Mesoamerican Pantheon
Hun Hunahpu
Also known as One Hunahpu, The Maize God, God E
- maize
- fertility
- death and rebirth
- ballgame
The Maya maize god, father of the Hero Twins. Hun Hunahpu's death in Xibalba and resurrection by his sons represents the planting and sprouting of maize, the fundamental cycle of Maya agricultural life.
About Hun Hunahpu
The Dying and Rising Maize God
Hun Hunahpu (One Hunahpu) is the maize god whose death, burial, and resurrection mirrors the agricultural cycle. His story forms the background for the Hero Twins' adventures in the Popol Vuh.
The First Ballgame
Hun Hunahpu and his brother Vucub Hunahpu were skilled ballplayers whose playing disturbed the lords of Xibalba. After failing the tests of Xibalba, both were sacrificed.
The Calabash Tree
Hun Hunahpu's head was placed in a calabash tree. The skull impregnated the maiden Xquic with the Hero Twins.
Resurrection by the Hero Twins
Years later, the Hero Twins defeated the death lords and resurrected Hun Hunahpu, who rose from the earth as the maize plant sprouts.
Origin story
Hun Hunahpu was one of the first beings created by the gods. He and his brother were tricked by the lords of Xibalba, sacrificed, and buried beneath the ballcourt. Through his sons' defeat of death, he achieved resurrection.
Across traditions
Parallel figures
Figures who play a role like Hun Hunahpu's in other traditions.
EgyptianOsirisIllustrationBoth are dying-and-rising gods associated with agricultural fertility
Compare Hun Hunahpu and Osiris side by side
GreekDionysusIllustrationBoth are gods of vegetation who undergo death and rebirth
Compare Hun Hunahpu and Dionysus side by side
Worship and cult
Temples, festivals, and practices recorded for Hun Hunahpu
Maize father in the Popol Vuh, decapitated in Xibalba. K'iche' literature, not a colonial temple roll in this name. The maize god's face in Classic art is the nearer cult object.
Sacred sites
- No attested temple in the surviving record
Family
Hun Hunahpu
Questions about Hun Hunahpu's family
- Who are Hun Hunahpu's children?
- Children of Hun Hunahpu recorded in the atlas: Hunahpu and Xbalanque.
In the atlas
Where Hun Hunahpu appears
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Popol Vuh
Appears in
Ancient and classical works featuring this figure.
Father of the twins, defeated in Xibalba, whose severed head in the calabash tree conceived the twins with Xquic (Part II)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Parallels are editorial comparisons across traditions: a shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.
Family relationships come from the atlas's kinship records. Ancient sources often disagree on divine genealogy.
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Genealogy
Family tree
Hun Hunahpu's parents, consorts, children and rivals, as recorded in the atlas.