This page groups deities by whether their existence in belief is considered fully mythological, debated, or grounded in a historical cult that can be traced. Wikipedia defines historicity as "the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction." Browsing this way helps a visitor separate gods with a documented historical cult from ones known only through later literary retelling.
Facts
Attestation
Era of AttestationSeveral figures are attested in central Mexican art long before the Mexica; the Mexica state cult is attested from the growth of Tenochtitlan; and the fullest textual record was compiled under colonial conditions between 1521 and 1590. 2 Veneration TodayThe Mexica state cult ended with the conquest of 1521 and no continuous cult of these gods survives. 2 Overview
What Defines This GroupingThe gods of the Mexica and the wider Nahua world of Late Postclassic central Mexico. The pantheon is reconstructed from pre-conquest sculpture, temple offerings and divinatory codices together with a much larger body of text compiled after 1521 by Spanish friars working with Nahua informants. The colonial conditions of that record are part of the evidence, not a footnote to it. 2 Learn More
The gods of the Aztecs
This group holds the deities of the Aztec (Mexica) civilisation of central Mexico, known from indigenous and Spanish colonial sources compiled around and after the conquest of 1521. Aztec religion set human life within a fragile cosmos of successive world-ages sustained, in the tradition's account, by ritual offering including human sacrifice.
The browser will find the war and sun god Huitzilopochtli, patron of Tenochtitlan; the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl; the smoking-mirror god Tezcatlipoca; the rain-god Tlaloc; and earth and fertility deities such as Coatlicue and Xipe Totec. The entries flag that the principal sources were written under colonial conditions and must be read critically.
Legendary: known from narrative tradition, not the historical record
Filter Results1 entry
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Aztec ReligionView the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.