggest new ideas for reading this
glyph, based on semantic and grammatical re-evaluations of the
title. Our proposed readings are Ajk'uhulhun,
which might be read as “he of the holy paper”
(expanding on previous interpretations), or, alternatively,
Ajk'uhun, “one who obeys, venerates”
or “one who keeps,” based on a grammatical
reassessment. In addition, we suggest a new understanding of
the aj- and ix- agentive prefixes, traditionally
understood as masculine and feminine markers, respectively.
We examine these possible readings in archaeological and
iconographic context, using subsidiary nobles of ancient Copan
as a case study. Through our discussion we aim to illuminate
the meaning and significance of the God C title, and in doing
so to highlight the evolution of the methodologies employed
in Maya hieroglyphic decipherment over the past two decades.
