Aztec Guide

Published by Reblogs - Credits in Posts, June 30th, 2022

A Visual Guide to the Aztec Pantheon

Story & Illustrations

Gwendal Uguen

Code

Luc Guillemot

South American and Mesoamerican civilizations have fascinated me since childhood, when I would watch The Mysterious Cities of Gold. This early 1980s Japanese-French anime series featured a solar-powered galleon ship, a golden, mechanical condor, three kids exploring the New World at the beginning of the Spanish Conquest, and a mini documentary at the end of each episode. Who could ask for more? (There was even a sequel in 2012!)

But, despite this enchantment, Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc were the only gods I could identify, while I could name dozens of Greek, Egyptian or Norse Gods. Only ten years ago, I learned about Aztec codices and a whole world of deities, each taking care of some aspects of human life.

Using these codices, I tried to identify them all, like a Pokemon chaser, despite scattered, partial and sometimes contradictory sources. I finally collected and restored illustrations of more than a hundred gods.

Through these illustrations, I hope to commemorate the complexity of the Aztec Pantheon, make the academic research more accessible, and show how this civilization is still alive in our global culture. With luck, they will also help you see this society with the wonderment of your inner child’s eyes, just like I did all those years ago.

Aztec iconography

Aztec gods, in iconographic sources, are like paper dolls. Each has a base form that is "dressed" with important symbolic accessories. Even specialists have difficulty identifying gods as these symbols can be emphasized for a particular worship, or switched between deities if they share similar fields of competence. Thus, gods can have multiple disguises, also known as aspects or nahual, and will freely share them with others.

The Gods illustrated below are imaginary. These made-up illustrations show how symbols and attributes in real Aztec iconography were composed to depict a God’s domain, abilities and needs.

Imaginary God of Death

Imaginary God of Fertility

The Aztec Pantheon

These symbols can be found in real Aztec iconography, like in the 137 restored illustrations below.

But Aztec Gods are rarely associated with a single domain. On the contrary, seemingly contradictory domains, like life and death, are often embodied by the same deity.

Tlaltecuhtli

(Colorized detail from a stone sculpture exhibited at the Templo Mayor museum)

Tlaltecuhtli, for instance, is a sea monster considered to be the source of all living things, but it also swallows the sun every day and has to be kept appeased by blood sacrifice.

claws

Clawed hands and feet are a symbol of ferocity and blood thirst.

hair

Curly hair is a symbol of grass (malinali).

mouth

Its wide open mouth swallows the sun at the end of each day.

extra mouths

Extra mouths at the joints, and skull ornaments, emphasize the all consuming aspect of death.

crouch

The crouching position can be a symbol of the birthing process and fertility.

Tezcatlipoca

(Codex Borgia)

Tezcatlipoca rules night, death, discord, conflict, temptation, change and destruction.

colors

He is usually represented with black and red as predominant colors.

face

Yellow and black stripes are used for the face.

spear

He carries a spear to judge humans.

mirror

His obsidian mirror is used for divination.

headdress

The elaborate headdress represents swirling smoke that emanates from his mirror.

foot

Tezcatlipoca’s foot was bitten off by Tlaltecuhtli in a battle. It is sometimes replaced by smoke, a scroll or a snake.

skin

The jaguar skin is the main nahual of Tezcatlipoca.

pectoral

Circular pectoral (anahuatl) over the chest, made up of a white shell ring tied on by a red leather strap.

nose plug

The nose plug made of jade is a religious and/or a social ranking ornament.

ezpitzal

Absent symbol in this illustration: the ezpitzal (gust of blood)

symbolizing anger, rage or madness.

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The Gods of this pantheon are organized according to whether they are associated with death or life, and whether their domain is more spiritual or material.

Death groups all the gods related to destructive forces, whether they come from nature or humankind, like the underworld, war or natural disasters.

Life, like death, combines both renewal of nature and the continuation of the human species and, thus, includes fertility, birth, food or even cosmic creation.

Spiritual can be gods related to human intellectual interests, like art, lust and excess, or gods related to metaphysical interests, like the mysteries of nature, its creation and its purpose.

Material deities offer protection to the activities that ensure the survival of Aztec civilization, from trading and craft to war or food.

But, as we’ve seen with Tlaltecuhtli and Tezcatlipoca, Aztec Gods rarely fit into a single category, and most are both creative and destructive, spiritual and material, especially the 13 major Gods.

Explore each illustration to see if you can spot the attributes that align with the Gods’ domains. Be sure to seek out the 13 major Gods, where you can also learn about Aztec society’s lasting legacy, from modern election practices in the south of Mexico to the foods eaten around the world.

You can start exploring with Ometeotl, a major figure often deemed as the primordial God, as he is the cosmic energy that gives life to everything.

Until its rise as an academic field that strives for accuracy, history has been, by definition, written from a single point of view. Concerning our subject, we stumble upon a major difficulty: the Aztecs destroyed materials created by their rivals in order to justify the dominance of their empire. Furthermore, Spanish conquerors and Christian missionaries brought about an even bigger annihilation, toppling Aztec society and rewriting their works.

Fortunately, some of these missionaries tried to collect as much information as they could, especially pioneer of anthropology Bernardino de Sahagún, while others, like Bartolomé de Las Casas, fought for indigenous rights. Their work is still precious to historians.

Work in progress

We have, so far, in our database around 137 gods. And another batch is in the "work in progress" phase, as we still lack information, iconographic resources or simply the time to render them in graphic vector.

We hope to improve and expand it in the future so, if you’re interested in this project, you can contact me for corrections in written or iconographic resources. Thank you in advance for your help!

Special mentions

A special thanks to Sylvie Peperstraete, Fiona Pugliese, Ingrid Bernal, Elizabeth Baquedano, Florian Melki, Patrick Lesbre and Ian Mursell for their help and advice during my research.