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The Aztec
Aztec

Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology....
 civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many gods (over 100) and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs.

c culture is generally grouped with the cultural complex known as the Nahua
Nahua

The Nahuas are a group of Indigenous peoples in Mexico peoples of Mexico. Their language of Uto-Aztecan affiliation is called Nahuatl and consists of many more Nahuatl dialects and variants, a number of which are mutually unintelligible....
 because of the common language they shared. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac
Anahuac

Anahuac is an ancient name for a Mesoamerican, particularly Aztec, area or areas, usually identified as located within or even coterminous with the Valley of Mexico....
 valley around Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco

Lake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico, a basin with an average elevation of 2,236m above mean sea level located in the southern highlands of Mexico's Mexican altiplano....
.






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The Aztec
Aztec

Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology....
 civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many gods (over 100) and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs.

History

Aztec culture is generally grouped with the cultural complex known as the Nahua
Nahua

The Nahuas are a group of Indigenous peoples in Mexico peoples of Mexico. Their language of Uto-Aztecan affiliation is called Nahuatl and consists of many more Nahuatl dialects and variants, a number of which are mutually unintelligible....
 because of the common language they shared. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac
Anahuac

Anahuac is an ancient name for a Mesoamerican, particularly Aztec, area or areas, usually identified as located within or even coterminous with the Valley of Mexico....
 valley around Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco

Lake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico, a basin with an average elevation of 2,236m above mean sea level located in the southern highlands of Mexico's Mexican altiplano....
. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City
Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
 – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec.

There are different accounts of their origin. In the myth the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlán
Aztlán

Aztl?n is the legendary ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica. "Aztec" is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan."...
, the last of seven nahuatlacas (Nahuatl-speaking tribes, from tlaca, "man") to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca". Other accounts cite their origin in Chicomostoc, "the place of the seven caves", or at Tamoanchan (the legendary origin of all civilizations).

The Mexica/Aztec were said to be guided by their god Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli

In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli...
, meaning "Left-handed Hummingbird
Hummingbird

Hummingbirds are birds in the family Trochilidae, and are endemic to the Americas. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 15?200 times per second ....
" or "Hummingbird from the South". When they arrived at an island in the lake, they saw an eagle
Eagle

Eagles are large bird of prey which are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several Genus which are not necessarily closely related to each other....
 which was perched on a nopal
Nopal

Nopales are a vegetable made from the young cladophyll segments of opuntia, carefully peeled to remove the spine s. They are particularly common in their native Mexico....
 cactus full of its fruits (nochtli). (Due to a mistranslation of an account by Tesozomoc, it became popular to say the eagle was devouring a snake, but in the original Aztec accounts, the snake is not mentioned. One states that it was eating a bird, another indicates that it was only perched in the cactus, and a third just says it was eating something.) This vision fulfilled a prophecy telling them that they should found their new home on that spot. The Aztecs built their city of Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan was a Nahua peoples altepetl located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded in 1325, it became the seat of Aztec Empire in the 15th century, until being Fall of Tenochtitlan....
 on that site, building a great artificial island
Artificial island

An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by humans rather than formed by natural means. They are created by expanding existing islets, construction on existing reefs, or amalgamating several natural islets into a bigger island....
, which today is in the center of Mexico City
Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
. This legendary vision is pictured on the Coat of Arms of Mexico
Coat of arms of Mexico

The Coat of Arms of Mexico has been an important symbol of Mexican politics and Mexican culture for centuries. The coat of arms depicts a Mexican golden Eagle perched upon a cactus devouring a snake....
.

Turquoiseaztecmask
According to legend, when the Mexicas arrived in the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco

Lake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico, a basin with an average elevation of 2,236m above mean sea level located in the southern highlands of Mexico's Mexican altiplano....
, they were considered by the other groups as the least civilized of all, but the Mexica/Aztec decided to learn, and they took all they could from other people, especially from the ancient Toltec
Toltec

The word Toltec in Mesoamerican studies has been used in different ways by different scholars to refer to actual populations and polity of pre-Columbian central Mexico or to the mythical ancestors mentioned in the mythical/historical narratives of the Aztecs....
 (whom they seem to have partially confused with the more ancient civilization of Teotihuacan
Teotihuacán

Teotihuacan is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, containing some of the largest Mesoamerican pyramid built in the pre-Columbian Americas....
). To the Aztec, the Toltecs were the originators of all culture; "Toltecayotl" was a synonym for culture. Aztec legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
 with the legendary city of Tollan
Tollan

Tollan, Tolan, or Tol?n is the name used for the capital city of two empires of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica; first for Teotihuacan, and later for the Toltec capital of Tula, Mexico....
, which they also identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan.

