Source recordAncient text
Florentine Codex (General History of the Things of New Spain)
Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua scholars · c. 1545-1577 · Nahuatl and Spanish
Ancient text
Florentine Codex (General History of the Things of New Spain)
Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua scholars
A twelve-book encyclopedia of Nahua religion, society, and history compiled by the Franciscan Sahagún with Nahua elders and trilingual Nahua scholars. The principal written source for Aztec gods, festivals, and myths such as the birth of Huitzilopochtli at Coatepec.
About this work
A twelve-book encyclopedia of Nahua religion, society, and history compiled by the Franciscan Sahagún with Nahua elders and trilingual Nahua scholars. The principal written source for Aztec gods, festivals, and myths such as the birth of Huitzilopochtli at Coatepec.
Stories drawn from it
Retellings in the atlas that quote or cite this work.
The Birth of HuitzilopochtlicreationCoatlicue, the earth mother, becomes mysteriously pregnant after a ball of feathers falls upon her. Her daughter Coyolxauhqui leads the Centzon Huitznahua in an attack, but Huitzilopochtli emerges fully armed to defend his mother.
Quetzalcoatl's Fall and ExiletragedyThrough cunning tricks and dark sorcery, Tezcatlipoca causes the righteous priest-king Quetzalcoatl to break his sacred vows, leading to his shame, exile, and promise to return.
The Journey to MictlandeathThe perilous four-year journey of the soul through the nine levels of the Aztec underworld, facing wind of obsidian knives, crushing mountains, and the final crossing to rest before Mictlantecuhtli.
The Flaying of Xipe TotecoriginXipe Totec, the Flayed Lord, skins himself alive so that maize and other plants can grow from the earth, establishing the connection between death, renewal, and agricultural fertility.
Xochiquetzal and the Forbidden FruittransformationThe beautiful flower goddess Xochiquetzal dwells in paradise but is tempted to eat forbidden fruit. Her transgression brings both suffering and certain arts to humanity.
The Four Hundred RabbitsoriginThe goddess Mayahuel discovers the maguey plant and its intoxicating drink pulque. Her four hundred rabbit children, the Centzon Totochtin, become the gods of drunkenness, each representing a different degree of intoxication.
About this record
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.
Dates and authorship follow standard scholarly references; for many ancient works both are approximate or disputed.