Lady Xoc Family
The most prominent of the wives of ShieldJaguar II (see the ShieldJaguar family page for more information), Ix K’abal Xoc (or as she is better known, Lady Xoc) seems to have held a position of great importance and is attested to on several door lintels from Temple 23 in Yaxchilan. Lady Xoc was most probably related to ShieldJaguar, sources point to her being his maternal first cousin, and so was descended from a prestigious family line which reflected on her husband. Most would recognize Lady Xoc from Lintel 24 representing a blood rite being enacted in which she pulls a rope, covered with thorns, through her tongue while kneeling next to ShieldJaguar II as he holds a torch above her. Her presence in such a scene is remarkable in its rarity in the Maya world.

Temple 23, constructed by ShieldJaguar II for Lady Xoc, is a temple of exceptional beauty, a stunning example of Maya stone carving. The Lintels in which Lady Xoc are featured reflect a great artistic skill and the scenes depicted reflect an importance granted only to Lady Xoc, on occasion to the detriment of the other wives of ShieldJaguar. During Roberto Garcia Molls’ excavations of Temple 23 several burials were located in the Temple’s floor – one in specific, Tomb 2, contained a mature woman laid to rest with a large stock of pottery vessels and around 20,000 obsidian blades. Six of nine carved bone bloodletters, also included in the burial, bore the name of Lady Xoc possibly designating the grave site as hers. Lady Xoc survived her husband by six years and seems to have remained a figure of some prestige within the Kingdom until her death in 749 ce.