Tlaltecuhtli
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Tlaltecuhtli or Tlaltecutli was an Aztec goddess who embodied the raging chaos before creation. In the creation account of Aztec mythology she was a chthonic sea monster who dwelled in the ocean after the fourth Great Flood. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, in the form of snakes, tore her in half, throwing half upwards to create the sky and stars and leaving the other half to become the land of the earth. She remained alive, however, and demanded human blood. Although her name is male, she is typically depicted as a female crocodile with clawed forelimbs and skulls on her back and sides, and is often depicted in the position of a woman in childbirth.
She is sometimes associated with Cihuacoatl, Tonantzin, Tonatiuh.
Compare with Tiamat, a primeval monster/goddess in Babylonian and Sumerian mythology.
Recently a monolith of this Goddess was unearthed in Mexico. [1]This Mexico City site is part of Templo Mayor.
[edit] Sources
- Primitive Mythology, by Joseph Campbell, pp 224-5, quoting a French manuscript of the 16th century.
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