The following reasons given by Dr. Schellhas for supposing that the deity indicated is Kukulcan apparently justify his conclusion, though it is possible some other name may have been applied to him:

He is represented in all the manuscripts, and far more frequently than any other deity. His characteristic marks are always unmistakable. An entire section of the Dresden Codex, pp. 29-43, and pp. 1 and 2, belonging thereto, treat almost exclusively of this god, and wherever he is pictured there we also find his name hieroglyph. He is always characterized by the double, snake-like tongue hanging from his mouth and by the peculiar eye, two marks that are never absent, how numerous and varied soever may be his representations, his symbols, and attributes. We also find him with torches in his hands as symbols of fire; he sits on water; he stands or sits in water or in falling rain; he rides in a boat; he appears in company with a fish as symbol of water or in company of a bird’s head as symbol of the atmosphere, upon the day sign Cab as symbol of the earth, sitting, with the ax (machete) in his hand, with arrows or spears, with a scepter, and finally, also, with the body of a snake. Considering the immense variety of this god’s representations and the numerous symbols of power in the various elements which the deity rules, we may well be justified in assuming that there are indications here of one of the most important figures in Maya mythology, with one of the principal deities of the people. The most important god of the Mayas was Kukulcan, the creator of the country’s civilization, who had come from the far, unknown east, the Mexican Quetzalcohuatl, the Gucumatz of the Kiche, the Kukulcan of the Tzendals. All these names mean “feathered snake,” “bird snake.” Now, in the above mentioned section of the Dresden manuscript, pp. 29-43, there is found on page 36, middle, the representation of a bird and a snake, the two symbols of the god Kukulcan, which, at the same time, denote his name in the manner of a rebus. That this representation is to be referred to the god with the snake’s tongue is rendered probable on the one hand by the fact that this whole section treats of him and is proved on the other hand by the circumstance that in the same place the same snake is found represented with the head of the god; thus, page 35, middle, and 36, above. In the same way this snake with the god’s head is also found in the Codex Cortesianus, page 10, middle, a passage which is rendered notable also by the fact that in the writing above the picture there is expressly found as a second sign the name hieroglyph of the god.


No. 36.		Cimi (?). Supposed symbols of the god of death. Occurring very frequently in all the codices, but with several variations (see Figs. [383] and [384]).

These are given chiefly on the authority of Drs. Förstemann and Schellhas, as I have some doubt in reference to this conclusion, for reasons which will here be given.


Fig. 383. The supposed god of death, from the Dresden Codex.
Fig. 384. The supposed god of death, from the Troano Codex.

As Dr. Schellhas remarks, this is “the most characteristic and most easily recognized deity of the Maya Codices”; but this statement will not apply to the symbols, as the variations are such as to render it exceedingly doubtful whether precisely the same idea is embodied in each. Even the two forms here given, both of which are found in all the codices and often together, present variations too marked for us to believe, except upon strong evidence, that they represent the same thing. Nor do the figures of this deity or supposed deity appear to embody throughout the same idea. In fact, they leave us in doubt as to whether any one recognized deity is to be understood. Was there in the Maya pantheon such a deity as the god of death? I have so far been unable to find any satisfactory reason for answering this question in the affirmative.

In the first part of the Dresden Codex, which is devoted, in part at least, if not chiefly, to the maladies of the country, the skeleton figures undoubtedly have reference to death, much like the skull and cross bones in our day. In other places, as Plates XXVII and XXII* of the Manuscript Troano and Plate 7 of the Cortesian Codex, the parched earth appears to be intended, but it must be conceded that here also the idea of death is included. Substantially the same idea, or at least the relation of this god to the earth, appears to be indicated in Plate 8 of the Cortesian Codex, where he is represented as beneath and holding up that upon which another deity, bearing the bread symbol, is seated.

As before stated the two symbols frequently appear in connection, sometimes where the god is figured and often where he is not. It is, therefore, unsafe to conclude as yet that either variety indicates a particular deity known as the god of death.


No. 37.		Symbol of the god with the banded face; seen chiefly in the Manuscript Troano; not found in the Dresden Codex ([Fig. 385]). This is not the deity which Dr. Schellhas designates as “the god with face crossed by lines.”