Because the Aztec adopted and combined several traditions with their own earlier traditions, they had several creation myths; one of these, the Five Suns
Five Suns

Five Suns is an album by progressive rock group Guapo released in 2003....
 describes four great ages preceding the present world, each of which ended in a catastrophe. Our age – Nahui-Ollin, the fifth age, or fifth creation – escaped destruction due to the sacrifice of a god (Nanahuatl
Nanauatzin

Nanauatzin is a deity of both Aztec mythology and Pipil mythology ....
, "full of sores", the smallest and humblest of the gods) who was transformed into the Sun. This myth is associated with the ancient city of Teotihuacan, which was already abandoned and destroyed when the Aztec arrived. Another myth describes the earth as a creation of the twin gods Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca

Tezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion, associated with a wide range of concepts including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, sorcery, beauty, war and strife....
 and Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
. Tezcatlipoca lost his foot in the process of creating the world and all representations of these gods show him without a foot and with a bone exposed. Quetzalcoatl is also called "White Tezcatlipoca".

Gods


  • Acolnahuacatl, or Acolmiztli - a god of the underworld, Mictlan
    Mictlan

    This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the rapping called Mictlan see Doomtree, for wrestler Mictlan see Mictl?n .In Aztec mythology, 'Mictlan' was the lowest level of the underworld, located far to the north....
  • Acuecucyoicihuati (see Chalchiuhtlicue
    Chalchiuhtlicue

    In Aztec mythology, Chalchiuhtlicue was the goddess of lakes, rivers, seas, streams, horizontal waters, storms, and baptism. She is also a patroness of birth and plays a part in Aztec baptism....
    )
  • Amimitl
    Amimitl

    In Aztec mythology, Amimitl was a god of lakes and fishing....
     - god of lakes and fishers


  • Atlacamani
    Atlacamani

    In Aztec mythology, Atlacamani was the goddess of oceanic storms such as hurricanes. She was probably an aspect of Chalchiuhtlicue....
     - goddess of oceanic storms such as hurricanes
  • Atlacoya
    Atlacoya

    In Aztec mythology, Atlacoya was the goddess of drought and barren land....
     - goddess of drought
  • Atlatonan (also Atlatonin) - goddess of the coast
  • Atlaua
    Atlaua

    In Aztec mythology, Atlaua was a water deity, patron god of fishers and archers.Alternative: Atlahua....
     - water god
  • Ayauhteotl
    Ayauhteotl

    In Aztec mythology, Ayauhteotl was the goddess of crepuscular fog, vanity, and fame....
     - goddess of mist, fog, vanity and fame


  • Camaxtli - god of hunting, war, fate and fire
  • Centeotl (see Cinteotl)
  • Chalchiuhtlatonal
    Chalchiuhtlatonal

    In Aztec mythology, Chalchiuhtlatonal was a god of water.References...
     - god of water
  • Chalchiuhtecolotl - a night owl god
Chalchiutlicue Rios
* Chalchiuhtlicue
Chalchiuhtlicue

In Aztec mythology, Chalchiuhtlicue was the goddess of lakes, rivers, seas, streams, horizontal waters, storms, and baptism. She is also a patroness of birth and plays a part in Aztec baptism....
 (also Chalciuhtlicue, or Chalchihuitlicue) (She of the Jade Skirt). (Sometimes Acuecucyoticihuati) - the goddess of lakes and streams, and also of birth; consort of Tlaloc
Tlaloc

Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion, a god of rain, fertility, and water. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water....
.

  • Chalchiuhtotoliq (Precious Night Turkey) - god of pestilence and mystery
  • Chalmecatecuchtlz - a god of the underworld, Mictlan
    Mictlan

    This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the rapping called Mictlan see Doomtree, for wrestler Mictlan see Mictl?n .In Aztec mythology, 'Mictlan' was the lowest level of the underworld, located far to the north....
     and sacrifices
  • Chalmecatl
    Chalmecatl

    Chalmecatl is one of the lords of the Aztec realm of the dead, Mictlan. See also*Mictlantecuhtli...
     the underworld, Mictlan
    Mictlan

    This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the rapping called Mictlan see Doomtree, for wrestler Mictlan see Mictl?n .In Aztec mythology, 'Mictlan' was the lowest level of the underworld, located far to the north....
     and the north
  • Chantico
    Chantico

    In Aztec mythology, Chantico was the goddess of fires in the family hearth and volcanoes. She broke a fast by eating paprika with roasted fish, and was turned into a dog by Tonacatecuhtli as punishment because paprika is a banned food in such fast breaking customs....
     - the goddess of hearth fires, personal treasure, and volcanoes
  • Chicomecoatl
    Chicomecoatl

    In Aztec mythology, Chicomecoatl "Seven snakes", was the Aztec goddess of maize during the Middle Culture period. She is sometimes called "goddess of nourishment", a goddess of plenty and the female aspect of corn....
     (also Chalchiuhcihuatl, Chiccomeccatl, or Xilonen) - goddess of new maize
    Maize

    Maize , known as corn in some countries, is a cereal domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents....
     and produce, wife of Cinteotl.


