Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a
deity in
Aztec culture and
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to inclu ...
whose name comes from the
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
language and means "Precious serpent" or "
Quetzal-feathered Serpent". In the 17th century,
Ixtlilxóchitl, a descendant of Aztec royalty and historian of the Nahua people, wrote, "Quetzalcoatl, in its literal sense, means 'serpent of precious feathers', but in the allegorical sense, 'wisest of men'."
Among the
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
s, whose beliefs are the best-documented in the historical sources, Quetzalcoatl was related to gods of the wind, of the planet
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
, of the dawn, of merchants and of arts, crafts and knowledge. He was also the
patron god
A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety a ...
of the Aztec priesthood, of learning and knowledge. Quetzalcoatl was one of several important gods in the Aztec
pantheon, along with the gods
Tlaloc,
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca (; nci, Tēzcatl ihpōca ) was a central deity in Aztec religion, and his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the God of providence, he is a ...
and
Huitzilopochtli. Two other gods represented by the planet Venus are Quetzalcoatl's ally
Tlaloc (the god of rain), and Quetzalcoatl's twin and
psychopomp,
Xolotl, the dog-headed soul-guide for the dead.
Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of the sun and wind, air, and learning, wears around his neck the "wind breastplate" ''ehēcacōzcatl'', "the spirally voluted wind jewel" made of a conch shell. This talisman was a conch shell cut at the cross-section and was likely worn as a necklace by religious rulers, as such objects have been discovered in burials in archaeological sites throughout Mesoamerica, and potentially symbolized patterns witnessed in hurricanes, dust devils, seashells, and whirlpools, which were elemental forces that had significance in
Aztec mythology. Codex drawings pictured both Quetzalcoatl and
Xolotl wearing an ''ehēcacōzcatl'' around the neck. Additionally, at least one major cache of offerings includes knives and idols adorned with the symbols of more than one god, some of which were adorned with wind jewels. Animals thought to represent Quetzalcoatl include
resplendent quetzals,
rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera '' Crotalus'' and '' Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small ...
s (''coatl'' meaning "serpent" in Nahuatl), crows, and
macaw
Macaws are a group of New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation concerns about several species in the wild.
Biology
Of the many diffe ...
s. In his form as
Ehecatl
Ehecatl ( nci-IPA, Ehēcatl, eʔˈeːkatɬ, ) is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted ...
he is the wind, and is represented by
spider monkeys
Spider monkeys are New World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Ateles'', part of the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil ...
, ducks, and the wind itself. In his form as the morning star, Venus, he is also depicted as a
harpy eagle. In
Mazatec legends the astrologer deity
Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, who is also represented by Venus, bears a close relationship with Quetzalcoatl.
The earliest known documentation of the
worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognitio ...
of a
Feathered Serpent occurs in
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the ...
in the first century BC or first century AD. That period lies within the
Late Preclassic to
Early Classic period (400 BC – 600 AD) of
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –&nbs ...
; veneration of the figure appears to have spread throughout Mesoamerica by the
Late Classic
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –  ...
period (600–900 AD).
[Ringle et al. 1998] In the
Postclassic period (900–1519 AD), the worship of the feathered-serpent deity centred in the primary Mexican religious center of
Cholula. In this period the deity is known to have been named ''Quetzalcōhuātl'' by his
Nahua followers. In the
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popu ...
area he was approximately equivalent to
Kukulkan and
Gukumatz, names that also roughly translate as "feathered serpent" in different
Mayan languages
The Mayan languagesIn linguistics, it is conventional to use ''Mayan'' when referring to the languages, or an aspect of a language. In other academic fields, ''Maya'' is the preferred usage, serving as both a singular and plural noun, and a ...
. In the era following the 16th-century
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the eve ...
