Petén Department, Guatemala

Tikal Temple III

Petén Department, Guatemala

Tikal Temple III, also known as the Temple of the Jaguar Priest, rises approximately 55 metres tall among the ruins of the ancient Maya city in Guatemala's Petén Department. Built during the Late Classic Period and dated to 810 AD through hieroglyphic text on Stela 24, the pyramid represents the last major temple constructed at Tikal. Its summit shrine uniquely features only two rooms rather than the customary three found in other principal temples at the site. The structure is associated with the king Dark Sun and likely served as his funerary monument, testament to Tikal's political stability in the early ninth century. Yet within decades of its completion, the city would fall into decline. Temple III remains only partially restored and closed to the public, never yet subjected to systematic archaeological investigation.

Movement

Type

Mesoamerican pyramid

Place

Petén Department, Guatemala

This building on

• WikidataTikal Temple III↗
• WikipediaTikal Temple III↗

Architecturally similar

• Temple of the Petal Mosaic, CyreneJabal al Akhdar, Libya
• Tikal Temple 33Petén Department, Guatemala
• Pyramid of KhafreGiza, Egypt
• Tikal Temple IPetén Department, Guatemala
• Great Pyramid of GizaGiza Governorate, Egypt
• Tikal Temple IVPetén Department, Guatemala
• Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, TirukoyilurTamil Nadu, India
• Tikal Temple IIPetén Department, Guatemala

Location

17.22210, -89.62610