·     Often glossed as “provincial governor”, these were the chief lieutenants of the ruler of a polity, on the military (as opposed to the civil/administrative) side. They were the main leaders in a war, and are often shown with the warriors they capture. The LTI Kimbell Panel shows the handing over to the ruler of YAX of a group of three captives, captured by one of the ruler’s sajals.

·     Nelson-PhD.p22-23.pdfp38-39: Sajal and ajaw were not rigid titles. An individual could assume both titles, probably depending on circumstance, social position, social status, and a host of unknown variables.

·     Sim: The K’uhul Ajaw obviously only appointed someone as one of his sajals if he trusted him to a huge degree. Such a “provincial governor” would not necessarily have to be a member of the royal house of the polity itself. There’s no reason why the nobility of some of the ruling polity’s smaller vassal cities / polities might not be appointed as a sajal (it might even make sense to appoint that person to be the sajal of the city or polity he comes from and is a noble in). Most of the sajals are not named with the ajaw title, but (as explained), there is no reason why they might not be. YAX Lintel 8 F1-F4 is exactly such an instance, where AJ.<[a]tza> <K'IN:ni>.<MO':AJAW> è Aj Atz K'in Mo' Ajaw = “Aj Atz, Lord of K'in Mo'” is a 3.WINIKHAAB sa.<ja:la> è uhx winikhaab sajal = “3-K’atun Sajal”.