  • Chicomexochtli
    Chicomexochtli

    In Aztec mythology, Chicomexochtli was the patron god of Paintings and other artists....
     - a patron of artists
  • Chiconahui
    Chiconahui

    In Aztec mythology, Chiconahui was a domestic fertility goddess and protectress of families and homes....
     - a domestic fertility goddess
  • Chiconahuiehecatl
    Chiconahuiehecatl

    In Aztec mythology, the god Chiconahuiehecatl participated in the creation of the world....
     - associated with creation
  • Cihuacoatl
    Cihuacoatl

    In Aztec mythology, Cihuacoatl was one of a number of motherhood and fertility goddesses. Cihuacoatl was especially associated with midwives, and with the sweatbaths where midwives practiced....
     (also Chihucoatl or Ciucoatl) (Woman Serpent) - an aspect of Ilamatecuhtli and consort of Quetzalcoatl
    Quetzalcoatl

    Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....


  • Cinteotl (also Centeotl or Centeocihuatl) - the principal maize
    Maize

    Maize , known as corn in some countries, is a cereal domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents....
     god, son of Tlazolteotl
    Tlazolteotl

    In Aztec mythology, Tlazolteotl is a goddess of purification, steam bath, midwives, filth, and a patroness of adulterers. In Nahuatl, the word tlazolli can refer to vice and diseases....


  • Cipactonal - god of astrology and the calendar
  • Citlalatonac (see Ometeotl
    Ometeotl

    Ometeotl is the name of the dual god Ometecutli/Omecihuatl in Aztec mythology. Teotl originally was translated as god, but most translators now prefer lord since the concept is not equivalent to the European concept of God....
    )
  • Citlalicue
    Citlalicue

    In Aztec mythology, Citlalicue was a goddess who created the stars along with her husband, Citlalatonac. This pair of gods are sometimes associated with the first pair of humans, Nata and Nena....
     - a creator of the stars
  • Coatlicue
    Coatlicue

    Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan , "The Mother of Gods" , is the Aztec mythology who gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war....
     (She of the Serpent Skirt) - legendary mother of Coyolxauhqui
    Coyolxauhqui

    In Aztec mythology, Coyolxauhqui was a daughter of Coatlicue and the leader of the Centzon Huitznahuas, the star gods. Coyolxauhqui was a powerful magician and led her siblings in an attack on their mother, Coatlicue, because Coatlicue had become pregnant....
    , the Centzon Huitzahua
    Centzonuitznaua

    In Aztec mythology, the Centzonuitznaua were the gods of the southern stars. They are the evil elder sons of Coatlicue, and their sister is Coyolxauhqui....
    , and Huitzilopochtli
    Huitzilopochtli

    In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli...
  • Cochimetl
    Cochimetl

    In Aztec mythology, Cochimetl, or Cocochimetl was the god of commerce and merchants....
     (also Coccochimetl) - god of commerce, bartering, and merchants


  • Coyolxauhqui
    Coyolxauhqui

    In Aztec mythology, Coyolxauhqui was a daughter of Coatlicue and the leader of the Centzon Huitznahuas, the star gods. Coyolxauhqui was a powerful magician and led her siblings in an attack on their mother, Coatlicue, because Coatlicue had become pregnant....
     - legendary sister of Huitzilopochtli
    Huitzilopochtli

    In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli...
    , associated with the moon, possibly patroness of the milky way
    Milky Way

    The Milky Way, sometimes called simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies....
  • Cuaxolotl - a goddess of the hearth


  • Ehecatl
    Ehecatl

    Ehecatl is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica....
     (also Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl
    Quetzalcoatl

    Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
    ) - the god of the Wind and creator of the earth, heavens, and the present race of humanity. As god of the west, one of the skybearers


  • Huehuecoyotl
    Huehuecoyotl

    In Aztec mythology, Huehuecoyotl is the god of music, dance and song. He is depicted in the Codex Borbonicus as a dancing coyote with human hands and feet, accompanied by a human drummer....
     (also Ueuecoyotl) - a trickster god of indulgence and pranks. A shapeshifter
    Shapeshifting

    Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology and folklore, as well as in science fiction and fantasy. In its broadest sense, it is a :wikt:metamorphosis of a person or animal....
    , associated with drums and the coyote
  • Huehueteotl
    Huehueteotl

    Huehueteotl is a Mesoamerican deity figuring in the Pantheon s of pre-Columbian cultures, particularly in Aztec mythology and others of the Central Mexico region....
     (also Ueueteotl, Xiuhtecuhtli, Xiutechuhtli) - an ancient god of the hearth, the fire of life. Associated with the pole star and the north, and serves as a skybearer
  • Huitzilopochtli
    Huitzilopochtli

    In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli...
     (also Mextli, Mexitl, Uitzilopochtli) - the supreme god of Tenochtitlan
    Tenochtitlan

