The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru

by Lewis Spence

THE RELIGION OF THE HEBREWS.
By Professor Yastrow.

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THE MYTHOLOGIES
OF ANCIENT MEXICO
AND PERU

By

LEWIS SPENCE

LONDON
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO Ltd
1907

Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty

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FOREWORD

It is difficult to understand the neglect into which the study of the Mexican and Peruvian mythologies has fallen. A zealous host of interpreters are engaged in the elucidation of the mythologies of Egypt and Assyria, but, if a few enthusiasts in the United States of America be excepted, the mythologies of the ancient West have no following whatsoever. That this little book may lead many to a fuller examination of those profoundly interesting faiths is the earnest hope of one in whose judgment they are second in importance to no other mythological system. By a comparative study of the American mythologies the student of other systems will reap his reward in the shape of many a parallel and many an elucidation which otherwise would escape his notice; whilst the general reader will introduce himself into a sphere of the most fascinating interest—the interest in the attitude towards the eternal verities of the peoples of a new and isolated world.