Maya stelae (singular stela ) are monuments that were fashioned by the Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica . They consist of tall, sculpted stone shafts and are often ᴀssociated with low circular stones referred to as altars, although their actual function is uncertain. Many stelae were sculpted in low relief ,  although plain monuments are found throughout the Maya region.  The sculpting of these monuments spread throughout the Maya area during the Classic Period (250–900 AD),  and these pairings of sculpted stelae and circular altars are considered a hallmark of Classic Maya civilization.The earliest dated stela to have been found in situ in the Maya lowlands was recovered from the great city of Tikal in Guatemala . During the Classic Period almost every Maya kingdom in the southern lowlands raised stelae in its ceremonial center. 

Stelae became closely ᴀssociated with the concept of divine kingship and declined at the same time as this insтιтution. The production of stelae by the Maya had its origin around 400 BC and continued through to the end of the Classic Period, around 900, although some monuments were reused in the Postclassic (c. 900–1521). The major city of Calakmul in Mexico raised the greatest number of stelae known from any Maya city , at least 166, although they are very poorly preserved. 

Hundreds of stelae have been recorded in the Maya region,  displaying a wide stylistic variation.  Many are upright slabs of limestone sculpted on one or more faces,  with available surfaces sculpted with figures carved in relief and with hieroglyphic text . Stelae in a few sites display a much more three-dimensional appearance where locally available stone permits, such as at Copán and Toniná .  Plain stelae do not appear to have been painted nor overlaid with stucco decoration,  but most Maya stelae were probably brightly painted in red, yellow, black, blue and other colors. 

Stelae were essentially stone banners raised to glorify the king and record his deeds, although the earliest examples depict mythological scenes. Imagery developed throughout the Classic Period, with Early Classic stelae (c. 250–600) displaying non-Maya characteristics from the 4th century onwards, with the introduction of imagery linked to the central Mexican metropolis of Teotihuacan .  This influence receded in the 5th century although some minor Teotihuacan references continued to be used. In the late 5th century, Maya kings began to use stelae to mark the end of calendrical cycles . In the Late Classic (c. 600–900), imagery linked to the Mesoamerican ballgame was introduced, once again displaying influence from central Mexico. By the Terminal Classic , the insтιтution of divine kingship declined, and Maya kings began to be depicted with their subordinate lords.  As the Classic Period came to an end, stelae ceased to be erected, with the last known examples being raised in 909–910.

The function of the Maya stela was central to the ideology of Maya kingship from the very beginning of the Classic Period through to the very end of the Terminal Classic (800–900). The hieroglyphic inscriptions on the stelae of the Classic period site of Piedras Negras played a key part in the decipherment of the script, with stelae being grouped around seven different structures and each group appearing to chart the life of a particular individual, with key dates being celebrated, such as birth, marriage and military victories. From these stelae, epigrapher Tatiana Proskouriakoff was able to identify that they contained details of royal rulers and their ᴀssociates, rather than priests and gods as had previously been theorized.

Epigrapher David Stuart first proposed that the Maya regarded their stelae as te tun , “stone trees”, although he later revised his reading to lakamtun , meaning “banner stone”, from lakam meaning “banner” in several Mayan languages ​​and tun meaning “stone”.  According to Stuart this may refer to the stelae as stone versions of vertical standards that once stood in prominent places in Maya city centers, as depicted in ancient Maya graffiti . The name of the modern Lacandon Maya is likely to be a Colonial corruption of this word. 

Maya stelae were often arranged to impress the viewer, forming lines or other arrangements within the ceremonial center of the city. Maya cities with a history of stonecarving that extended back into the Early Classic preferred to pair their stelae with a circular altar, which may have represented a cut tree trunk and have been used to perform human sacrifice , given the prevalence of sacrificial imagery on such monuments .  An alternative interpretation of these “altars” is that they were in fact thrones that were used by rulers during ceremonial events.  Archaeologists believe that they probably also served as ritual pedestals for incense burners , ceremonial fires and other offerings. 

The core purpose of a stela was to glorify the king. Many Maya stelae depict only the king of the city, and describe his actions with hieroglyphic script . Even when the individual depicted is not the king himself, the text or scene usually relates the subject to the king.  Openly declaring the importance and power of the king to the community, the stela represented his wealth, prestige and ancestry, and depicted him wielding the symbols of military and divine power. Stelae were raised to commemorate important events, especially at the end of a kʼatun 20-year cycle of the Maya calendar , or to mark a quarter or a half kʼatun .  The stela did not just mark off a period of time; it has been argued that it physically embodied that period of time. The hieroglyphic texts on the stelae describe how some of the calendrical ceremonies required the king to perform ritual dance and bloodletting . At Tikal , the twin pyramid groups were built to celebrate the kʼatun ending and reflected Maya cosmology . These groups possessed pyramids on the east and west sides that represented the birth and death of the sun. On the south side, a nine-doored building was situated in order to represent the underworld . On the north side was a walled enclosure that represented the celestial region; it was left open to the sky. It was in this celestial enclosure that a stela-altar pair was placed, the altar being a fitting throne for the divine king.  Calakmul practiced a tradition that was unusual in the Maya area, that of raising twin stelae depicting both the king and his wife. 

The iconography of stelae remained reasonably stable during the Classic Period, since the effectiveness of the propaganda message of the monument relied upon its symbolism being clearly recognizable to the viewer.  However, at times a shift in the sociopolitical climate induced a change in iconography.  Stelae were an ideal format for public propaganda since, unlike earlier architectural sculpture, they were personalized to a specific king, could be arranged in public spaces and were portable, allowing them to be moved and reset in a new location. An important feature of stelae was that they were able to survive different phases of architectural construction, unlike architectural sculpture itself. With the ability to portray an identifiable ruler bearing elite goods, accompanied by hieroglyphic text and carrying out actions in service of the kingdom, stelae became one of the most effective ways of delivering public propaganda in the Maya lowlands . In 7th-century Copán , king Chan Imix Kʼawiil raised a series of seven stelae that marked the boundary of the most fertile land in the Copán valley, an area of ​​approximately 25 to 30 square kilometers (9.7 to 11.6 sq mi).  As well as marking the boundary, they defined the sacred geometry of the city and referred to important seats of deities in the ceremonial center of the Copán.