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Coiled Serpent, unknown Aztec artist, 15th–early 16th century CE, Stone, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States [1] The use of serpents in Aztec art ranges greatly from being an inclusion in the iconography of important religious figures such as Quetzalcoatl and Cōātlīcue, [2] to being used as symbols on Aztec ritual objects, [3] and decorative stand-alone representations ...
Other Mesoamerican structures, such as the ones in Tula, the capital of the later Toltecs (950–1150 AD), also featured profiles of feathered serpents. [9] The Aztec feathered serpent deity known as Quetzalcoatl is known from several Aztec codices, such as the Florentine codex, as well as from the records of the Spanish conquistadors.
The name Quetzalcoatl comes from Nahuatl and means "Precious serpent" or "Quetzal-feathered Serpent". [15] In the 17th century, Ixtlilxóchitl, a descendant of Aztec royalty and historian of the Nahua people, wrote, "Quetzalcoatl, in its literal sense, means 'serpent of precious feathers' but in the allegorical sense, 'wisest of men'."
The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico from around 1300 to 1521 AD. According to legend, the broad strokes of which find some support in the written and archaeological record, the Aztecs founded Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City) on an island in Lake Texcoco in 1325, following several centuries of migration from Aztlán—a spot perhaps to the northwest of ...
The Double-headed serpent is an Aztec sculpture. It is a snake with two heads composed of mostly turquoise pieces applied to a wooden base. It came from Aztec Mexico and might have been worn or displayed in religious ceremonies. [1] The mosaic is made of pieces of turquoise, spiny oyster shell and conch shell. [2] The sculpture is at the ...
Xiuhcoatl is a Classical Nahuatl word that translates as "turquoise serpent" and also carries the symbolic and descriptive translation of "fire serpent". Xiuhcoatl was a common subject of Aztec art , including illustrations in Aztec codices , and was used as a back ornament on representations of both Xiuhtecuhtli and Huitzilopochtli. [ 1 ]
The classic Maya vision serpent, as depicted at Yaxchilan. The Maya deity Kukulkan and the Aztec Quetzalcoatl (both meaning "feathered serpent") figured prominently in their respective cultures of origin. Kukulkan (Q'uq'umatz in K'iche' Maya) is associated with Vision Serpent iconography in Maya art. [48]
The anthropologist Lynne Isbell has argued that, as primates, the serpent as a symbol of death is built into our unconscious minds because of our evolutionary history.. Isbell argues that for millions of years snakes were the only significant predators of primates, and that this explains why fear of snakes is one of the most common phobias worldwide and why the symbol of the serpent is so ...