Cult of Gods

Mictlantecuhtli

Aztec (Mexica) tradition. See the whole pantheon.

Domains
the dead, Mictlan, the underworld
Symbols and attributes
Skull; bone
Partner
Mictecacihuatl
Codex Borbonicus, p. 9, a Mexica calendar book painted around the time of the Spanish conquest.
Codex Borbonicus, p. 9, a Mexica calendar book painted around the time of the Spanish conquest.

Key myth

Lord of Mictlan, the land of the dead, where those who died of ordinary causes travelled for four years.

Primary sources

  • Florentine Codex Book 3
  • Leyenda de los Soles

All sources for the Aztec (Mexica) pantheon

Place in the family graph

Choose a deity to see where it comes from. Dashed lines are links the sources describe that are not parent and child.

OmeteotlTezcatlipocaQuetzalcoatlCoatlicueTlalocChalchiuhtlicueMictlantecuhtliMictecacihuatlXipe TotecXochiquetzalHuitzilopochtliCoyolxauhquiTonatiuh

More traditions

Odin rides to Hel, W. G. Collingwood, after the Poetic Edda.NorsePapyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.EgyptianA chaos monster and a sun god, drawn by L. Gruner for A. H. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh.MesopotamianVishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.Hindu

Elsewhere in the world

Deities in other traditions who share a theme with Mictlantecuhtli: death and the underworld. This is overlap in one area only.

Norse

Odin

wisdom, poetry, war

Norse

Baldr

light, beauty, mercy

Norse

Hel

the dead who die of sickness or age

Norse

Freyja

love, desire, magic (seiðr)

Norse

Rán

drowning, the sea's net

Egyptian

Nut

sky, stars

Egyptian

Osiris

afterlife, resurrection, fertility of the flood

Egyptian

Isis

magic, protection, motherhood

Compare across cultures