buto king pakal, maize brings much more: immortality.ied, he was placed into a sarcophagus and royally dressed in jades. narrator: steps within the temple lead down to pakal's final resting place. perfectly intact for over a thousand years, inside is the largest maya sarcophagus ever found. the lid is carved with images connecting king pakal to the maize god. miller: we see the great king depicted as the maize god being reborn. in his death, maize will eternally return to palenque. narrator: pakal associates his own birth and death to corn's cycles of planting and harvesting. he assures his people that as the maize god, he will return in a never-ending cycle of birth, death, and resurrection, and with each cycle, provide sustenance for his nation. pakal takes a simple crop and elevates it to a religion. miller: at the hea, the most fundamental notion is that man is maize, and as the maize plant flourishes each year, so too does humanity. (insects and birds chirping) narrator: corn has the power to build a kingdom for the maya. for the ha