THE TEMPLE OF THE JAGUARS 



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may not hope to penetrate it. Both the Maya and the Aztec had their 

 culture heroes, Kukulcan of Quetzalcoatl, whom they first deified, then 

 surrounded with the aura of still more ancient sun myths, and endowed 

 with attributes common to the beliefs of an agricultural people in regions 

 where the beneficent rains are eventualities. 



That the religious ideals evidenced by these symbols permeated the very 

 lives and influenced every action of these ancient builders is clearly revealed 

 by the symbolism of this feathered serpent that in its varied and conven- 

 tionalized forms is ever present on structural base, carved approach and wall 



The largest and most typical of all the serpent columns discovered in these ancient 

 cities of Yucatan. This is one of the twin columns which formed the central supports of 

 the fallen facade. Color in the crevices proves that they were painted. The feathered 

 serpent as a religious symbol seems to have been to the New World what the cross was to 

 the Old. It is found everywhere in architectural ornamentation from structural base to 

 carved approach and facade 



