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Male

This page groups deities by the gender attributed to them in myth, since most pantheons assign their gods a specific gender the way they assign one to people. Wikipedia notes that "in polytheistic religions, gods often have genders which would enable them to sexually interact with each other, and even with humans." Browsing this way lets a visitor compare, for instance, every goddess in the atlas against every god, regardless of which tradition either comes from.

Facts
Overview
What Defines This Grouping
The gods of the Maya, reconstructed from hieroglyphic inscriptions, painted pottery and monumental art of the Classic period, from the four surviving Postclassic codices, and from colonial-period books written in Maya languages. Maya deities are unstable by design - they split, pair, age and change aspect with the calendar - and the reconstruction is uneven across regions and centuries. 2
Peoples and Traditions Covered
Kiche and the highland Maya, source of the Popol Vuh and of the continuously kept 260-day calendar 2
Peoples and Traditions Covered
The Classic-period lowland cities, whose gods are known from their own inscriptions and art 2
Peoples and Traditions Covered
Yucatec Maya, source of the surviving codices and of the colonial Books of Chilam Balam 2
Attestation
Era of Attestation
Deity images appear in Late Preclassic murals around the first century BCE and deity names in Classic inscriptions. The Postclassic codices and the colonial Kiche Popol Vuh carry the fullest narrative, and the last independent Maya kingdom fell in 1697. 2
Veneration Today
The Maya are a living people of several million. Highland communities have kept the 260-day count and its day-lords continuously, and older powers persist within a Christianised framework. 2
Veneration Today
The pre-conquest state cults of these gods did not survive the conquest as continuous public worship. 2
Directory
Category
Deities 1
Learn More
The gods of the Maya

This group gathers the deities of the Maya civilisation of Mesoamerica, reconstructed from surviving hieroglyphic texts, the painted codices, monumental art, and the colonial-era Popol Vuh of the Kiche Maya. Maya gods are often shifting and multiple, associated with directions, colours, calendar cycles and the maize on which life depended.

The browser will find the Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh, the maize god, the rain-god Chaac, the creator Itzamna, and death-gods of the underworld Xibalba. The atlas notes that much Maya religion was lost in the conquest and that reconstruction depends heavily on the few surviving books and on continuing Maya tradition.

Male
Filter Results14 entries

Ah Puch

Male

Buluc Chabtan

Male

Camazotz

Male

Chaac

Male

Ek Chuaj

Male

Hun Hunahpu

Male

Hunahpu

Male

Huracan

Male

Itzamna

Male

Ixpiyacoc

Male

Kinich Ahau

Male

Kukulkan

Male

Xbalanque

Male

Yum Kaax

Male
Connections

Belongs to Tradition

Maya Religion, Religions

The deities of the Maya tradition.

Source The Maya (9th edition)Michael D. Coe and Stephen Houston
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. The Maya (9th edition)
Michael D. Coe and Stephen Houston, Thames and Hudson, 2015chs. 1-2View the Source
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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