In this comprehensive study, Enrique Florescano traces the spread of the worship of the Plumed Serpent, and the multiplicity of interpretations that surround him, by comparing the Palenque inscriptions (ca. A.D. 690), the Vienna Codex (pre-Hispanic Conquest), the Historia de los Mexicanos (1531), the Popul Vuh (ca. 1554), and numerous other texts. He also consults and reproduces archeological evidence from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, demonstrating how the myth of Quetzalcoatl extends throughout Mesoamerica.

In Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, H.B. Nicholson presents the most comprehensive survey and discussion of the primary sources and relevant archaeological evidence concerning this man/god, the most enigmatic figure of ancient Mesoamerica. Long available only on university microfilm, this classic text has been updated and now includes new illustrations and an index. Nicholson sorts through the wealth of material, classifying, summarizing, and analyzing all known primary accounts in the Spanish, Nahuatl, and Mayan languages of the career of Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl. In a new Introduction, he updates the original source material presently available to scholars concerned with this figure.

Most American schoolbooks claim that the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II confused the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés for the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, a fabulous, fair-skinned priest king of ancient times who had promised to return, which is why Moctezuma voluntarily surrendered his mighty empire. In the past, the tale of Quetzalcoatl has inspired many people to speculate about pre-Columbian invaders from the Old World. It has also been abused as another presumed proof of white supremacy. Indigenous traditions, however, saw a Mexican Messiah who played an important part in constructing the Mexican national identity. This book demonstrates that the story of the returning god is a product of “fake news” uttered by Cortés. It does so by analysing the most important sources of the Quetzalcoatl-tale. A systematic context-enlargement that also includes ethnographic information and contemporary history reveals why and how Cortés constructed this story, and why and how the Aztec elite adopted it. This method proves to be an epistemological tool which allows researchers to identify pre-Hispanic information in ethnohistorical texts of colonial times. As a result, the true Quetzalcoatl behind the legend comes to light.

Remembering - The Life of Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl In the spring of 1988, while living in Mexico City, I had an extremely vivid Vision Of an ancient Toltec man appearing before me in all of his splendor from within the off limit areas of the pirámide city of Teotihuacán. The streaking figure of a man came out of the door of a brightly painted stuccoed house that just mere seconds before was only the normal rocks and dust of the Archaeological ruin. He spoke with me stating that I had at that moment a very high Vibrational frequency, and, because oat that point in his existence he was leaving the physician realm physical realm for the non- physical, having decided to no longer reincarnate. Decades later, while in an extremely high vibrational state, that being once again appeared to me while I was in my Florida home. It took me five years to channel this autobiography given directly to the world from Ce Actle Topiltzin, The principal did he have all of Meso America. The man of God who was named Quetzacuatle. This autobiography from beyond the physical realm, is his most profound, yet basic teachings brought to us in the form have a narrative of his life. It is been given for all of humanity at a time when humanity needs it most. For whatever it's worth, I have read it 20 times, and I still learn more and more of a deep secrets. The words in the book did not change, but every time I read it with a new level of understanding and appreciation.

Lee offers a more realistic portrait of the legendary Aztec ruler Nezahualcoyotl, derived from examination of original Nahuatl codices and poetry, as well as Spanish chronicles.

Davíd Carrasco draws from the perspectives of the history of religions, anthropology, and urban ecology to explore the nature of the complex symbolic form of Quetzalcoatl in the organization, legitimation, and subversion of a large segment of the Mexican urban tradition. His new Preface addresses this tradition in the light of the Columbian quincentennial. "This book, rich in ideas, constituting a novel approach . . . represents a stimulating and provocative contribution to Mesoamerican studies. . . . Recommended to all serious students of the New World's most advanced indigenous civilization."—H. B. Nicholson, Man

"Due to its scope and perspective this work has a relevance that extends far beyond the conventional bounds of literary studies. Concerned as it is with issues of historical understanding, culture, and politics, it has implications for the literary histories of Spanish America and the United States, as well as for the fields of inter-American and cultural studies, literary theory, and historiography."--BOOK JACKET.