    Tenochtitlan was a Nahua peoples altepetl located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded in 1325, it became the seat of Aztec Empire in the 15th century, until being Fall of Tenochtitlan....
    , patron of war, fire and the sun
  • Huixtocihuatl
    Huixtocihuatl

    In Aztec mythology, Huixtocihuatl was a fertility goddess who presided over salt and sea water. Her younger brother was Tlaloc, and the rain gods are her sisters. Some sources place her as a wife of Tezcatlipoca....
     (also Uixtochihuatl) - a goddess of salt and saltwater


  • Ilamatecuhtli (also Cihuacoatl or Quilaztli) - aged goddess of the earth, death, and the milky way
    Milky Way

    The Milky Way, sometimes called simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies....
    . Her roar signalled war
  • Itztlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli - god of stone, obsidian, coldness hardness, and castigation. Aspect of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
    Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli

    In Aztec religion, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is the deity of the planet Venus, the morning star. Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli was considered a dangerous and malevolent god, and was associated with Quetzalcoatl....
  • Itzli
    Itzli

    In Aztec mythology, Itzli was a god of Rock , particularly in the shape of a human sacrifice knife. He served Tezcatlipoca as the god of the Second Hour of the Night. He is associated with Chalchiuhtlicue and Tlazolteotl....
     - god of sacrifice and stone knives.
  • Itzpapalotl
    Itzpapalotl

    In Aztec mythology, Itzpapalotl was a fearsome skeletal warrior goddess, who ruled over the paradise world of Tamoanchan, the paradise of victims of infant mortality and place identified where humans were created....
     - Queen of Tomoanchan
    Tomoanchan

    Tamoanchan is a mythical place known to the Mesoamerican cultures of the central Mexican region in the Mesoamerican chronology period. In the mythological traditions and Mesoamerican creation accounts of Late Postclassic peoples such as the Aztec, Tamoanchan was conceived as a paradise where the gods created the first of the present human rac...
     and one of the Cihuateteo
    Cihuateteo

    In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo were the spirits of human women who childbirth#Complications and Risks of Birth . Childbirth was considered a form of battle, and its victims were honored as fallen warriors....
     (night demons) and tzitzimime
    Tzitzimime

    In Aztec mythology, a tzitzimitl is a deity associated with stars. They were depicted as skeletal female figures wearing skirts often with skull and crossbone designs....
     (star demons)
  • Ixtlilton
    Ixtlilton

    In Aztec mythology, Ixtlilton was the Mexican god of medicine and healing, and therefore was often alluded to as the brother of Macuilxochitl, the god of well-being or good luck....
     - the god of healing, dancing, festivals and games. Brother of Xochipilli
    Xochipilli

    Xochipilli was the god of art, games, beauty, dance, flowers, maize, and song in Aztec mythology. His name contains the Nahuatl words xochitl and pilli , and hence means "flower prince"....
    .
  • Macuilcozcacuauhtli (five vulture) - one of the Ahuiateteo (gods of excess)
  • Macuilcuetzpalin (five lizard) - one of the Ahuiateteo (gods of excess)
  • Macuilmalinalli (five grass) - one of the Ahuiateteo (gods of excess)
  • Macuiltochtli
    Macuil-Tochtli

    Macuiltochtli is one of the five deities from Aztec and other central Mexican pre-Columbian mythological traditions who, known collectively as the Ahuiateteo, symbolized excess, over-indulgence and the attendant punishments and consequences thereof....
     (five rabbit) - one of the Ahuiateteo (gods of excess)
  • Macuilxochitl (five flower) - the god of games and gambling, and chief of the Ahuiateteo (gods of excess)


  • Malinalxochitl - sorceress and goddess of snakes, scorpions and insects of the desert
  • Matlalceuitl (also Matlalcueje) - goddess of rainfall and singing. Identified with Chalchiuhtlicue
    Chalchiuhtlicue

    In Aztec mythology, Chalchiuhtlicue was the goddess of lakes, rivers, seas, streams, horizontal waters, storms, and baptism. She is also a patroness of birth and plays a part in Aztec baptism....
    .
  • Mayahuel (also Mayahual, or Mayouel) - the goddess of maguey, and by extension, alcohol
  • Metztli
    Metztli

    In Aztec mythology, Metztli was a god or goddess of the lunar deity, the night, and farmers. He/she was probably the same deity as Yohaulticetl and Coyolxauhqui and the male moon god Tecciztecatl; like the latter, he/she feared the sun because he/she feared its fire....
     (also Metztli, Tecuciztecatl, Tecciztecatl)- lowly god of worms who failed to sacrifice himself to become the sun, and became the moon instead, his face darkened by a rabbit.
  • Mextli
    Mextli

    In Aztec mythology, Mextli was a god of the moon and was born fully armed as a warrior. He accepted hundreds of sacrifices annually. His name is thought by many to be the source of the name "Mexico"....
     - a god of war and storms


