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The Myths of Mexico & Peru

Chapter 70: The Tecpanecs
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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.

The Tecpanecs

The Tecpanecs, who dwelt in Tlacopan, Coyohuacan, and Huitzilopocho, were also typical Nahua. The name, as we have already explained, indicates that each settlement possessed its own tecpan (chief’s house), and has no racial significance. Their state was probably founded about the twelfth century, although a chronology of no less than fifteen hundred years was claimed for it. This people composed a sort of buffer-state betwixt the Otomi on the north and other Nahua on the south.