TYPE: Sun god
ORIGIN: Aztec (Classical Mesoamerican) [Mexico]
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 750 CE to 1500 CE and probably much earlier.
SYNONYMS: Nine-wind; White Tezcatlipoca; Tlahuicalpantecuhtli
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Teotihuacan, Cholula, Xochicalco, Malinalco and others.
ART REFERENCES: Stone sculptures, murals, codex illustrations.
LITERARY SOURCES: Pre-Columbian codices.
INFORMATION: One of the four suns that are manifestations of the sun god Tezcatlipoca. He presided over the second of the five world ages represented by the sun Ehecatl. The heroic creator god of the Aztecs, he is also identified as the god of the wind. According to one of many traditions he fashioned mankind from his own blood and provided food by turning himself into an ant so as to steal a kernel of corn that the ants had hidden inside a mountain. A titanic struggle between Quetzalcoatl adn the black Tezcatlipoca resulted in the creation and destruction of four worlds or suns prior to the current sun. Conversely, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca together bore the responsibility for restoring the shattered universe and initiating the fifth sun, Ollin. They are said to have passed through the body of the earth monster Tlaltecuhtli and split it in two to form heaven and earth. Later Quetzalcoatl descended to the underworld Mictlan to obtain from its rulers the bones and ashes of generations of mankind to create the humanity of the fifth sun. He is said to have dropped the bones and broken them, thus accounting for the differing statures of men.
First depicted as a feathered serpent, he was known to the Nahua Indians as Quetzalcoatl; they also revered him for his gift of science and arts. Worshiped at Teotihuacan from circa 750 Ce or earlier. Temples of Quetzalcoatl include a six-tiered step-pyramid at Teotihuaca, and the huge pyramid of Cholula on the Puebla plain, the largest ancient structure in the New World. The bearded Spanish conquistador Cortez was believed by the Emperor Motecuhzoma to be Quetzalcoatl.
Represented iconographically as a composite feathered hybrid, his aspect or avatara Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli was perceived as the Morning Star.
NOTE: Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl was also a historical figure born circa 935 CE.