  • Mictecacihuatl
    Mictecacihuatl

    In Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl is the Queen regnant of Mictlan, the underworld, ruling over the afterlife with Mictlantecuhtli, another deity who is designated as her husband....
      (also Mictlancihuatl) - goddess of death and Lady of Mictlan
    Mictlan

    This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the rapping called Mictlan see Doomtree, for wrestler Mictlan see Mictl?n .In Aztec mythology, 'Mictlan' was the lowest level of the underworld, located far to the north....
    , the underworld
    Underworld

    In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly the dead souls go....
  • Mictlantecuhtli
    Mictlantecuhtli

    For other uses, please see: Mictlantecuhtli .Mictlantecuhtli , in Aztec mythology, was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan , the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld....
     (also Mictlantecuhtzi, or Tzontemoc) - the god of death and Lord of Mictlan
    Mictlan

    This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the rapping called Mictlan see Doomtree, for wrestler Mictlan see Mictl?n .In Aztec mythology, 'Mictlan' was the lowest level of the underworld, located far to the north....
    , also as god of the south, one of the skybearers
  • Mixcoatl
    Mixcoatl

    Mixcoatl or Camaxtli was the god of the hunt and identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens in several Mesoamerica cultures....
     (cloud serpent) - god of hunting, war, and the milky way
    Milky Way

    The Milky Way, sometimes called simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies....
    . An aspect of Tezcatlpoca and father of Quetzalcoatl
    Quetzalcoatl

    Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....


  • Nanahuatzin (also Nana, Nanautzin, or Nanauatzin) - lowly god who sacrificed himself to become sun god Tonatiuh
    Tonatiuh

    In Aztec mythology, Tonatiuh was the sun god. The Aztec people considered him the leader of Tollan, heaven. He was also known as the fifth sun, because the Aztecs believed that he was the sun that took over when the fourth sun was expelled from the sky....


  • Omacatl (see Tezcatlipoca
    Tezcatlipoca

    Tezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion, associated with a wide range of concepts including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, sorcery, beauty, war and strife....
    )
  • Omecihuatl (see Ometeotl
    Ometeotl

    Ometeotl is the name of the dual god Ometecutli/Omecihuatl in Aztec mythology. Teotl originally was translated as god, but most translators now prefer lord since the concept is not equivalent to the European concept of God....
    )
  • Ometecuhtli (see Ometeotl
    Ometeotl

    Ometeotl is the name of the dual god Ometecutli/Omecihuatl in Aztec mythology. Teotl originally was translated as god, but most translators now prefer lord since the concept is not equivalent to the European concept of God....
    )
  • Ometeotl
    Ometeotl

    Ometeotl is the name of the dual god Ometecutli/Omecihuatl in Aztec mythology. Teotl originally was translated as god, but most translators now prefer lord since the concept is not equivalent to the European concept of God....
     (also Citlatonac or Ometecuhtli (male) and Omecihuatl (female)) - the god(s) of duality, pregenator(s) of souls and lord/lady of heaven


  • Ometotchtli
    Ometotchtli

    In Aztec mythology, Ometochtli is the collective or generic name of various individual deities and supernatural figures associated with pulque , an alcoholic beverage derived from the fermented sap of the maguey plant....
     (two rabbit) - drunken rabbit god, leader of the Centzon Totochtin
    Centzon Totochtin

    In Aztec mythology, the Centzon Totochtin are a group of deities who meet for frequent parties; they are divine rabbits, and the gods of drunkenness....
  • Opochtli
    Opochtli

    In Aztec mythology, Opochtli was a god of hunting and fishing....
     - left-handed god of trapping, hunting and fishing
  • Oxomoco - goddess of astrology and the calendar


  • Patecatl
    Patecatl

    In Aztec mythology, Patecatl is a god of healing and fertility, and the discoverer of peyote. With Mayahuel, he was the father of the Centzon Totochtin....
     - the god of medicine, husband of Mayahuel
  • Paynal
    Paynal

    In Aztec religion, Painal was a god who served as a representative of Huitzilopochtli....
     - the messenger to Huitzilopochtli
    Huitzilopochtli

    In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli...
Quetzalcoatl Ehecatl
* Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
 (also Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli) (quetzal-feathered serpent) - creator god and patron of rulership, priests and merchants. Associated with Ehecatl
Ehecatl

Ehecatl is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica....
 as the divine wind
  • Quilaztli (see Ilamatecuhtli)


  • Tecciztecatl (see Mextli
    Mextli

    In Aztec mythology, Mextli was a god of the moon and was born fully armed as a warrior. He accepted hundreds of sacrifices annually. His name is thought by many to be the source of the name "Mexico"....
    )
  • Temazcalteci
    Temazcalteci

    In the Aztec mythology, Temazcalteci was the goddess of steam baths. As per Sahagun, this goddess was the goddess of medicine, Toci, she was venerated by doctors....
     (also Temaxcaltechi) - goddess of bathing and sweatbaths
  • Teoyaomicqui (also Teoyaomiqui)- the god of dead warriors
  • Tepeyollotl
    Tepeyollotl

