​COPÁN, an ancient ruined city of western Honduras, near the Guatemalan frontier, and on the right bank of the Río Copán, a tributary of the Motagua. For an account of its elaborately sculptured stone buildings, which rank among the most celebrated monuments of Mayan civilization, see Central America: Archaeology. The city is sometimes regarded as identical with the Indian stronghold which, after a heroic resistance, was stormed by the Spaniards, under Hernando de Chaves, in 1530. It has given its name to the department in which it is situated.