Aztec Religion: Did you mean...?

An illustration from the Florentine Codex depicting Aztecs storing maize.

Atlalli, ink on parchment, unknown artist, included in the Florentine Codex by Bernardino de Sahagún, Mexico, 1577. A farmer in Mexico cultivates irrigated land. Water has a swirling texture while the land is sparsely decorated with wisps...

Turquoise was a highly-prized material in ancient Mesoamerica, perhaps the most valued of all materials for sacred and decorative art objects such as masks, jewellery, and the costumes of rulers and high priests. Turquoise was acquired through...

Mictlantecuhtli (pron. Mict-lan-te-cuht-li) or 'Lord of the Land of the Dead' was the Aztec god of death. He ruled the underworld (Mictlán) with his wife Mictecacíhuatl. Mictlantecuhtli was worshipped and feared across Mesoamerica. The god...

This Aztec conch shell trumpet or "Tecciztli" dates from the Post-Classic era in Aztec history (1325-1521 CE). It was used in rituals, festivals, and religious processions. (Musée du Cinquantenaire, Brussels)

An Aztec spouted jug. Mexico, 1450-1521 CE. (St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri)

The lighting of fires during the Aztec New Fire Ceremony of 1507, a ritual held every 52 years to ensure the continuation of the Sun. The priests carry fire bundles and wear turquoise masks in imitation of the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli, as do...

Zarathustra (also given as Zoroaster, Zartosht, Zarathustra Spitama, l. c. 1500-1000 BCE) was the Persian priest-turned-prophet who founded the religion of Zoroastrianism (also given as Mazdayasna “devotion to Mazda”), the first monotheistic...

Tlaltecuhtli, 'Earth Lord/Lady,' was a Mesoamerican earth goddess associated with fertility. Envisioned as a terrible toad monster, her dismembered body gave rise to the world in the Aztec creation myth of the 5th and final cosmos. As a source...

Tonatiuh, 'Turquoise Lord,' was the 5th and present sun in the Aztec view of the cosmos and the fierce sun god of several other Postclassic Mesoamerican cultures, including the Toltecs. It was thought that only the regular offering of hearts...