creation

the hero

Monsters
Herakles
Theseus
Perseus
The Trojan War and Achilles
After Troy
The Foundations of Rome
Krishna
The Arthurian Legend
Sigurd and Beowulf


goddesses

gods

tricksters

afterlife

love

Creations and Cataclysms


Tezcatlipoca

In the beginning was Ometecuhtli, self-created Lord of Duality, who appeared also in his male and female aspects as Ometeotl and Omechiuatl. The offspring of this cosmic pair were the four Tezcatlipocas. The Red Texcatlipoca, otherwise Xipe Totec (the flayed god) was associated with the east, the Blue Tezcatlipoca or Huitzilopochtli with the south, the White Tezcatlipoca or Quetzalcoatl with the west, and the Black Tezcatlipoca (Lord of the Night Sly) with the north. To these four were added Tlaloc the rain god, and his consort Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of water.

The confrontations between these deities, engaged in a cosmic struggle for supremacy, led to the creation and destruction of five successive world eras or "suns" - each identified by the particular forms of cataclysm that engulfed it. The first sun was ruled by Tezcatlipoca and was known as "Four-Jaguar". After 676 yeas, Quetzalcoatl knocked Tezcatlipoca into the water, and the earth was consumed by jaguars. Quetzalcoatl then presided over the second sun, known as "Four-Wind", and this era ended when Tezcatlipoca took his revenges and threw Quetza;coatl off his throne, whereupon he was carried off by a great hurricane. The third sun, "Four-Rain", was dominated by fire and ruled over by the rain god Tlaloc. It ended when Quetzalcoatl sent a fiery rain to consume the earth. Then followed the fourth sun, "Four-Water", identified with Chalchiuhtlicue the water goddess. This in turn ended when the world was engulfed by a flood and the people turned into fish. In the wale of these imperfect worlds came the most portentous creation of all - the fifth sun.