Huehueteotl
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Statue of Huehueteotl in Tijuana, Mexico |
Huehueteotl ("Old god";
agéd god in
Nahuatl) is a
Mesoamerican deity figuring in the
pantheons of
pre-Columbian cultures, particularly in
Aztec mythology and others of the Central Mexico region. He is also sometimes called
Ueueteotl. Although known mostly in the cultures of that region, images and iconography depicting Huehueteotl have been found at other
archaeological sites across Mesoamerica, such as in the Gulf region, western Mexico, Protoclassic-era sites in the
Guatemalan highlands such as
Kaminaljuyú and Late-Postclassic sites on the northern
Yucatán Peninsula (Miller and Taube, 1993:189).
Huehueteotl is frequently considered to overlap with, or be another aspect of, a central Mexican/
Aztec deity associated with
fire,
Xiuhtecuhtli. In particular, the
Florentine Codex identifies Huehueteotl as an alternative epithet for Xiutecuhtli, and consequently that deity is sometimes referred to as
Xiutecuhtli-Huehueteotl.
However, Huehueteotl is characteristically depicted as an aged or even decrepit being, whereas Xiutecuhtli's appearance is much more youthful and vigorous, and he has a marked association with rulership and (youthful) warriors (Miller and Taube,
op. cit.).
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