, a number of records conflated Quetzalcoatl with
Ce Acatl Topiltzin, a ruler of the mythico-historic city of
Tollan. Historians debate to what degree, or whether at all, these narratives about this legendary
Toltec
The Toltec culture () was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. Th ...
ruler describe historical events. Furthermore, early Spanish sources written by clerics tend to identify the god-ruler Quetzalcoatl of these narratives with either
Hernán Cortés or
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...
—identifications which have also become sources of a diversity of opinions about the nature of Quetzalcoatl.
Feathered serpent deity in Mesoamerica
In Mesoamerican history many different ethnopolitical groups worshiped a feathered-serpent deity. Evidence of such worship comes from the iconography of different Mesoamerican cultures, in which serpent motifs occur frequently. On the basis of the different
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
ic systems used in portrayals of the feathered-serpent deity in different cultures and periods, scholars have interpreted the religious and symbolic meaning of the feathered-serpent deity in Mesoamerican cultures.
Iconographic depictions
The earliest known iconographic depiction of the deity appears on
Stela
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), wh ...
19 at the
Olmec
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that ...
site of
La Venta
La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in nearby Villahermos ...
. Dated to around 900 BC, it depicts a serpent rising up behind a person probably engaged in a shamanic ritual. Although probably not exactly a depiction of the same feathered-serpent deity worshipped in classic and post-classic periods, it shows the continuity of symbolism of feathered snakes in Mesoamerica from the formative period and on, for example in comparison to the Maya
Vision Serpent
The Vision Serpent is an important creature in Pre-Columbian Maya mythology, although the term itself is now slowly becoming outdated.
The serpent was a very important social and religious symbol, revered by the Maya. Maya mythology describes ser ...
shown below.
The first culture to use the symbol of a feathered serpent as an important religious and political symbol was that of
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the ...
. At temples such as the aptly named "Quetzalcoatl temple" in the Ciudadela complex, feathered serpents figure prominently and alternate with a different kind of serpent head. The earliest depictions of the feathered serpent deity were fully zoomorphic, depicting the serpent as an actual snake, but already among the Classic Maya, images of the deity began acquiring human features, such as the beard (see the Borgia codex illustration above) that he was sometimes depicted with.
In the iconography of the classic period, Maya serpent imagery is also prevalent: a snake often appears as the embodiment of the sky itself, and a vision serpent is a shamanic helper presenting Maya kings with visions of the
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld ...
.
The archaeological record shows that after the fall of Teotihuacan that marked the beginning of the epi-classic period in
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –&nbs ...
around 600 AD, the cult of the feathered serpent spread to new religious and political centers in central Mexico, centers such as
Xochicalco,
Cacaxtla and
Cholula.
Feathered-serpent iconography is prominent at all of these sites. Cholula remained the most important center of worship of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec/Nahua version of the feathered-serpent deity, in the post-classic period.
During the epi-classic period, a dramatic spread of feathered serpent iconography is evidenced throughout Mesoamerica, and during this period images begin to figure prominently at sites such as
Chichén Itzá,
El Tajín, and throughout the Maya area. Colonial documentary sources from the Maya area frequently speak of the arrival of foreigners from the central Mexican plateau, often led by a man whose name translates as "Feathered Serpent". It has been suggested that these stories recall the spread of the feathered-serpent cult in the epi-classic and early post-classic periods.
Represented as the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl was also seen as manifest in the wind, one of the most powerful forces of nature; a text in the Nahuatl language captures this relationship:
Quetzalcoatl also became linked with rulership and priestly office; additionally, among the
Toltec
The Toltec culture () was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. Th ...
, the name was used as a military title and its representation as an emblem.
In the post-classic
Nahua civilization of central Mexico (Aztec), the worship of Quetzalcoatl was ubiquitous. Cult worship may have involved the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms (psilocybes), considered sacred. The most important center was
Cholula, where the
world's largest pyramid was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl-worship. In Aztec culture, depictions of Quetzalcoatl were fully anthropomorphic. Quetzalcoatl was associated with the wind-god
Ehecatl
Ehecatl ( nci-IPA, Ehēcatl, eʔˈeːkatɬ, ) is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted ...
and is often depicted with his insignia: a beak-like mask.
