Itzamna
Encyclopedia
In Yucatec Maya mythology
, Itzamna was the name of an upper god
and creator deity
thought to be residing in the sky. Little is known about him, but scattered references are present in early-colonial Spanish
reports (relaciones) and dictionaries. Twentieth-century Lacandon
lore includes tales about a creator god (Nohochakyum or Hachakyum) who may be a late successor to Itzamna. In the pre-Spanish period, Itzamna, represented by the aged god D, was frequently depicted in books and in ceramic scenes derived from such books. The Aztec
deity corresponding to Itzamna is Tonacatecuhtli
.
Eric Thompson originally interpreted the name Itzamna as "lizard house", itzam being a Yucatecan term for an iguana and naaj meaning "house". However, Thompson's translation has gradually been abandoned. While there is no consensus on the exact meaning of the name Itzamna, it may be significant that itz is a root denoting all sorts of secretions (such as dew, sap, and semen) and also sorcery. The otherwise unattested, agentive form itzam could thus mean "asperser" or "sorcerer". Although one finds God D's Classic name glyph commonly rendered as "Itzamnaaj", this reading still awaits confirmation.
(an invisible high god), Kinich Ahau
(the sun deity), and Yaxcocahmut (a bird of omen).
The most reliable source on Itzamna, Diego de Landa
, mentions him several times in the framework of his description of the ritual year. In the month of Uo, a ritual aspersion of the books took place under invocation of Kinich Ahau Itzamna, "the first priest". In the month of Zip, Itzamna was invoked as one of the gods of medicine, and in the month of Mac, he was venerated by the very old on a par with the Chaac
s, the rain deities. In the cycle of four years, one year was under the patronage of Itzamna.
Itzamna was an active creator god, as is shown by the following. Confirming Landa's description of the book ritual above, (Hun-)Itzamna is stated by Diego López de Cogolludo
to have invented the priestly art of writing. According to this same author, Itzamna (now written Zamna) had been a sort of priest who divided the land of Yucatan and assigned names to all of its features. More generally, Itzamna was the creator of humankind, and also the father of Bacab
(Francisco Hernández), a fourfold deity of the interior of the earth. In an alternative tradition, Itzamna begot thirteen sons with Ixchel
, two of whom created the earth and humankind (Las Casas).
, god D is given a role similar to that of Itzamna in Landa's description of these rituals. It is thus likely that in the Post-Classic codices, the aged god D represents Itzamna. The codical god D is very similar to the much earlier god D of Classic iconography. By comparison with the early-colonial data above, however, Classic scenes are more suggestive of narrative traditions, at times subjecting god D to the actions of others: He can, for example, be shown clinging to the back of a peccary
or a deer; held ready for sacrifice; or be shot at in his bird avatar.
representing the earth; a case has been made for identifying the caiman as the deity's transformation (Thompson, Taube).
(god N), who, as mentioned above, appears to have been considered a son of Itzamna at the time of the Spanish conquest.
. Both deities are often shown together.
murals, god D has the so-called Principal Bird Deity - perhaps the Yaxcocahmut mentioned above - for a transformative shape (see figure). The bird often holds a bicephalous snake in its beak. Its head sometimes resembles that of a rain deity; at other times, it is more like that of a bird of prey, perhaps the laughing falcon believed to be a harbinger of rain. The wings are repeatedly inscribed with the signs for 'daylight' and 'night', suggesting that the bird's flight could represent the unfolding of time. The San Bartolo murals have a Principal Bird Deity seated on top of each of four world trees, recalling the four world trees (together with a fifth, central tree) which, according to some of the early-colonial Chilam Balam
books, were re-erected after the collapse of the sky. These world trees were associated with specific birds. Four world trees also appear in the Mexican Borgia Codex. The shooting of the Principal Bird deity is one of the main episodes of the Classic Period Hero Twins myth. Strong arguments plead against the Principal Bird Deity's equation with Vucub Caquix, a bird demon from the Popol Vuh
.
, Dos Pilas
, and Naranjo
had Itzamnaaj as part of their names or titles. On Palenque
's Temple XIX platform, a dignitary presenting the king with his royal headband wears the Principal Bird Deity's headdress, while being referred to as Itzamnaaj. In his bird avatar, god D here appears as the creator god bestowing rulership on a king.
Maya mythology
Mayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles...
