Mexitli

In Aztec mythology, Mexitli () is a deity who was sometimes identified with the war god Huītzilōpōchtli. "Mexitli" is described by some sources as an alternative name of Huītzilōpōchtli, or as the origin of the name "Mexicans". One scholar believes that Mexitli was originally an earth deity of the Mexican people before their founding of Tenochtitlan, and another views him as a leader of the early Mexicans who was identified with Huītzilōpōchtli.

Sources

In the Historia de los Indios de la Nueva España of Toribio de Benavente (1482–1565), Mexitli is described as the chief Aztec deity, from whom the words "Mexico" and "Mexicans" are derived, also known by the name "Texatlicupa". In his Memoriales, Benavente uses "Mexitli" as an alternative name for HuÄ«tzilōpōchtli; according to Doris Heyden, in doing so he identifies Mexitli, HuÄ«tzilōpōchtli, and Tezcatlipoca. Tomás de Torquemada (1420–1498), in his Monarquía indiana, also writes that "Mexitli" was another name for HuÄ«tzilōpōchtli, interpreting the former as "the navel of the maguey". Francisco Javier Clavijero (1731–1787) derives the name of the Mexicans from Mexitli, and – according to – interprets him as "a kind of cryptonym for the Aztec tribal god". The Nahuatl text which contains the Leyenda de los Soles () instead describes Meçitli as female earth deity, who rears the young Mixcoa.

Interpretation

believes that Huītzilōpōchtli was originally a Toltec god, and was not worshipped by the early Mexican people until their founding of Tenochtitlan; he sees Mexitli, whom he describes as a god of the earth, as one of their deities prior to the adoption of Huītzilōpōchtli. After this early period, he considers Mexitli to be Huītzilōpōchtli in the form of an earth deity.

According to Javier Rondero, Mexitli was the leader of the Mexicans during their migration to Mexico, also known as Mexi and Mixi, who was deified and assimilated to Huītzilōpōchtli in the region of Michoacán. He sees his name as meaning "the one who kills (with an obsidian arrow)", thereby signifying "the lord of death and war". Gutierre Tibón writes that Mexitli was an eponymous, mythical hero who was equated with Huītzilōpōchtli, comparing this to the identification of Romulus with the deity Quirinus.<reF>Tibón, p. 227.</ref>

Notes

References

• Davies, Nigel, The Aztec Empire: the Toltec Resurgence, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987. . Internet Archive.
• , L'origine des Aztèques, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1983. .
• Heyden, Doris, The Eagle, the Cactus, the Rock: the Roots of Mexico-Tenochtitlan's Foundation Myth and Symbol, Oxford, BAR Publishing, 1989. . Internet Archive.
• Tibón, Gutierre, Historia del nombre y de la fundación de México, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1980. . Internet Archive.
• (1975), "El origen de la sociedad y del estado aztecas y la historicidad de las fuentes autóctonas, una introducción", in Boletín de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe, Vol. 18, pp. 4&ndash;14, 1975. .
• Van Zantwijk, Rudolf (1985), The Aztec Arrangement: The Social History of Pre-Spanish Mexico, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. . Internet Archive.