Interpretations
On the basis of the Teotihuacan iconographical depictions of the feathered serpent, archaeologist
Karl Taube has argued that the feathered serpent was a symbol of fertility and of internal political structures - contrasting with the War Serpent symbolizing the outwards military expansion of the Teotihuacan empire. Historian Enrique Florescano - also analyzing Teotihuacan iconography - argues that the Feathered Serpent was part of a triad of agricultural deities:
* the
Goddess of the Cave
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...
, symbolizing motherhood, reproduction and life
* Tlaloc, god of rain, lightning and thunder
* the feathered serpent, god of vegetational renewal
The feathered serpent was furthermore connected to the planet
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
because of this planet's importance as a sign of the beginning of the rainy season. To both Teotihuacan and
Maya cultures, Venus was in turn also symbolically connected with warfare.
While not usually feathered, classic Maya serpent iconography seems related to the belief in a sky-, Venus-, creator-, war- and fertility-related serpent deity. In an example from Yaxchilan, the Vision Serpent has the human face of the young maize-god, further suggesting a connection to fertility and vegetational renewal; the Maya Young Maize god was also connected to Venus.
In Xochicalco, depictions of the feathered serpent accompany the image of a seated, armed ruler and the hieroglyph for the
day sign 9 Wind. The date 9 Wind is known to be associated with fertility, Venus and war among the Maya and frequently occurs in relation to Quetzalcoatl in other Mesoamerican cultures.
On the basis of the iconography of the feathered-serpent deity at sites such as Teotihuacan, Xochicalco, Chichén Itzá, Tula and Tenochtitlan combined with certain ethnohistorical sources, historian David Carrasco has argued that the preeminent function of the feathered-serpent deity throughout Mesoamerican history was as the patron deity of the urban center - a god of culture and civilization.
[Carrasco 1982]
In Aztec culture
To the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl was, as his name indicates, a feathered serpent. He was a creator deity having contributed essentially to the creation of mankind. He also had anthropomorphic forms, for example in his aspects as
Ehecatl
Ehecatl ( nci-IPA, Ehēcatl, eʔˈeːkatɬ, ) is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted ...
the wind god. Among the Aztecs, the name Quetzalcoatl was also a priestly title, as the two most important priests of the Aztec
Templo Mayor were called "Quetzalcoatl Tlamacazqui". In the Aztec ritual calendar, different deities were associated with the cycle-of-year names: Quetzalcoatl was tied to the year Ce Acatl (One Reed), which correlates to the year 1519.
Myths
Attributes
The exact significance and attributes of Quetzalcoatl varied somewhat between civilizations and through history. There are several stories about the birth of Quetzalcoatl. In a version of the myth, Quetzalcoatl was born by a virgin named
Chimalman, to whom the god Ometeotl appeared in a dream.
[J. B. Bierlein, ''Living Myths. How Myth Gives Meaning to Human Experience'', Ballantine Books, 1999] In another story, the virgin Chimalman conceived Quetzalcoatl by swallowing an emerald.
A third story narrates that Chimalman was hit in the womb by an arrow shot by
Mixcoatl and nine months later she gave birth to a child which was called Quetzalcoatl.
A fourth story narrates that Quetzalcoatl was born from
Coatlicue, who already had four hundred children who formed the stars of the
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked ey ...
.
According to another version of the myth, Quetzalcoatl is one of the four sons of
Ometecuhtli and
Omecihuatl, the four Tezcatlipocas, each of whom presided over one of the four cardinal directions. Over the West presides the White Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, the god of light, justice, mercy and wind. Over the South presides the Blue Tezcatlipoca,
Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. Over the East presides the Red Tezcatlipoca,
Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and springtime. And over the North presides the Black Tezcatlipoca, known by no other name than
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca (; nci, Tēzcatl ihpōca ) was a central deity in Aztec religion, and his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the God of providence, he is a ...
