Quetzalcoatl: The History and Legacy of the Feathered Serpent God in Mesoamerican Mythology

Written by Charles River Editors

Narrated by Bill Hare

As archaeologists quickly learned, there are numerous temples dedicated to Quetzalcoatl all across Mesoamerica. From the Aztec to the Maya, Quetzalcoatl - the Feathered Serpent - rears his beautiful head from magnificent relief carvings in temples no less grandiose than the largest pyramid in the region, that of Cholula in Mexico. Furthermore, thousands of people still gather in the great Mayan city of Chichén Itzá during the spring and autumn equinoxes to watch the shadow of the Feathered Serpent slither its way down the temple known as El Castillo.

Worship of the Feathered Serpent can be traced back 2,000 years, and the Serpent’s cults appear all across Mesoamerica. The Olmec, the Aztec, and both the Yucatec and K’iche Mayans all had different names for this deity, including Kukulkan, Q’uq’umatz, and Tohil, but his iconography is curiously consistent over several centuries across the region. Depending on who was worshipping him, the Feathered Serpent was a creator-god, the god of the winds, the god of the rains, or merely a near-divine ancestor whose militaristic ways won his followers land and riches before he was eventually marred by lavishness and iniquity, resulting in his demise.

To some of the invading Spanish conquistadores, Quetzalcoatl was little more than another demon the “natives” had been worshipping before they were kind enough to bring God to the New World. To others, however, Quetzalcoatl was precisely evidence of the spread of Christianity reaching Mesoamerica long before the conquistadores ever arrived. Much of what modern scholars depend on to understand Quetzalcoatl, however, comes from the period of the Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica, and therefore stories of his blowing the sun across the sky have become mixed with those linking him with Jesus Christ. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles River Editors
• Release date: Jul 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781987177589

Reviews for Quetzalcoatl

[edna wiley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Short and to the point but filled with great info

[Kirsten Jackson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This helped me understand Maya and the three on Netflix. Now I have a perspective I can share with my son. ?

[christi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book gave so many more details than most books!! The book allows you to go back into time and experience the events!!

[Roland Monsegu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This Charles River series is really good. They always start by bringing a background history of the place and then go into details. They finish by expanding to modern time. Recommended.