 The city has a historical record that spans the greater part of the Classic period and has been reconstructed in detail by archaeologists and epigraphers.Copán was a powerful city ruling a vast kingdom within the southern Maya area.The city suffered a major political disaster in AD 738 when Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, one of the greatest kings in Copán's dynastic history, was captured and executed by his former vassal, the king of Quiriguá.