, the god of judgment, night, deceit, sorcery and the Earth. Quetzalcoatl was often considered the god of the
morning star
Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to:
Astronomy
* Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise
** See also Venus in culture
* Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...
, and his twin brother
Xolotl was the evening star (
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
). As the morning star, he was known by the title ''
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli'', meaning "lord of the star of the dawn". He was known as the inventor of books and the
calendar, the giver of
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...
(corn) to mankind, and sometimes as a symbol of death and
resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...
. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the twin Aztec high priests. Some legends describe him as opposed to human sacrifice while others describe him practicing it.
Most Mesoamerican beliefs included cycles of suns. Often our current time was considered the fifth sun, the previous four having been destroyed by flood, fire and the like. Quetzalcoatl went to
Mictlan, the underworld, and created fifth-world mankind from the bones of the previous races (with the help of
Cihuacoatl), using his own blood, from a wound he inflicted on his earlobes, calves, tongue, and penis, to imbue the bones with new life.
It is also suggested that he was a son of
Xochiquetzal and
Mixcoatl.
In the
Codex Chimalpopoca, it is said Quetzalcoatl was coerced by
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca (; nci, Tēzcatl ihpōca ) was a central deity in Aztec religion, and his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the God of providence, he is a ...
into becoming drunk on
pulque
Pulque (; nci, metoctli), or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. It is traditional in central Mexico, where it has been produced for millennia. It has the color of milk, a rather viscous ...
, cavorting with his older sister, Quetzalpetlatl, a celibate priestess, and neglecting their religious duties. (Many academics conclude this passage implies incest.) The next morning, Quetzalcoatl, feeling shame and regret, had his servants build him a stone chest, adorn him in turquoise, and then, laying in the chest,
set himself on fire. His ashes rose into the sky and then his heart followed, becoming the morning star (see
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli).
He is also attributed with having brought the cacao plant from a sacred mountain to the Toltec people, teaching the women how to make traditional drinking chocolate.
Belief in Cortés as Quetzalcoatl
Since the sixteenth century, it has been widely held that the
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
Emperor
Moctezuma II initially believed the landing of
Hernán Cortés in 1519 to be Quetzalcoatl's return. This view has been questioned by ethno-historians who argue that the Quetzalcoatl-Cortés connection is not found in any document that was created independently of post-Conquest Spanish influence, and that there is little proof of a pre-Hispanic belief in Quetzalcoatl's return. Most documents expounding this theory are of entirely Spanish origin, such as Cortés's letters to
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infant ...
of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
, in which Cortés goes to great pains to present the naive gullibility of the Aztecs in general as a great aid in the
conquest of the Aztec Empire.
Much of the idea of Cortés being seen as a deity can be traced back to the
Florentine Codex written down some 50 years after the conquest. In the Codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Cortés, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorial Nahuatl, a speech which, as described in the codex written by the Franciscan
Bernardino de Sahagún and his Tlatelolcan informants, included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as:
and:
Subtleties in, and an imperfect scholarly understanding of, high Nahuatl rhetorical style make the exact intent of these comments tricky to ascertain, but Restall argues that Moctezuma's politely offering his throne to Cortés (if indeed he did ever give the speech as reported) may well have been meant as the exact opposite of what it was taken to mean: politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority.
This speech, which has been widely referred to, has been a factor in the widespread belief that Moctezuma was addressing Cortés as the returning god Quetzalcoatl.
Other parties have also promulgated the idea that the Mesoamericans believed the conquistadors, and in particular Cortés, to be awaited gods: most notably the historians of the
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
order such as Fray
Gerónimo de Mendieta. Some Franciscans at this time held
millennarian beliefs and some of them believed that Cortés' coming to the New World ushered in the final era of evangelization before the coming of the
millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannus, kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...
. Franciscans such as
Toribio de Benavente "Motolinia" saw elements of Christianity in the pre-Columbian religions and therefore believed that Mesoamerica had been evangelized before, possibly by
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...