    In Aztec mythology, Tepeyollotl was the god of earthquakes, echo and jaguars. He is the god of the Eighth Hour of the Night, and is depicted as a jaguar leaping towards the sun....
     - (The jaguar form of Tezcatlipoca
    Tezcatlipoca

    Tezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion, associated with a wide range of concepts including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, sorcery, beauty, war and strife....
    ) god of the heart of the mountain, associated with jaguar
    Jaguar

    The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a New World Felidae and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the tiger, lion, and leopard of the Old World....
    s, echoes, and earthquakes
  • Tepoztecatl
    Tepoztecatl

    In Aztec mythology, Tepoztecatl was the god of pulque, of drunkenness and fertility. The deity was also known by his Mesoamerican calendars name, Ometochtli ....
     (also Tezcatzontecatl) - god of pulque
    Pulque

    Pulque, or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation juice of the maguey, and is a traditional native beverage of Mesoamerica....
     and rabbits


  • Teteoinnan - mother of the gods
  • Tezcatlipoca
    Tezcatlipoca

    Tezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion, associated with a wide range of concepts including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, sorcery, beauty, war and strife....
     (also Omacatl, Titlacauan) - omnipotent god of rulers, sorcerers and warriors; night, death, discord, conflict, temptation and change. A sinister rival to Quetzalcoatl
    Quetzalcoatl

    Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
    . Can appear as a jaguar
    Jaguar

    The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a New World Felidae and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the tiger, lion, and leopard of the Old World....
    .
  • Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
    Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli

    In Aztec religion, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is the deity of the planet Venus, the morning star. Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli was considered a dangerous and malevolent god, and was associated with Quetzalcoatl....
     - destructive god of the morning star (venus), dawn, and of the east. One of the skybearers


  • Tlaloc
    Tlaloc

    Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion, a god of rain, fertility, and water. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water....
     (also Nuhualpilli) - the great and ancient provider and god of rain, fertility and lightning
  • Tlaltecuhtli
    Tlaltecuhtli

    Tlaltecuhtli, Tlaltecutli is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican deity figure, identified from sculpture and iconography dating to the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology , primarily among the Aztec and other Nahuatl-speaking cultures....
     - goddess of earth, associated with difficult births


  • Tlazolteotl
    Tlazolteotl

    In Aztec mythology, Tlazolteotl is a goddess of purification, steam bath, midwives, filth, and a patroness of adulterers. In Nahuatl, the word tlazolli can refer to vice and diseases....
     (also Tlaelquani, Tlazolteotli)- the goddess of purification from filth, disease or excess
  • Tloquenahuaque - a creator god or ruler
  • Toci
    Toci

    Toci is a deity figuring prominently in the religion and mythology of the pre-Columbian Aztec of Mesoamerica. In Aztec mythology she is attributed as the "Mother of the Gods" , and associated as a goddess of the Earth ....
     (also Temazcalteci) - grandmother goddess, heart of the earth and mother of the gods. Associated with midwives and war
  • Tonacatecuhtli
    Tonacatecuhtli

    In Aztec mythology, Tonacatecuhtli was a fertility god, who was worshipped for being the power that warmed the earth and made it fruitful. He organized the world into land and ocean at the creation of the world....
     - the aged creator and provider of food and patron of conceptions
  • Tonacacihuatl
    Tonacacihuatl

    In Aztec mythology, Tonacacihuatl was the wife of Tonacatecuhtli....
     - consort of Tonacatecuhtli
    Tonacatecuhtli

    In Aztec mythology, Tonacatecuhtli was a fertility god, who was worshipped for being the power that warmed the earth and made it fruitful. He organized the world into land and ocean at the creation of the world....


  • Tonantzin
    Tonantzin

    In Aztec mythology, Tonantzin is considered Mother Earth.Among the titles and honorifics bestowed upon Tonantzin are "Goddess of Sustenance", "Honored Grandmother", "Snake", "Bringer of Maize" and "Mother of the Corn"....
     - a mother goddess
  • Tonatiuh
    Tonatiuh

    In Aztec mythology, Tonatiuh was the sun god. The Aztec people considered him the leader of Tollan, heaven. He was also known as the fifth sun, because the Aztecs believed that he was the sun that took over when the fourth sun was expelled from the sky....
     - a sun god and heavenly warrior, associated with eagles and with the Maya
  • Tzitzmitl - aged grandmother goddess


  • Xilonen - the goddess of young maize
    Maize

    Maize , known as corn in some countries, is a cereal domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents....
  • Xipe Totec
    Xipe Totec

    In Aztec mythology, Xipe Totec was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths and the seasons....
     - the god of the seasons, seed germination and renewal, considered the patron of goldworkers
  • Xiuhcoatl
    Xiuhcoatl

