THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 93 
malevolent aspect of this god or possibly another being 
who imitates his features but not his qualities. This 
being may be an old woman goddess who wears a ser- 
pent headdress and who is associated with destructive 
floods, the very opposite of life-giving sunshine. 
Of almost equal importance to the Roman-nosed god 
is a god whose face is a more or less humanized serpent. 
This god has been identified with Kukulcan, the Plumed 
Serpent, and the Mayan equivalent of the Aztecan 
Quetzalecoatl. On the early monuments this god is 
shown in connection with the Ceremonial Bar. He also 
appears at a somewhat later date as the Manikin 
Scepter, an object in the form of a manikin that is held 
out by a leg modified into a serpent’s body. Since a 
celt is usually worn in the forehead of the manikin it has 
been suggested that this curious object represents a 
ceremonial battle-ax. The face of the Long-nosed god 
is frequently worn by high priests and rulers either as a 
headdress or, more rarely, asamask. It is possible that 
this divinity was regarded as primarily a war god. In 
the codices he is evidently a universal deity of varied 
powers. Especially he is shown in connection with 
water and maize and it seems likely that his principal 
function was to cause life-giving rain. A malevolent 
variant of the Long-nosed god has a bare bone for the 
lower jaw, a sun symbol on his forehead, and a head- 
dress consisting of three symbols of uncertain signifi- 
eance. This head is associated with the T'wo-headed 
Dragon possibly as a god of death-dealing drought. 
Ahpuch, the Lord of Death, was the principal malevo- 
lent god. His body as figured in the codices is a strange 
compound of skeletal and full-fleshed parts. His head 
is a Skull except for the normal ears. His spinal column 
is usually bare and sometimes the ribs as well, but the 
arms and legs are often covered with flesh. As added 