, Itzamna was the name of an upper god
God (male deity)
A god, as a male deity, contrasts with female deities, or "goddesses". While the term 'goddess' specifically refers to a female deity, the plural 'gods' can be applied to all gods collectively, regardless of gender....
and creator deity
Creator deity
A creator deity is a deity responsible for the creation of the world . In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities...
thought to be residing in the sky. Little is known about him, but scattered references are present in early-colonial Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
reports (relaciones) and dictionaries. Twentieth-century Lacandon
Lacandon
The Lacandon are one of the Maya peoples who live in the jungles of the Mexican state of Chiapas, near the southern border with Guatemala. Their homeland, the Lacandon Jungle, lies along the Mexican side of the Usumacinta River and its tributaries. The Lacandon are one of the most isolated and...
lore includes tales about a creator god (Nohochakyum or Hachakyum) who may be a late successor to Itzamna. In the pre-Spanish period, Itzamna, represented by the aged god D, was frequently depicted in books and in ceramic scenes derived from such books. The Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
deity corresponding to Itzamna is 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. Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl were the creators of the life, but he created them and...
.
Name
Early-colonial reports
The early colonial sources variously connect, and sometimes identify, Itzamna with Hunab KuHunab Ku
Hunab Ku is the name of a supposed Maya deity, described as "the supreme god" whose name appears in only two colonial sources: the Motul Dictionary and the Chilam Balam of Chumayel...
(an invisible high god), Kinich Ahau
Kinich Ahau
Kinich Ahau is the 16th-century Yucatec name of the Maya sun god, designated as god G in the Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube classification. In the Classic period, god G is depicted as a middle-aged man with an aquiline nose, large square eyes, cross-eyed, and a filed incisor in the upper row of teeth....
(the sun deity), and Yaxcocahmut (a bird of omen).
The most reliable source on Itzamna, Diego de Landa
Diego de Landa
Diego de Landa Calderón was a Spanish Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán. He left future generations with a mixed legacy in his writings, which contain much valuable information on pre-Columbian Maya civilization, and his actions which destroyed much of that civilization's...
, mentions him several times in the framework of his description of the ritual year. In the month of Uo, a ritual aspersion of the books took place under invocation of Kinich Ahau Itzamna, "the first priest". In the month of Zip, Itzamna was invoked as one of the gods of medicine, and in the month of Mac, he was venerated by the very old on a par with the Chaac
Chaac
Chaac is the name of the Maya rain deity. With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds and produces thunder and rain. Chaac corresponds to Tlaloc among the Aztecs.-Rain deities and rain makers:...
s, the rain deities. In the cycle of four years, one year was under the patronage of Itzamna.
Itzamna was an active creator god, as is shown by the following. Confirming Landa's description of the book ritual above, (Hun-)Itzamna is stated by Diego López de Cogolludo
Diego López de Cogolludo
Diego López de Cogolludo was a Spanish Franciscan historian of Yucatán.His work, the Historia de Yucatán, appeared at Madrid in 1688, and was reprinted in 1842 and 1867. It contains information personally gathered at a time when older sources, written and oral, that have now partly disappeared,...
to have invented the priestly art of writing. According to this same author, Itzamna (now written Zamna) had been a sort of priest who divided the land of Yucatan and assigned names to all of its features. More generally, Itzamna was the creator of humankind, and also the father of Bacab
Bacab
Bacab is the generic Yucatec name for each of the four pre-Spanish, aged Maya deities of the interior of the earth and its water deposits. The Bacabs have more recent counterparts in the lecherous, drunken old thunder deities of the Gulf Coast regions...
(Francisco Hernández), a fourfold deity of the interior of the earth. In an alternative tradition, Itzamna begot thirteen sons with Ixchel
Ixchel
Ixchel or Ix Chel is the 16th-century name of the aged jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine in the ancient Maya culture. She corresponds, more or less, to Toci Yoalticitl ‘Our Grandmother the Nocturnal Physician’, an Aztec earth goddess inhabiting the sweatbath, and is related to another...
, two of whom created the earth and humankind (Las Casas).
Pre-colonial era
In the New Year pages of the Dresden CodexDresden Codex
The Dresden Codex, also known as the Codex Dresdensis, is a pre-Columbian Maya book of the eleventh or twelfth century of the Yucatecan Maya in Chichén Itzá. The Maya codex is believed to be a copy of an original text of some three or four hundred years earlier...