    In Aztec religion, Xiuhcoatl is an atlatl wielded by Huitzilopochtli.See also*Xiuhtecuhtli...
     (fire serpent or turquoise serpent) - embodiment of the sun's rays and emblem of Xiuhtecuhtli
    Xiuhtecuhtli

    In Aztec mythology, Xiuhtecuhtli , was the god of fire, day and heat. He was the lord of volcanoes, the personification of life after death, warmth in cold , light in darkness and food during famine....
  • Xiuhtecuhtli
    Xiuhtecuhtli

    In Aztec mythology, Xiuhtecuhtli , was the god of fire, day and heat. He was the lord of volcanoes, the personification of life after death, warmth in cold , light in darkness and food during famine....
     -(also called Huehueteotl
    Huehueteotl

    Huehueteotl is a Mesoamerican deity figuring in the Pantheon s of pre-Columbian cultures, particularly in Aztec mythology and others of the Central Mexico region....
    )


  • Xochipilli
    Xochipilli

    Xochipilli was the god of art, games, beauty, dance, flowers, maize, and song in Aztec mythology. His name contains the Nahuatl words xochitl and pilli , and hence means "flower prince"....
     - the young god of feasting, painting, dancing, games, and writing. Associated with Macuilxochitl and Cinteotl
  • Xochiquetzal
    Xochiquetzal

    In Aztec mythology, Xochiquetzal was a goddess associated with concepts of fertility and female sexual power, serving as a protector of young mothers and a patroness of pregnancy, childbirth, and the crafts practised by women such as weaving and embroidery....
     - goddess of love, beauty, female sexuality, prostitutes, flowers, pleasure, craft, weaving, and young mothers
  • Xocotl
    Xocotl

    Xocotl is the generic Nahuatl language classification for sour or acidic fruit, used in the names of many species of fruit tree including atoya-xocotl , maza-xocotl , atoya-xocotl te-xocotl , xal-xocotl , and coua-xocotl but also used in particular for what is known in Spanish as Jocote....
     - star god associated with fire
  • Xolotl
    Xolotl

    In Aztec mythology, Xolotl was the god with associations to both lightning and death.Although often depicted in relation to the underworld, Xolotl was not a psychopomp in the Western sense....
     - canine companion of Quetzalcoatl
    Quetzalcoatl

    Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
     and god of twins, sickness and deformity. Accompanies the dead to Mictlan
    Mictlan

    This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the rapping called Mictlan see Doomtree, for wrestler Mictlan see Mictl?n .In Aztec mythology, 'Mictlan' was the lowest level of the underworld, located far to the north....


  • Yacatecuhtli
    Yacatecuhtli

    In Aztec mythology, Yacatecuhtli or Yiacatecuhtli was the patron god of commerce and travelers, especially merchant travelers. His symbol is a bundle of staves....
     (also Yactecuhtli) - the god of merchants and travelers


Serpent gods

  • Chicomecoatl
    Chicomecoatl

    In Aztec mythology, Chicomecoatl "Seven snakes", was the Aztec goddess of maize during the Middle Culture period. She is sometimes called "goddess of nourishment", a goddess of plenty and the female aspect of corn....
  • Cihuacoatl
    Cihuacoatl

    In Aztec mythology, Cihuacoatl was one of a number of motherhood and fertility goddesses. Cihuacoatl was especially associated with midwives, and with the sweatbaths where midwives practiced....
  • Coatlicue
    Coatlicue

    Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan , "The Mother of Gods" , is the Aztec mythology who gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war....
  • Mixcoatl
    Mixcoatl

    Mixcoatl or Camaxtli was the god of the hunt and identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens in several Mesoamerica cultures....
  • Quetzalcoatl
    Quetzalcoatl

    Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
  • Xiuhcoatl
    Xiuhcoatl

    In Aztec religion, Xiuhcoatl is an atlatl wielded by Huitzilopochtli.See also*Xiuhtecuhtli...


God groups

  • Ahuiateteo (also Macuiltonaleque) - five gods who personify excess
  • Cihuateteo
    Cihuateteo

    In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo were the spirits of human women who childbirth#Complications and Risks of Birth . Childbirth was considered a form of battle, and its victims were honored as fallen warriors....
     (also Civatateo) - souls of women who died in childbirth who lead the setting sun in the western sky. Also night demons who steal children, and cause seizures, insanity and sexual transgression. They also accompany warriors to heaven.
  • Centzon Huitznahua - southern stars, children of Coatlicue
    Coatlicue

    Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan , "The Mother of Gods" , is the Aztec mythology who gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war....
  • Centzon Totochtin
    Centzon Totochtin

    In Aztec mythology, the Centzon Totochtin are a group of deities who meet for frequent parties; they are divine rabbits, and the gods of drunkenness....
     (400 rabbits) - gods of pulque
    Pulque

