·     No glyphs given in K&H, K&L, BMM9, 25EMC (as expected, as this glyph has no known pronunciation, and these works list logograms by pronunciation, and only give those with known readings).

·     TOK.p26.r3.c4 (2017) doesn’t commit to a pronunciation. In general, it is known that it ends in ‑t because of the frequency of the ta end phonetic complement. JM (2002) gives a reading ITZ’AT. This is outdated and this glyph is nowadays referred to only by its nickname of Banded Bird Title (“BBT”).

·     An MHD search on “blcodes contains BT8” gives 40 hits, of which more than 20 from PAL.

·     Stuart-TIfTXIX.p133-136 discusses this title.

·     BíróEtAl-HiPS.p133-137 (sic) discusses this title, referring also to Stuart-TIfTXIX.

·     Bassie-Sweet-TBBO is an entire 15-page paper devoted to the “BBT” (13 pages excluding references).

·     Usage:

o CNC Panel 1 K3: unclear, perhaps connected to one of the protagonists, Itzam Chan Ahk.

o PNG Panel 3 F’’: tag labelling one of the less important figures in the iconography – a member of the prominent Muxkan family.

o TRT region Wooden Box: title of owner of the box.

·     Tokovinine in one of his lectures discusses this title in quite some detail – AT-YT2021-lecture24.t0:46:56-50:41: [A slide is shown with a drawing of the TRT Wooden Box, owned by K’ax Bahlam. The text accompanying the drawing says: Within a year of the accession of a new Tortuguero ruler, he appoints a new “banded bird” official, Aj K’ax Bahlam. // Just like with sajal and aj k’uhuun titles, this accession involved “seating into” office.] The other kind of very important officials are Banded Birds. At least, I say "Banded Bird" because we still don't know how to actually decipher the name. It looks like a bird-head in a particular kind of crown. And that crown is what we see on the heads of these officials. And it's so ancient that it's never recorded in any other way. These are some of the earliest known members of the court. This fellow – Aj K'ax Bahlam (literally "Forest Jaguar") – he had that job. And he had a little wooden box with his bloodletting instruments. So we know a little bit about him. And we know that he was supposed to be "seated into that office", very much like the royal office – it was an actual job. And you were doing bloodletting – and so that was part of the role of the Banded Bird officials. // [Pointing to a slide] And there he is with the staff of office and in that special crown. This is the only non-royal position that actually has a distinct kind of headdress. [47:59] [A slide with a drawing of PAL Temple 19 Platform South Side is shown. The text under the slide says: Three banded bird officials in the king's accession scene[,] including Janaab Ajaw who impersonates God D as he handles [hands] the crown to the king. The words Janaab Ajaw are highlighted in red, as are the corresponding glyphs. On the far left, the two banded bird title glyphs are also highlighted in red.] And we know that these people are important because they are the ones who help the king... who can hold the king, touch the king, interact with the king during the most important rituals. // They are a sort of personal priest or the high priests. So when the king is crowned as the god, there has to be another god that gives the crown to the king. So it's a very challenging role – and that's what this priest does. Janaab Ajaw helps the king. Janaab Ajaw in this case represents the Celestial King of Gods. // So in terms of the optics of those acts, it's a challenging place to be, right? – crowning the king. Only the most trusted advisors can be allowed to do that. And the interesting point is that we know that this Janaab Ajaw is actually a distant relative of the king. So Janaab Ajaw... his maternal grandfather is the same as the paternal grandfather of the king. So presumably King Janaab Pakal at some point, gave one of his daughters to a non-royal family. And that was the family of those priests. So they are part-royalty. It's the borderline between the royalty and the non-royalty. And that's why they [=that family] have this high-priest office. [49:24] [A slide is shown with the drawing of the JP and SSP at each end of a canoe, with grieving animals and the Maize God in between. The text accompanying the slide says: The so-called "Paddler" gods apparently hold the "banded bird" title.] And it's very important to remember [that] there were only this many royal positions out there. // These Banded Bird officials actually have divine prototypes: the Gods of Twilight – the gods who transport the Maize God into the Waters of the Underworld – they are the Banded Bird officials. It's kind of interesting too, it's like, they have a role outlined for them, in mythology. [49:53] [YAX Stela 7 & DPL Panel 29] [Tokovinine points to the left side of the slide] And here we see one Banded Bird official helping the king, right? He's literally, like, there assisting the king with the positioning of the divine "stuff" from (I guess) the king's body parts, onto the altar. So they are allowed to help with bloodlettings. [Tokovinine points to the right side of the slide] And we see that too, as well: here’s the young prince doing his bloodletting for the first time. And there is this priest – he's the one who is basically helping the boy – he is the one holding the bloodletting tool. So once again, they touch the king, they can do things. They are the only ones who can, presumably. And that helps to explain their importance in this kind of fabric of courtly life. [There is an equivalent explanation in AT-E1168-lecture25.t0:47:48-52:14 but the sound quality is so bad that 1/5 of it is inaudible. It seems to cover about the same points as in AT-YT2021-lecture24.]

·     The glyph-block reference for the TOK.p26.r3.c4 example is PAL TFC Tablet F11 / M11 because there are two separate conventions for labelling the text columns. One convention labels the four columns on the left as A, B, C, D, and then the four columns on the right as E, F, G, H. It then goes on to use the letters I, J, K etc for the glyphs in the centre of the tablet (the ones which are “part of the iconography”). The other convention labels the four columns on the left as A, B, C, D, and then continues with E, F, etc for the glyphs in the centre of the tablet, with the four columns on the right as L, M, N, O. Depending on which convention is followed, the BBT glyph is F11 or M11 – in the second column of the four on the right, two rows below the central row.

·     The example in TOK is meant to be more “abstract” and for this reason does not include the end phonetic complement ki of the glyph-block it is based on.

·     Do not confuse this with the visually similar TZ’IKIN “eagle” which does not have any scroll/wavy elements in the top of the head (often having “LEM” instead).

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