House E was built by Pakal the Great as his throne room and dedicated in 654 AD
"House H [also known as House E], the first structure built on the upper terrace of what was to become the Palace at Palenque, was built by Lady Kanal Ikal [Pacal's Great-Grandmother], thus the Ik glyph-like openings appear in the walls of this building, as well as all later buildings at Palenque. In the western corridor of this building, there is a dais which served as the accession throne of Pacal as well as all other kings following him."
Merle Greene Robertson, "Sculpture and Murals of the Usumacinta Region," in MAYA (Pallazzo Grassi, Venice), p. 297
The mansard roofs of the palace were decorated with stucco figures — in this instance, a grotesque head. However, House E/H did not have a roofcomb.
This mansard was originally painted in bright symbolic colors: red for objects of the living world, blue/green for things divine as well as for precious substances like jade and quetzal feathers. Yellow denoted objects associated with the underworld.
The Ik glyph means wind and is contained in the name of Lady Kanal Ikal as well. It also represents breath and speech, and as such was used to shape air channels on musical instruments and as a label for the sweet aroma of flowers. In Maya codices and pottery, the Ik glyph was further used to mark speech scrolls.
Extending this idea, I think it is not farfetched to imagine that the Ik glyphs in the palace walls represent sweet breathing and speech emanating from the seat of power.
A look through the Ik-ventilator in House E shows another Ik-ventilator in the opposite side of the courtyard. These ventilators were originally decorated with elaborate stucco work, examples of which were preserved as late as 1890 in House B.
This tablet shows Pacal the Great sitting on a double-headed jaguar throne just before receiving the crown from his mother, Lady Zak-Kuk. Pacal was 12 years old when he ascended to power and ruled for the next 68 years until his death in A.D. 683.
"Lady Kanal-Ikal [Pacal's great-grandmother] and Lady Zac-Kuk [Pacal's mother] were very unusual individuals in that they are the only women we can be sure ruled as true kings. They were neither consorts nor, as in the case of Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau of Naranjo, regents for young heirs. Yet by their very status as rulers, they created serious dilemmas for the government of their kingdom. When the throne of Palenque descended through Kanal-Ikal to her children, it became the prerogative of a different lineage, for the Maya nobility reckoned family membership through their males.
Lady Kanal-Ikal and Lady Azc-Kuk were legitimate rulers because they were the children of kings and, as such, members of the current royal lineage. The offspring of their marriages, however, belonged to the father's lineage. Each time these women inherited the kingship and passed it on to their children, the throne automatically descended through another patriline. This kind of jump broke the link between lineage and dynasty in the succession."
Linda Schele & David Freidel, A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya, p. 221
Most of Pacal's successors were inaugurated into the office of king while seated on a throne that once sat below this tablet. Some interesting history of attempts to reconstruct this throne can be found in David Stuart's Note in the academic blog "Maya Decipherment". The graphics are for this article don't automatically display in the main article but are accessable by clicking on their icons in the text.
From the Maudslay Collection, British Museum. Used with permission under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 non-commercial license. ©he Trustees of the British Museum.
Stucco ornament over the doorway in the eastern corridor of House E as it was in 1890-91 when Alfred Maudslay photographed it. Sadly, this and many other ornaments no longer exist and their only remains are these glass negatives. They do, however, provide a glympse of the elegance of the palace and its decorative art as it once existed.
From the Maudslay Collection, British Museum. Used with permission under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 non-commercial license. ©he Trustees of the British Museum.
This ornament, unfortunately, also no longer exists
A P Maudslay. Biologia Centrali-Americana: Archaeology. Edited by F. Ducane Goodman and Osbert Salvin. R.H.Porter & Dulau & Co., London 1889–1902, Vol IV, Plate 43
Photo courtesy of Kasper de Jonge and Jeroen Schoenmakers of the Netherlands
"The art on the western face of this early structure is unlike anything in the Maya realm. Painted white and embellished with rows of four-petal flowers and small stylized insects, birds, and animals, this wall must have been commissioned to a codex (bark paper book) artist. It is not a mural, but more a wall painting.
Merle Green Robertson, "Sculpture and Murals of the Usumacinta Region," in MAYA (Palazzo Grassi, Venice), p. 297-99. This article has a reconstruction drawing of the western wall of House E and its floral motifs, plus botanical cross-sections of flower parts which Robertson maps onto the mural flowers.
In an online article from Dunbarton Oaks (unfortunately no longer available), Linda Schele describes the Popol Nah as a place where the councils of nobles and other leaders met. She writes that the Cordemex dictionary of Yucatec Maya equates Nikteil Nah or " flower house" with Popol Nah:
"The most amazing of these flower houses is House E at Palenque. It is the only building within the palace that had no evidence of a roof comb, and, at least in its final version, it had rows of flowers painted in rows on the west façade."
Texts and images inside the building belong to the reign of Pakal, Akul Anab III, and Balam K'uk'. Images include the accession of Pakal shown in the Oval Palace Tablet, while the throne underneath mentioned Pakal as well as Kan Balam, K'an Hok' Chitam, and Akul Anab III.
Looking up to House E piers from the southeast side of House C
Despite centuries of jungle damp, the Palace walls still retain hints of their former color and beauty.