Thread by @ClickyPenned, I'm bad at introductions, so let's just jump to the point, shall [...]

I'm bad at introductions, so let's just jump to the point, shall we?

The "myth" of the Four Tezcatlipocas, and why it...doesn't really exist

This is a (very belated) follow-up to this thread. @Majora__Z and @ThyBestRogue pointed out that the "old god" in this scene is an interesting reinterpretation of Huitzilopochtli, and therefore the four gods depicted represent a group commonly called "The Four Tezcatlipocas".

(Huitzilopochtli was also pretty much confirmed in the OE Ep 5 podcast, so this isn't just guesswork.)

If you are familiar with Mesoamerican mythology and stories, you've probably heard or read about the "Four Tezcatlipocas." The summary goes like this:

The two-fold creator god Ometeotl created four sons: Xipe Totec, born all red; Tezcatlipoca, born all black; Quetzalcoatl, born all white; and Huitzilopochtli, born all blue. They were assigned four cardinal directions, and were tasked with creating the heavens and the earth.

Xipe Totec governed the east, Huitzilopochtli governed the south, Quetzalcoatl governed the west, and Tezcatlipoca governed the north.

Together, they were called the "Four Tezcatlipocas", but "only the black Tezcatlipoca was the true one."

You probably know something along those lines, right? I know I did. In fact, I was almost certainly introduced to the idea in university - the story is *very* prevalent in scholarship and analyses.

But after the OE thread, I got more and more intrigued by it.

What was the source of this particular story? Huitzilopochtli is an extremely late addition to the greater Nahua pantheon - in fact, he was almost *only* worshipped in Tenochtitlan. He also has two other origin stories: him vs the 400 Southern Stars, and him vs Malinalxochitl.

Surely, if the Four Tezcatlipocas were so prevalent, they would have existed before him, but if so, where were the other versions of the story? Which other god had he replaced?

And why wouldn't this concept of "the Four Tezcatlipocas" be more prominent all over?

The answer lies in a well-intended, but incorrect interpretation of "Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas", a Post-Conquest manuscript written in Spanish. Sometimes called the Codex Ramirez, it is claimed that the text was composed by Fray Andrés de Olmos after --

-- Ramirez de Fuen Leal, Bishop of Cuenca, summoned several Colhua Mexica elders and sages to collectively explain their histories and stories. INAH has a transcribed digital copy up here: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/repositorio/islandora/object/articulo%3A8415

It was translated into English by Henry Philips Jr; FAMSI has a valuable digital version here: http://www.famsi.org/research/christensen/pinturas/index.html

Here is the first page, which recounts how the creator gods Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacihuatl create four children: Camaxtle, Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, and Huitzilopochtli.

You may notice a clear, uh, issue with Huitzilopochtli's name. The third pic shows Philips' footnote.

In the text, there are only TWO gods given the "Tezcatlipoca" title: "tlaclauqueteztzatlipuca," or Camaxtle, and "yayanqne tezcatlipuca", or Tezcatlipoca proper.

The corrected forms are most likely "Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca" and "Yayauqui Tezcatlipoca".

Neither Quetzalcoatl nor Huitzilopochtli have colors associated with them. In fact, Huitzilopochtli is described as being born without flesh or muscles (nació sin carne)!

Interestingly, Quetzalcoatl is described as "Yagualiecatl." This is "Yohualli ehecatl" - "night wind" - a term frequently attributed to Tezcatlipoca himself (though sometimes this is given to Ometeotl/Tonacatecuhtli).

Additionally, the god called "Camaxtle" is probably* not Xipe Totec. This name - "Camaxtle" - is one of the Spanish variants of "Camaxtli", an alternate name for Mixcoatl - "Cloud Serpent" - god of hunting and the Milky Way.

We know this is him because Chapter 8 of the "Historia de los Mexicanos" literally says so. Here it is written as "Camasale, uno de los quatro dioses" and "el mismo Camasale, ó por otro nombe Mixcoatl."

(Tezcatlipoca can also transform "into" Mixcoatl, like in Ch 6.)

(We also see another small issue here: the text itself claims that mixtli means "snow," but most definitions give it as "cloud.")

Mixcoatl: pic 1 is pg 25 of the Borgia, pic 2 is pg 4 of the Telleriano-Remensis (Notice his names are "Mixcoatle / Ocamaxtli" & his descriptions.)

(As an aside, Mixcoatl is one of my favorite gods and I could really go on about him, but I'll probably save that for another time.

)

Now, *this* version of the story starts to actually line up with other information, specifically the Two Tezcatlipocas.

For example, pg 21 of the Borgia shows the *two* Tezcatlipocas twice, one set for certain day-signs, and the other for another. In the top set, the Red Tezcatlipoca is larger, while the Black Tezcatlipoca is bigger in the lower frame.

We also see a pretty clear example of a ball court in the lower frame, and it appears the Black Tezcatlipoca is "launching" a tecpatl from his mirror (which looks to be doubling as the ball??).

So what happened? Where did this idea of Four Tezcatlipocas come from?

In "Mockeries and metamorphoses of an Aztec god: Tezcatlipoca, "Lord of the Smoking Mirror"", Olivier writes: "Alfonso Caso seems to have originated that notion." He further writes "as far as I know, [Huitzilopochtli] has never been named the 'blue Tezcatlipoca.'"

(Note here that even Olivier assumes "Camaxtli" is Xipe Totec.)

So taken all together, what does this mean? Why bother looking into this?

First off, it's important to realize that this story was told by the Mexica, and likely wasn't held by other groups, including other Nahuas.

Through the three versions of Huitzilopochtli's origins, we see the Mexica continuously raise his rank in the pantheon, until he is put on par with figures like Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl as one of the preeminent sons of Ometeotl/Tonacatecuhtli.

The idea of the "Four Tezcatlipocas" helps perpetuate this view into modern scholarship and popular imagination. We tend to blanket-assume that the things the Mexica did, all Pre-Conquest Nahuas did.

Continued here: https://twitter.com/ClickyPenned/status/1342735618002931712

https://twitter.com/ClickyPenned/status/1342735618002931712

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