The Myths of Mexico & Peru

Chapter 157: Were the Maya Toltecs?

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Archaeology & Anthropology History - Ancient Mythology, Legends & Folklore

About This Book

An illustrated survey of pre-Columbian civilizations and their myth systems, beginning with Mexican society and its pantheon and presenting major myths, rituals, cosmologies, and legends—including Aztec and Maya traditions and representative figures such as the feathered‑serpent and night and rain deities. It examines Maya origins, narrative cycles, and ritual practice, then turns to the civilizations of the Andean world and their mythic motifs, and offers comparative interpretation alongside archaeological observations, bibliographic references, a glossary, and numerous illustrations that connect mythic narratives to surviving monuments and artifacts.

Were the Maya Toltecs?

It has already been stated that many antiquarians see in the Maya those Toltecs who because of the inroads of barbarous tribes quitted their native land of Anahuac and journeyed southward to seek a new home in Chiapas and Yucatan. It would be idle to attempt to uphold or refute such a theory in the absolute dearth of positive evidence for or against it. The architectural remains of the older race of Anahuac do not bear any striking likeness to Maya forms, and if the mythologies of the two peoples are in some particulars alike, that may well be accounted for by their mutual adoption of deities and religious customs. On the other hand, it is distinctly noteworthy that the cult of the god Quetzalcoatl, which was regarded in Mexico as of alien origin, had a considerable vogue among the Maya and their allied races.