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Eight Deer Jaguar Claw (), or Eight Deer for brevity, was a powerful
Mixtec The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are Indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica of Guerrero, Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerre ...
ruler in 11th-century
Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
referred to in the 15th-century deerskin
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
Codex Zouche-Nuttall The Codex Zouche-Nuttall or Codex Tonindeye is an accordion-folded pre-Columbian document of Mixtec pictography, now in the collections of the British Museum. It is one of about 16 manuscripts from Mexico that are entirely pre-Columbian in origin ...
, and other Mixtec manuscripts. His surname is alternatively translated ''Tiger-Claw'' and ''Ocelot-Claw''. John Pohl has dated his life spanning from 1063 until his assassination in 1115.


Biography

Born on the Mixtec Calendar date from which he got his name, Eight Deer was the son of the high priest of
Tilantongo Tilantongo was a Mixtec citystate in the Mixteca Alta region of the modern-day state of Oaxaca which is now visible as an archeological site near the modern town of Santiago Tilantongo. It is located at 17°15' N. Lat. and 97°17' W. Long. Its ...
Lord Five Alligator Sun Rain. His mother was Lady Eleven Water Bird Jewel. Two of his brothers, Twelve Earthquake Bloody Jaguar and Nine Flower Copal Ball with Arrow, were his faithful war companions. He also had a half-sister, Six Lizard Jade Fan. First the fiancée and lover of Eight Deer himself, she was ultimately married to Eight Deer's archenemy Eleven Wind Bloody Jaguar, the king of the city Xipe's Bundle, also known as Red and White Bundle. The lords of Xipe's Bundle had rights to the throne of Tilantongo and were therefore the most important rivals to Eight Deer's power. Lord Eight Deer is remembered for his military expansion. The Codex Zouche-Nuttall counts 94 cities conquered during his reign. Almost always pictured wearing a
jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
helmet, he supported the powerful
Toltec The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...
ruler of Cholula, Lord Four Jaguar Face of the Night, in his attempts at expansionism, and was thus awarded a
turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone for millennia due to its hue. The robi ...
nose ornament, a symbol of Toltec royal authority. The codices also tell of his several marriages which seem to have been part of a political strategy to achieve dominance by marrying into different Mixtec royal lineages. He married Thirteen Serpent, daughter of his own stepsister and former fiancée Six Lizard. In 1101 Eight Deer conquered Xipe's Bundle and killed his wife's father and his stepsister's husband Eleven Wind. He also tortured and killed his brothers-in-law, sparing only the youngest, Four Wind. Eight Deer's own death is described differently by modern authors. Charles C. Mann's book ''1491'' states that when Eight Deer was 55 years of age, Four Wind led an alliance between different Toltec and Zapotec kingdoms against Eight Deer, who was taken prisoner and sacrificed by Four Wind, his own nephew and brother-in-law. Pohl instead states that Four Wind was trusted by Eight Deer and raised as his own child, until at the age of 23 he had Eight Deer assassinated during a hunting trip.


Legacy

Eight Deer was the only Mixtec king to unite kingdoms of the three Mixtec areas:
Tilantongo Tilantongo was a Mixtec citystate in the Mixteca Alta region of the modern-day state of Oaxaca which is now visible as an archeological site near the modern town of Santiago Tilantongo. It is located at 17°15' N. Lat. and 97°17' W. Long. Its ...
in the Mixteca Alta area, Teozacualco of the
Mixteca Baja is a cultural, economic and political region in Western Oaxaca and neighboring portions of Puebla, Guerrero in south-central Mexico, which refers to the home of the Mixtec people. In their languages, the region is called either , or . Two-thir ...
area, and
Tututepec Tututepec (Mixtec languages, Mixtec: ''Yucu Dzaa'') is a Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican archaeological site. It is located in the lower Río Verde (Oaxaca), Río Verde valley on the coast of Mesoamerican geography#Oaxaca, Oaxaca. The city was the capita ...
of the coastal Mixteca area. His reputation as a great ruler has given him a legendary status among the Mixtecs; some aspects of his life story as told in the pictographic codices seem to merge with myth. Furthermore, actual knowledge of his life is hindered by the lack of complete understanding of the Mixtec codices, and although the study of the codices has advanced much over the past 20 years, it is still difficult to achieve a definitive interpretation of their narrative. The narrative, as it is currently understood, is a tragic story of a man who achieves greatness but falls victim to his own hunger for power. The above biography of Eight Deer is based on the codex's interpretation by Mixtec specialist John Pohl.See Pohl (2002); Byland and Pohl (1994)


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1115 deaths Mixtec people 1063 births Medieval kings Indigenous military personnel of the Americas Executed military leaders Executed monarchs 11th-century monarchs in North America