, who, according to legend, had "gone to preach beyond the Ganges". Franciscans then equated the original Quetzalcoatl with Thomas and imagined that the Indians had long-awaited his return to take part once again in God's kingdom. Historian Matthew Restall concludes that:
Some scholarship maintains the view that the Aztec Empire's fall may be attributed in part to the belief in Cortés as the returning Quetzalcoatl, notably in works by
David Carrasco
Davíd Lee Carrasco is an American academic historian of religion, anthropologist, and Mesoamericanist scholar. As of 2001 he holds the inaugural appointment as Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of Latin America Studies at the Harvard Divinity Scho ...
(1982),
H. B. Nicholson (2001 (1957)) and John Pohl (2016). Carrasco's work was revised in 2000, and the new edition provides a valuable overview of the controversy about Cortes and Quetzalcoatl. However, a majority of Mesoamericanist scholars, such as
Matthew Restall (2003, 2018
),
James Lockhart (1994),
Susan D. Gillespie Susan D. Gillespie (born 1952) is an American academic anthropologist and archaeologist, noted for her contributions to archaeological and ethnohistorical research on pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, in particular the Aztec, Maya and Olmec. G ...
(1989),
Camilla Townsend (2003a, 2003b),
Louise Burkhart, Michel Graulich and
Michael E. Smith (2003), among others, consider the "Quetzalcoatl/Cortés myth" as one of many myths about the Spanish conquest which have risen in the early post-conquest period.
There is no question that the legend of Quetzalcoatl played a significant role in the colonial period. However, this legend likely has a foundation in events that took place immediately prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. A 2012 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Dallas Museum of Art, "The Children of the Plumed Serpent: the Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico", demonstrated the existence of a powerful confederacy of Eastern Nahuas, Mixtecs and Zapotecs, along with the peoples they dominated throughout southern Mexico between 1200 and 1600 (Pohl, Fields, and Lyall 2012, Harvey 2012, Pohl 2003). They maintained a major pilgrimage and commercial center at Cholula, Puebla which the Spaniards compared to both Rome and Mecca because the cult of the god united its constituents through a field of common social, political, and religious values without dominating them militarily. This confederacy engaged in almost seventy-five years of nearly continuous conflict with the Aztec Empire of the Triple Alliance until the arrival of Cortés. Members of this confederacy from Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Oaxaca provided the Spaniards with the army that first reclaimed the city of Cholula from its pro-Aztec ruling faction, and ultimately defeated the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). The Tlaxcalteca, along with other city-states across the Plain of Puebla, then supplied the auxiliary and logistical support for the conquests of Guatemala and West Mexico while Mixtec and Zapotec caciques (Colonial indigenous rulers) gained monopolies in the overland transport of Manila galleon trade through Mexico, and formed highly lucrative relationships with the Dominican order in the new Spanish imperial world economic system that explains so much of the enduring legacy of indigenous life-ways that characterize southern Mexico and explain the popularity of the Quetzalcoatl legends that continued through the colonial period to the present day.
Contemporary use
Latter Day Saints movement
According to the
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude ...
, the resurrected Jesus Christ descended from heaven and visited the people of the American continent, shortly after his resurrection. Some followers of the
Latter Day Saints movement believe that Quetzalcoatl was historically
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, but believe his name and the details of the event were gradually lost over time.
Quetzalcoatl is not a religious symbol in the Latter-day Saint faith, and is not taught as such, nor is it in their doctrine that Quetzalcoatl is Jesus. However, in 1892 one
president of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...
,
John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to:
Academics
*John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487
*John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar
*John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...
, wrote:
Latter-day Saint author
Brant Gardner, after investigating the link between Quetzalcoatl and Jesus, concluded that the association amounts to nothing more than folklore. In a 1986 paper for ''
Sunstone'', he noted that during the
Spanish Conquest, the Native Americans and the Catholic priests who sympathized with them felt pressure to link Native American beliefs with Christianity, thus making the Native Americans seem more human and less savage. Over time, Quetzalcoatl's appearance, clothing, malevolent nature, and status among the gods were reshaped to fit a more Christian framework.
