Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts | Page 3

and by his animal symbol, the owl, which will both be
discussed farther on. His head ornament varies in the Dresden Codex;
in the first portion of the manuscript, relating in part to pregnancy and
child-birth (see the pictures of women on p. 16, et seq.), he wears on
his head several times a figure occurring very frequently just in this
part of the Dresden Codex and apparently representing a snail (compare
Dr. 12b and 13b), which among the Aztecs is likewise a symbol of
parturition. In view of these variations in the pictures of the Dresden
Codex, it is very striking that in the Codex Tro.-Cortesianus, there is
only one invariable type of the death-god.
[10-1] See Plate for representations of the gods, A-P
A distinguishing ornament of the death-god consists of globular bells or
rattles, which he wears on his hands and feet, on his collar and as a
head ornament. As can be distinctly seen in Dr. 11a, they are fastened
with bands wound around the forearm and around the leg; in Dr. 15c
these bells are black.
Among the symbols of the death-god a cross of two bones should be
mentioned, which is also found in the Mexican manuscripts. This cross
of bones seems to occur once among the written characters as a
hieroglyph and then in combination with a number: Tro. 10.* The
figure [Death-god symbol] is also a frequent symbol of the death-god.
Its significance is still uncertain, but it also occurs among the
hieroglyphs as a death-sign and as a sign for the day Cimi (death).
The hieroglyphs of the death-god have been positively determined (see
Figs. 1 to 4). Figs. 1 and 2 are the forms of the Dresden manuscript and
Figs. 3 and 4 are those of the Madrid manuscript. God A is almost
always distinguished by two hieroglyphs, namely Figs. 1 and 2 or 3 and
4. Moreover the hieroglyphs are always the same, have scarcely any

variants. Even in Dr. 9c, where the deity is represented as feminine,
there are no variations which might denote the change of sex. The
hieroglyphs consist chiefly of the head of a corpse with closed eyes,
and of a skull. The design in front of the skull in Figs. 2 and 4 and
under it in Fig. 3 is a sacrificial knife of flint, which was used in
slaying the sacrifices, and is also frequently pictured in the Aztec
manuscripts. The dots under Fig. 1 are probably intended to represent
blood.
The death-god is represented with extraordinary frequency in all the
Maya manuscripts. Not only does the figure of the god itself occur, but
his attributes are found in many places where his picture is missing.
Death evidently had an important significance in the mythologic
conceptions of the Mayas. It is connected with sacrifice, especially with
human sacrifices performed in connection with the captive enemy. Just
as we find a personification of death in the manuscripts of the Mayas,
we also find it in the picture-writings of the ancient Mexicans, often
surprisingly like the pictures of the Maya codices. The Aztec death-god
and his myth are known through the accounts of Spanish writers;
regarding the death-god of the Mayas we have less accurate
information. Some mention occurs in Landa's Relacion de las cosas de
Yucatan, §XXIII, but unfortunately nothing is said of the manner of
representing the death-god. He seems to be related to the Aztec
Mictlantecutli, of whom Sahagun, Appendix to Book III, "De los que
iban al infierno y de sus obsequias," treats as the god of the dead and of
the underworld, Mictlan. When the representations of the latter, for
example in the Codex Borgia, and in the Codex Vaticanus No. 3773,
are compared with those of the Maya manuscripts, there can be hardly a
doubt of the correspondence of the two god figures. In the Codex
Borgia, p. 37, he is represented once with the same characteristic head
ornament, which the death-god usually wears in the Maya manuscripts,
and in the Codex Fejervary, p. 8, the death-god wears a kind of
breeches on which cross-bones are depicted, exactly as in Dr. 9
(bottom).
Bishop Landa informs us that the Mayas "had great and immoderate
dread of death." This explains the frequency of the representations of

the death-god, from whom, as Landa states, "all evil and especially
death" emanated. Among the Aztecs we find a male and a female
death-deity, Mictlantecutli and Mictlancihuatl. They were the rulers of
the realm of the dead, Mictlan, which, according to the Aztec
conception, lay in the north; hence the death-god was at the same time
the god of the north.
It agrees with the calendric and astronomic character of the Maya
deities in the manuscripts, that a number of the figures of the gods are