ABSTRACT
Powerful chieftain of the Cocom family who destroyed the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá in the early thirteenth century and founded a dynasty at a new capital, Mayapan. His despotic family would dominate the northern Yucatán for nearly 200 years before being overthrown. Magical abilities were ascribed to Ceel, who began his reign by offering himself as a sacrifice to the rain god Chac, surviving, and receiving a prophecy about the coming harvest.
