Pitao Bezelao
Zapotec · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Chief Zapotec god of death and the underworld, patron of Mitla.
Domains
- death
- underworld
Powers
- Receives the dead in the house of the underworld
- Sends or relieves disease and pestilence
Epithets
- Coqui Bezelao Lord Bezelao - 'coqui' (lord/ruler) applied to the death-godCordova, Vocabulario en lengua zapoteca (1578); Marcus & Flannery, Zapotec Civilization (1996) (secondary)
Relations
- interpretatio: MictlantecuhtliPitao Bezelao is the male Zapotec lord of the dead and the underworld (cult-center Mitla), paralleling the Central-Mexican death-lord Mictlantecuhtli.Burgoa, Geografica Descripcion (1674); Marcus & Flannery, Zapotec Civilization (1996); Miller & Taube (1993) (secondary)
- spouse: Xonaxi QuecuyaLord and lady of death and the underworld, the divine couple of the colonial Zapotec god-lists venerated at Mitla.Lind, Ancient Zapotec Religion: An Ethnohistorical and Archaeological Perspective (2015) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Córdova (1578); patron of Mitla (Lyobaa) (primary)