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Mayan Art Megathread

As cool as they are, I disagree with some of the descriptions. Tlaltecuhtli for example is not a goddess of Chaos. He/She was a creature of Chaos originally, but then became the Earth. And has quite some positive associations in Aztec culture.

Quite true. I couldn't find good descriptions off this site, I think it came from a game originally. Interesting pictures though.

A lizard of Copan, I think I have posted another view of this guy, but he bears repeating.

lizard of copan.jpg
 
Some Mayan statues, starting with a terra cotta "Napoleon"

mayan terra cotta napoleon.jpg

Palenque incense burner:

palenque incense burner statue.jpg

Figure under a shell:

shell incense burner.jpg

Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza:

temple of teh warriors chichen itza.jpg

Animorph head:

f596a35c920084ad62d1729fb3ebc518.jpg
 
Stone statue from Copan:

copan.jpg

Small stela/carving from Piedras Negras, Guatemala:

piedras-negras-guatemala-mesoamerica-central-america-maya-late-classic-enp425.jpg
 
So referring back to the "globe" at the top of the map, I came across a great video concerning the Aztec creation myth.


So here are a few pictures to go along with this. Aztecs had four directional gods, each with a specific color:

North- Tezcatlipoca- Black- Jaguars- Obsidian- Hurricanes- Chaos

300px-Black_Tezcatlipoca.jpg

West- Quetzalcoatl- White- Rain- Venus- Wisdom- Learning- Feathered Serpent

Quetzalcoatl_isolated.png

East- Xipe Totec- Red- Springtime- Farming- Disease- the Flayed One

xipe totec.jpg

South- Huitzilopochitli- Blue- War- Human Sacrifice- Hummingbird of the South

Huitzilopochtli.png


… now what I really liked was the description of the creation of the earth's land: Cipactli, the world crocodile.

11e245117d26392f7b35f6bfcaffbef3.jpg

cipactli 2.png

According to the myth, the gods "killed" an eldritch, Cthulhu-style abomination, Cipactli, a giant crocodile with mouths on every joints and truly continental in size. After killing it, they begin to populate the earth with more gods and the first human creations. However Cipactli is not totally dead, and still hungers. To keep it pacified, the gods instruct humans to make blood sacrifices in order to literally keep the earth from eating all their creations.

That is insane. Totally going to use this concept.

More pics of Cipactli, though not quite as hugely scaled as the entire world.

b7d43dbb4416cab7ce75c1fca549c665.jpg
cc141e0ec446a84113d8cc2f86d8a935.jpg

cipactli_by_guiler_717-d8db4yu.jpg

yashaswi-karthik-crea.jpg
 
So referring back to the "globe" at the top of the map, I came across a great video concerning the Aztec creation myth.


So here are a few pictures to go along with this. Aztecs had four directional gods, each with a specific color:

North- Tezcatlipoca- Black- Jaguars- Obsidian- Hurricanes- Chaos

View attachment 56950

West- Quetzalcoatl- White- Rain- Venus- Wisdom- Learning- Feathered Serpent

View attachment 56951

East- Xipe Totec- Red- Springtime- Farming- Disease- the Flayed One

View attachment 56960

South- Huitzilopochitli- Blue- War- Human Sacrifice- Hummingbird of the South

View attachment 56953


… now what I really liked was the description of the creation of the earth's land: Cipactli, the world crocodile.

View attachment 56955

View attachment 56954

According to the myth, the gods "killed" an eldritch, Cthulhu-style abomination, Cipactli, a giant crocodile with mouths on every joints and truly continental in size. After killing it, they begin to populate the earth with more gods and the first human creations. However Cipactli is not totally dead, and still hungers. To keep it pacified, the gods instruct humans to make blood sacrifices in order to literally keep the earth from eating all their creations.

That is insane. Totally going to use this concept.

More pics of Cipactli, though not quite as hugely scaled as the entire world.

View attachment 56956

Yeah that's really an interesting mythology.
I always slightly preferred the Aztec one over the Mayan one. Really inspiring. :)
 
Small bit of artwork, from the Mayan Museum in Cancun

museo maya de cancun.jpg
 
And a stela of King Pakal the Great of Palenque, receiving a crown from a woman, probably his mother. he is seated on a double-headed jaguar throne.

pakal crown.jpg
 
Mayan warrior carving. I noticed the little "skull mask" in this guy's hand, I really like the idea of these guys wearing terrifying masks into battle. Considering how huge their feathered helmets already are, adding some creepy masks would only make their greatest warriors that much more terrifying to meet in person on the battlefield.

1af081aa3805cca2732e8afa2d253f00.jpg
 
@Warden

The colors for the directions on the cosmos map are different from those in that list.

Is South Yellow or is South Blue?


(Map had:
Red-Black-White-Yellow

List had:
Red-Black-White-Blue)

:pompus::writing:
 
@Warden

The colors for the directions on the cosmos map are different from those in that list.

Is South Yellow or is South Blue?


(Map had:
Red-Black-White-Yellow

List had:
Red-Black-White-Blue)

:pompus::writing:

You are quite correct. The map at the very top of this page was Mayan, the one from the video was Aztec.

Classical Mayan color cardinal directions, center being green and representing the World Tree:

819_day_directional_map.png

9ee06da2ab325a138ff622e04d0b18ac.jpg

Pre-colonial Aztec cardinal direction colors, with the center also being green just not depicted here:

9522e496bba5f66237aabc15aff95745.png
aces.jpg


In fact, most of the ancient cultures of the New World had one form or another of these colors, often in different combinations. Found this nifty chart off of a pdf paper online (The Personification of Celestial Water: The Many Guises of the Storm God in the Pantheon of Cosmology of Teotihuacan). I recommend it, great stuff.

Picture2.png
 
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