Huitzilopochtli

Mexica tutelary sun-and-war god, born at Coatepec to defeat Coyolxauhqui and the Centzonhuitznahua.

Parentage

Recorded default; alternative parentage accounts are listed separately below.

• parent: Coatlicue

Parentage accounts

Each account is a separate source claim. The parentage and children listed outside these accounts use the recorded default. Selecting an account in the interactive app updates its lineage, descent classification and inherited-power candidates. Linked pedigree accounts are selected together; other records retain their recorded parentage. Claims of ancestry are not proof of biological descent or attested powers.

• Historia de los Mexicanos, chapter 1: creator couple

  deity by descent in this account.

  • father: TonacatecuhtliHistoria de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, chapter 1 (sixteenth-century account); Phillips 1883, pp. 616–617 (primary)
  • mother: TonacacihuatlHistoria de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, chapter 1 (sixteenth-century account); Phillips 1883, pp. 616–617 (primary)
  Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, chapter 1 (sixteenth-century account); Phillips 1883, pp. 616–617 (primary)

Domains

• war
• sun
• patron of the mexica

Powers

• Spring forth from womb fully armed for battle
• Strike enemies with the fire-serpent weapon
• Guide and command a people through oracular speech

Epithets

• Tetzāhuitl nahuatl · cultThe Omen / Portent / Awe-inspiring MarvelSahagún, Florentine Codex, Book 3 (The Origin of the Gods), 'Tetzauitl Uitzilopochtli' (primary)
• Mēxihtli nahuatl · Mexihtli · cultMexitl; the eponym from whom the Mexica took their nameDurán, Historia de las Indias de Nueva España; Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Book 3 (primary)

Relations

• interpretatio: CuricaueriCuricaueri is the supreme Tarascan fire-sun-war god and dynastic patron of the ruling Uacusecha, paralleling Huitzilopochtli as solar war-patron of the Mexica state.Relacion de Michoacan (c. 1539-41, ed. Alcala); Pollard, Tariacuri's Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State (1993) (secondary)
• sibling: CoyolxauhquiReciprocal of aztec_coyolxauhqui.sibling — Both children of Coatlicue in the Coatepec narrative.Sahagun, Florentine Codex, Book 3 (primary)
• killer of: CoyolxauhquiSlew Coyolxauhqui at his birth at Coatepec; her dismembered body rolled down the mountain.Sahagun, Florentine Codex, Book 3 (primary)
• sibling: QuetzalcoatlReciprocal of aztec_quetzalcoatl.sibling — Brothers among the four sons of the creator pair.Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas (primary)
• sibling: TezcatlipocaReciprocal of aztec_tezcatlipoca.sibling — Brothers among the four sons of the creator pair.Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas (primary)
• sibling: Xipe TotecReciprocal of aztec_xipe_totec.sibling — Brothers among the four sons of the primordial creator pair.Miller & Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (1993) (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Book III; Durán, Historia de las Indias (primary)