In media
Quetzalcoatl was fictionalized in the 1982 film ''
Q'' as a monster that terrorizes New York City.
The deity has been featured as a character in the manga and anime series ''
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's'', ''
Beyblade: Metal Fusion'', ''
Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia'' and ''
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid'' (the latter two depicting Quetzalcoatl as a female dragon deity); the ''
Megami Tensei
''Megami Tensei'', marketed internationally as ''Shin Megami Tensei'' (formerly ''Revelations''), is a Japanese media franchise created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji Okada, Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. Primarily developed ...
'' video game franchise; the video games ''
Fate/Grand Order'', ''
Final Fantasy VIII'', ''
Final Fantasy XV
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The fifteenth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016, Microsoft Windows in 2018, and as a launch title ...
'', ''
Sanitarium'', ''
Smite'' (as an alternate costume for his Mayan counterpart, Kukulkan), and ''
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''; as the main antagonist in the ''
Star Trek: The Animated Series
''Star Trek: The Animated Series'' (''TAS''), is an American animated science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired under the title simply as ''Star Trek'', subtitled ''Created by Gene Roddenberry'', on Satu ...
'' episode "
How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth"; and in ''
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
''The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel'' is a series of six fantasy novels written by Irish author Michael Scott, completed in 2012. The first book in the series, '' The Alchemyst'', was released in 2007, and the sequels were released ...
'' books. Quetzelcoatl also appeared on (Season 3) of the
Animal Planet mockumentary
A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
These productions are often used to analyze or comment on ...
''
Lost Tapes'' in an episode entitled "Q the Serpent God".
In 1971
Tony Shearer Tony Shearer (born Fred Anthony Shearer October 27, 1926, Colorado, d. May 2002) was an American Mayanism proponent and New Age author who wrote books contributing to the modern popularization of syncretic beliefs in which elements of Maya calendri ...
published a book called ''Lord of the Dawn: Quetzalcoatl and the Tree of Life'', inspiring New Age followers to visit
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza , es, Chichén Itzá , often with the emphasis reversed in English to ; from yua, Chiʼchʼèen Ìitshaʼ () "at the mouth of the well of the Itza people" was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Termi ...
at the summer solstice when dragon-shaped shadows are cast by the Kulkulcan pyramid.
The legend of Quetzalcoatl is spoofed in the
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
CGI series ''
Xavier: Renegade Angel''. In the episode "Damnesia You," Xavier winds up in the
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
world and is immediately (and unsuccessfully) sacrificed for insulting the Sun God, and during the sacrifice the
Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl l ...
humorously fail to pronounce his name. Later, Xavier and the
Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl l ...
summon Quetzalcoatl in his mortal form and wind up angering him after cutting him open. After a slapstick-style chase scene, Xavier winds up as the Sun God and commits "sacricide" (sacrificial suicide), ending the skit.
Quetzalcoatl appears in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...
(MCU) film ''
Thor: Love and Thunder''. He appears seated in Omnipotence City of the gods, where all major deities are located, during an announcement from leader of the gods,
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...
.
Other uses
Mexico's flagship airline
Aeroméxico has a
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner painted in a special Quetzalcoatl livery.
The
pterosaur
Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cre ...
Quetzalcoatlus was named after the deity.
See also
*
Five Suns, a legend of Quetzalcōātl and his brothers
*
Kukulkan
* ''
Quetzalcoatlus'', a
pterosaur
Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cre ...
from the
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...
named after Quetzalcoatl
References
Citations
General bibliography
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David Carrasco. ''Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire: Myths and Prophecies in the Aztec Tradition.'' O'brien Pocket Series. University Press of Colorado, 2001.
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* Translation of ''El mito de Quetzalcóatl'', original Spanish-language.
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External links
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