The photograph above is the Aztec Calendar Stone, also called Sunstone.
The carvings in the stone represent the four previous cycles of creation
and destruction. The skull at the center depicts the god
Tonatiuh, the fifth sun. A similar sunstone is at the Museo Nacional de
Antropologia, Mexico.
Click on image for full size (190K JPEG)
Image courtesy of Corel Corporation.
|
For the Aztecs, who lived in central Mexico, Tonatiuh was a Sun god. Aztecs believed that four suns had been created in four previous ages, and all of them had died at the end of each cosmic era. Tonatiuh was the fifth sun and the present era is still his. Tonatiuh was in charge of the Aztec Heaven called Tollan. Only dead warriors and women who died in
childbirth could be received in Tollan.
Tonatiuh was responsible for supporting the universe. To prevent the end of the world, Aztecs believed it
was essential to maintain the strength of the Sun god by offering him
human sacrifices.
|
