Leyenda de los Soles
Also known as: Legend of the Suns, Legend of the Five Suns, Leyenda de los Cinco Soles
A Nahuatl account of successive cosmic ages—the Five Suns—and the divine actions that destroy and remake the world, culminating in the present Fifth Sun and the creation of humankind.
Description
The Leyenda de los Soles narrates how the cosmos passes through repeating eras, each ruled by a Sun and ended by cataclysm: jaguars, hurricane winds, rain of fire, and flood. Gods such as Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl rival and cooperate to reestablish order, while Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue preside over watery destructions. Central episodes include Quetzalcoatl’s descent to Mictlan to recover ancestral bones, the sacrificial ignition of the new Sun at Teotihuacan by Nanahuatzin, and the humbling of the proud Tecuciztecatl into the Moon. The legend encodes metaphysics of cyclical time, sacrificial reciprocity, and the ritual obligations binding gods, humans, and the cosmic order.
Historiography
Known primarily from the Codex Chimalpopoca, which contains the Leyenda de los Soles alongside the Anales de Cuauhtitlan in Classical Nahuatl, the text reflects post-Conquest redaction drawing on older narratives. The colonial manuscript tradition likely involved local annalists compiling priestly lore into alphabetic writing. Modern editions and translations have shaped scholarly reception, often comparing its cosmogony with broader Mesoamerican cycles and correlating narrative motifs with ritual calendars and temple iconography.
Date Notes
Preserved in the Codex Chimalpopoca, a colonial-era Nahuatl manuscript likely copied from earlier sources; precise compilation date and individual author(s) are unknown.
Major Characters
- Quetzalcoatl
- Tezcatlipoca
- Tlaloc
- Chalchiuhtlicue
- Tonatiuh
- Nanahuatzin
Myths
- The Five Suns
- Creation of Humans at Teotihuacan
- Sacrifice of Nanahuatzin and Tecuciztecatl
- Quetzalcoatl’s Descent to Mictlan
Facts
- Narrative survives in Classical Nahuatl within the Codex Chimalpopoca.
- Presents a cyclical cosmology of Five Suns ending in distinct cataclysms.
- Centers on divine self-sacrifice as the engine of cosmic renewal.
- Accounts for the origins of the Sun and Moon through contrasting sacrifices.
- Includes Quetzalcoatl’s katabasis to Mictlan to recover ancestral bones.
- Explains human creation by mixing ground bones with divine blood.
- Attributes a world-destroying flood to Chalchiuhtlicue in the Fourth Sun.
- Links mythic episodes to ritual obligations sustaining the Fifth Sun.
- Combines older priestly lore with colonial-era annalistic compilation.
- Influential for reconstructing Aztec cosmology alongside pictorial codices.