Tonatiuh
Aztec/Mexica · deity · cosmogonic · Recorded classification
God of the present Fifth Sun, born at Teotihuacan; nourished by sacrificial blood.
Domains
- sun
- warriors and sacrifice
- east and daytime sky
Powers
- Traverse the sky as the present fifth sun
- Demand heart-blood to keep moving across heaven
- Rule the east and the daytime sky as lord of warriors
Epithets
- Nāhui Ōllin 'Four Movement', the calendar-name of the present (fifth) Sun, by which Tonatiuh is addressedSahagún, Florentine Codex, Book 7, ch. 2 (the creation of the Sun at Teotihuacan) (primary chronicle)
- Cuāuhtlēhuanitl 'the Rising Eagle' — the ascending morning Sun, complemented by Cuauhtemoc 'Descending Eagle', the setting SunSahagún, Florentine Codex, Book 6 (huehuetlatolli, the prayers addressing the Sun); cf. Book 7 (primary chronicle)
- Tōnatiuh He Who Goes Forth ShiningRead & González, Mesoamerican Mythology (secondary)
Relations
- interpretatio: Pitao CopijchaPitao Copijcha is the Zapotec sun-and-war god, the Oaxacan equivalent of the Central-Mexican solar deity Tonatiuh.Fray Juan de Cordova, Vocabulario en lengua capoteca (1578); Marcus & Flannery, Zapotec Civilization (1996); Lind, Ancient Zapotec Religion (2015) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Books VI, VII (primary)