16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



southern. There is some ground for beheving that the highest office 

 in the south may have been elective, the term being a Jiotun^ (1,800 

 days), and the choice restricted to the members of a certain family. 

 The existence of this restriction, which closely parallels the Aztec 

 procedure in selecting rulers,^ rests on very slender evidence, how- 

 ever, so far as the Maya are concerned and is mentioned here simply 

 by way of suggestion. 



The religion of the ancient Maya was polytheistic, its pantheon 

 containing about a dozen major deities and a host of lesser ones. At 

 its head stood Itzamna, the father of the gods and creator of mankind, 

 the Mayan Zeus or Jupiter. He was the personification of the East, 

 the rising sun, and, by association, of light, life, and 

 knowledge. He was the founder of the Maya civiliza- 

 tion, the first priest of the Maya rehgion, the inventor 

 of writmg and books, and the great healer. Whether 

 Itzamna has been identified %\'ith any of the deities in 

 the ancient Maya picture-writ mgs is uncertain, though 

 there are strong reasons for believmg that this deity is 

 the god represented in figure 1. His characteristics 

 here are: The aged face, Roman nose, and sunken 

 toothless mouth. 



Fig. 1. Itzamna, Scarcely Icss important was the great god Kukulcau, 

 Maya*^plntheon ^^' Feathered Serpent, the personification of the West. 

 (note his name It is related of him that he came into Yucatan from 

 giyp s, below). ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^^ settled at Chichen Itza, where he ruled 

 for many years and built a great temple. During his sojourn he is 

 said to have founded the city of Mayapan, which later became so 

 important. Finally, having brought the country out of war and dis- 

 sension to peace and prosperity, he left by the same way he had 

 entered, tarrpng only at Chakanputun on the west coast to build 

 a splendid temple as an everlastmg memorial of his residence among 

 the people. After his departure he was worshipped as a god because 

 of what he had done for the public good. Kukulcan was the Maya 

 counterpart of the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican god of light, 

 learning, and culture. In the Maya pantheon he was regarded as 

 having been the great organizer, the founder of cities, the framer of 

 laws, and the teacher of their new calendar. Indeed, his attributes 



' As will be explained in chapter V, the writer has suggested the name hotun for the 5 tun, or 1,800 day, 

 period. 



2 Succession in the Aztec royal house was not determined by primogeniture, though the supreme ofTice, 

 the tlahtouani, as well as the other high offices of state, was hereditary in one family. On the death of 

 the tlahtouani the electors (four in numlier) seem to have selected his successor from among his Itrothers, 

 or, these failing, from among his nephews. Except as limiting the succession to one family, primogeniture 

 does not seem to have obtained; for example, Moctezoma (Montezuma) was chosen tlahtouani over the 

 heads of several of his older brothers because he was thought to have the Ijest qualifications for that exalted 

 office. The situation may be summarized by the statement that while the supreme ruler among the 

 Aztec had to be of the "blood royal," his selection was determined by personal merit rather than by 

 primogeniture, 



