THE AZTECS 191 
original position by the soldiers of Cortez and may 
have been lost to sight. We know, however, that it 
was exposed to view about 1560 and was then buried 
by order of the archbishop of Mexico City lest its 
presence should cause the Indians to revert to their 
original pagan beliefs. It was rediscovered in 1790 
and was afterwards built into the facade of the 
Cathedral where it remained until 1885, when it was 
removed to the nearby museum. 
The Calendar Stone is not only a symbol of the sun’s 
face marked with the divisions of the year but it is a 
record of the cosmogonic myth of the Aztecs and the 
creations and destructions of the world. In the center 
is the face of the sun god, Tonatiuh, enclosed in the 
middle of the symbol called Olin. ‘Tonatiuh is often 
represented by a much simpler sign of a circle with 
four or more subdivisions resembling those of a compass 
which are intended to represent the rays of the sun. 
Olin is one of the day signs and means movement, or 
perhaps earthquake. It has also been explained as a 
graphic representation of the apparent course of the 
sun during the year. The history of the world, accord- 
ing to the Aztecan myth, is divided into five suns or 
ages, four of which refer to the past and one to the 
present. The present sun is called Olin Tonatiuh 
because it is destined to be destroyed by an earthquake. 
The day signs of the four previous suns are represented 
in the rectangular projections of the central Olin symbol 
beginning at the upper right hand corner and proceeding 
to the left. They are 4 Ocelot] (jaguar); 4 Ehecatl 
(wind); 4 Quauhtli (rain); 4 Atl (water), and they 
refer to destruction, first, by jaguars, second, by a hurri- 
cane, third, by a volcanic rain of fire, fourth, by a 
flood. It is claimed by some that the year 13 Acatl 
(reed) recorded at the top of the monument between 