, god D is given a role similar to that of Itzamna in Landa's description of these rituals. It is thus likely that in the Post-Classic codices, the aged god D represents Itzamna. The codical god D is very similar to the much earlier god D of Classic iconography. By comparison with the early-colonial data above, however, Classic scenes are more suggestive of narrative traditions, at times subjecting god D to the actions of others: He can, for example, be shown clinging to the back of a peccary
Peccary
A peccary is a medium-sized mammal of the family Tayassuidae, or New World Pigs. Peccaries are members of the artiodactyl suborder Suina, as are the pig family and possibly the hippopotamus family...
or a deer; held ready for sacrifice; or be shot at in his bird avatar.
High priest and ruler
God D is sometimes dressed as a high priest, and hieroglyphically identified as the god of rulership. Speaking generally, Classic iconography confirms god D's identity as an upper god, seated on his celestial throne while governing, among other things, the affairs of agriculture and the hunt.Crust of the Earth: Caiman
On two of the Dresden Codex's very first pages, god D is shown within the maw of a caimanCaiman
Caimans are alligatorid crocodylians within the subfamily Caimaninae. The group is one of two subfamilies of the family Alligatoridae, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Central and South America. They are relatively small crocodilians, with most species reaching lengths of only a few...
representing the earth; a case has been made for identifying the caiman as the deity's transformation (Thompson, Taube).
Father of Bacab
Both god D and his avian manifestation sometimes show features of the BacabBacab
Bacab is the generic Yucatec name for each of the four pre-Spanish, aged Maya deities of the interior of the earth and its water deposits. The Bacabs have more recent counterparts in the lecherous, drunken old thunder deities of the Gulf Coast regions...
(god N), who, as mentioned above, appears to have been considered a son of Itzamna at the time of the Spanish conquest.
Aged tonsured maize god
Iconographically, god D can be considered an aged form of the tonsured maize godMaya maize god
Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Mayas recognize in their staple crop, the maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century Popol Vuh, the Hero Twins have maize plants for alter egos and man...
. Both deities are often shown together.
Principal Bird Deity
From the late Post-Classic Paris Codex back in time to the Pre-Classic San BartoloSan Bartolo
San Bartolo is the Spanish name for Saint Bartholomew. In Spanish speaking countries it is often used as a part of placenames.It may for example refer to:* San Bartolo, Totonicapán, in Guatemala* San Bartolo near Tikal in Guatemala...
murals, god D has the so-called Principal Bird Deity - perhaps the Yaxcocahmut mentioned above - for a transformative shape (see figure). The bird often holds a bicephalous snake in its beak. Its head sometimes resembles that of a rain deity; at other times, it is more like that of a bird of prey, perhaps the laughing falcon believed to be a harbinger of rain. The wings are repeatedly inscribed with the signs for 'daylight' and 'night', suggesting that the bird's flight could represent the unfolding of time. The San Bartolo murals have a Principal Bird Deity seated on top of each of four world trees, recalling the four world trees (together with a fifth, central tree) which, according to some of the early-colonial Chilam Balam
Chilam Balam
The so-called Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 18th-century Mayan miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Mayan and early Spanish traditions have coalesced...
books, were re-erected after the collapse of the sky. These world trees were associated with specific birds. Four world trees also appear in the Mexican Borgia Codex. The shooting of the Principal Bird deity is one of the main episodes of the Classic Period Hero Twins myth. Strong arguments plead against the Principal Bird Deity's equation with Vucub Caquix, a bird demon from the Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic Quiché kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People."...
.
Human representatives
God D and his avian transformation could be represented by human beings. Various kings of YaxchilanYaxchilan
Yaxchilan is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in what is now the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta, with Piedras Negras as its major rival...
, Dos Pilas
Dos Pilas
Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, being founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 629 in order to control trade routes in the Petexbatún region,...
, and Naranjo
Naranjo
Naranjo is an ancient city of the Maya civilization in the Petén Basin region of the central Maya lowlands. It is located in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala about 10 km west of the border with Belize. It is located within the area of the Cultural Triangle of Yaxha, Nakum, Naranjo...
had Itzamnaaj as part of their names or titles. On Palenque
Palenque
Palenque was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date back to 100 BC to its fall around 800 AD...
's Temple XIX platform, a dignitary presenting the king with his royal headband wears the Principal Bird Deity's headdress, while being referred to as Itzamnaaj. In his bird avatar, god D here appears as the creator god bestowing rulership on a king.