Introduction

South of the border down Mexico way, reaching down as far as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. This amazing hub of civilization was a melting pot of cultures including the Olmec, Zapotec, Toltec and Mixtec peoples. For convenience we have included many of their deities in this section, but they were all separate entities who traded, fought and influenced each other down the centuries.

The famous city of Teotihuacan was the size of Rome and is full of mysteries. It seems to have suffered fire at some point, but parts of it were in use up to Aztec times. With its pyramid of the sun built over a chambered cave, this may even have been Pacariqtambo, ‘The Place Of Emergence’, where the Inca Gods hid during a terrible disaster.

The Maya could well have achieved Roman Empire status if it hadn’t been for their aversion to getting their feathered costumes ruined by salt water. Plus all that messing about with sails and rigging just to end up somewhere with lousy cold weather.

From 250 to 900 AD life was all plain sailing without putting out to sea. They didn’t have horses so they didn’t need carts. Instead they had a river and canal system for shifting heavy goods. And shift they did, especially when it came to moving blocks for their stepped buildings of clean-cut grandeur. Some of their cities have never been bettered, and after so many years of neglect much is still standing in Copan, Chichen-Itza, Kabah, Palenque, Uxmal, Tikal and Mayapan.

Maya culture was amazing and their skills manifold. Especially in the artistic department. They invented a very colorful style of picture-writing with glyphs, and made codex books the size of screens. Unfortunately their books were unspeakably fragile and only four precious volumes have survived the ravages of time for us to consult. (No wonder the Maya are so enigmatic – imagine if mankind was wiped out and all a visiting alien had to go on was a couple of Harry Potter books, half a telephone directory and a Superman comic.)

On the subject of writing, please note the correct spelling is not MAYAN Mythology but MAYA Mythology. You may have stumbled across a million millennial 2012 websites based on apocalyptic Mayan prophecies but if they can’t even get the spelling right we shudder to imagine how they can cope with the intricacies of the Maya calendar.

Together with their statues and carvings, it is impossible not to marvel at the talent of the Maya. Okay, so they liked a bit of blood sacrifice on an organized scale. But is that worse than organized crime or terrorists?

Their holy book was called the Popol Vuh. This is nothing to do with the views of the Pope. When the inquisitorial Spaniards arrived in 1511 to inflict treachery, unremitting torture and suffering, they were 611 years too late. The Maya Empire had already dissipated and it was the poor old Aztecs who got the full brunt of the aggravation.

Thankfully we can report that the Maya are not utterly extinct, as descendants of the classical Maya civilization are still to be found in isolated pockets, practicing modernized versions of the old beliefs.

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Options

Introduction to Maya Mythology.

Use our Godbrowser™ to explore the Gods of Maya Mythology.

View the Maya pantheon. Family trees coming soon!

Consult Godchecker’s complete alphabetical list of Maya god and goddess names.

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