    Pulque, or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation juice of the maguey, and is a traditional native beverage of Mesoamerica....
  • Skybearers - associated with the four directions, supported the vault of the sky.
  • Tzitzimime
    Tzitzimime

    In Aztec mythology, a tzitzimitl is a deity associated with stars. They were depicted as skeletal female figures wearing skirts often with skull and crossbone designs....
     - star demons of darkness that attack the sun during eclipses and threaten the earth


Supernatural creatures

  • Ahuitzotl
    Ahuizotl (creature)

    The ahuizotl is a legendary creature in Aztec belief. It was described as otter-like, with hands capable of manipulation and an additional hand on its tail....
     - a human-eating water-dwelling dog-monkey with a hand on its tail
  • Cipactli
    Cipactli

    In Aztec mythology, Cipactli was a vicious primeval sea monster, part crocodile and part fish. Always hungry, every joint on her body was adorned with an extra mouth....
     - the caiman at the foundations of the earth
  • Cihuateteo
    Cihuateteo

    In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo were the spirits of human women who childbirth#Complications and Risks of Birth . Childbirth was considered a form of battle, and its victims were honored as fallen warriors....
    -the spirits of women who died in childbirth (mociuaquetzque.)
  • Nagual
    Nagual

    In Mesoamerican folk religion a Nagual or Nahual is a human being who has the power to magically turn him- or herself into an animal form, most commonly donkey, turkey and dogs, but also other and more powerful animals....
     - a tutelary animal or vegetable spirit
  • Nahual - a shapeshifting sorcerer or witch
  • Tlaltecuhtli
    Tlaltecuhtli

    Tlaltecuhtli, Tlaltecutli is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican deity figure, identified from sculpture and iconography dating to the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology , primarily among the Aztec and other Nahuatl-speaking cultures....
     - a toad goddess


Legendary heroes

  • Popocatepetl
    Popocatépetl

    Popocat?petl is an active volcano and, at 5,426 m., the second highest mountain in Mexico after the Pico de Orizaba . Popocat?petl is linked to the Iztacc?huatl volcano to the north by the high saddle known as the Paso de Cort?s, and lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt....
     - Legendary warrior


Places

  • Apanoayan (where one crosses the river) - the first of the nine levels of Mictlan, also known as Itzcuintlan.
  • Aztlán
    Aztlán

    Aztl?n is the legendary ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica. "Aztec" is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan."...
     (land of the herons) - the original home of the Mexica
    Aztec

    Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology....
     before the peregrination and the establishment of Tenochtitlan
    Tenochtitlan

    Tenochtitlan was a Nahua peoples altepetl located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded in 1325, it became the seat of Aztec Empire in the 15th century, until being Fall of Tenochtitlan....
  • Iztaccihuatl
    Iztaccíhuatl

    Iztacc?huatl , is the third highest mountain in Mexico, after the Pico de Orizaba and Popocat?petl . Its name is Nahuatl language for "white woman"....
  • Mictlan
    Mictlan

    This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the rapping called Mictlan see Doomtree, for wrestler Mictlan see Mictl?n .In Aztec mythology, 'Mictlan' was the lowest level of the underworld, located far to the north....
     - the underworld.
  • Popocatepetl
    Popocatépetl

    Popocat?petl is an active volcano and, at 5,426 m., the second highest mountain in Mexico after the Pico de Orizaba . Popocat?petl is linked to the Iztacc?huatl volcano to the north by the high saddle known as the Paso de Cort?s, and lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt....
  • Tlalocan
    Tlalocan

    Tlalocan is the fourth level of the "upper worlds", or 'heavens', according to the Mythologyic cosmography of the Nahuatl language-speaking peoples of pre-Columbian central Mexico, noted particularly in Spanish conquest of Mexico accounts of Aztec mythology....
     first paradise.
  • Tehuantepec
    Tehuantepec

    Tehuantepec is a town and municipalities of Mexico in the southeast of the Mexico States of Mexico of Oaxaca. The 2005 census reported a population of 39,529 in the town and 57,163 in the entire municipality, which has an areal extent of 965.8 km? ....
     place of the hill of the sacred jaguar
  • Tlillan-Tlapallan
    Tlillan-Tlapallan

    Tlillan-Tlapallan 'Place of the black and red colour' is a legendary place or region on the Gulf Coast of Mexico where king Quetzalcoatl went on his flight from Tollan in order to burn himself and change into the Morning Star....
     middle realm of the heaven (middle paradise).
  • Tonatiuhichan highest paradise
  • Tamoanchan


See also

  • Aztec philosophy
    Aztec philosophy

    Aztec philosophy was the school of philosophy developed by the Aztec. The Aztecs had a well developed school of philosophy, perhaps the most developed in the Americas and in many ways comparable to Greek philosophy, even amassing more texts than the ancient Greeks....
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External links

  • B. Diaz del Castillo, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico (tr. by A. P. Maudsley, 1928, repr. 1965)