THE AZTEC GODDESS OF THE EARTH 



The famous statue of the Aztec Goddess of the Earth called Coatlicue, "The Serpent- 

 skirted One," is a striking example of barbaric imagination. It was found in Mexico 

 City near the Cathedral in the year 1791. It doubtless occupied an important place 

 in the great ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and probably 

 dates from the last quarter of the 15th century. 



The head, which is the same on front and.back, is formed by two repulsive serpent 

 heads meeting face to face. The feet are furnished with claws, but the arms, which 

 are doubled up with the elbows close to the sides, end each in a serpent's head. The 

 skirt is a writhing mass of braided rattlesnakes. The creature wears about the neck 

 and hanging down over the breast a necklace of human hands and hearts with a death's 

 head pendant in the center. Coatlicue seems to have been regarded as a very old 

 woman and as the mother of the Aztec gods. 



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