Religions Ancient and Modern

THE MYTHOLOGIES OF
ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU

RELIGIONS: ANCIENT AND MODERN.

ANIMISM.
By Edward Clodd, Author of The Story of Creation.

PANTHEISM.
By James Allanson Picton, Author of The Religion of the Universe.

THE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA.
By Professor Giles, LL.D., Professor of Chinese in the University of Cambridge.

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT GREECE.
By Jane Harrison, Lecturer at Newnham College, Cambridge, Author of Prolegomena to Study of Greek Religion.

ISLAM.
By Syed Ameer Ali, M.A., C.I.E., late of H.M.'s High Court of Judicature in Bengal, Author of The Spirit of Islam and The Ethics of Islam.

MAGIC AND FETISHISM.
By Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., Lecturer on Ethnology at Cambridge University.

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
By Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie, F.R.S.

THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.
By Theophilus G. Pinches, late of the British Museum.

BUDDHISM. 2 vols.
By Professor Rhys Davids, LL.D., late Secretary of The Royal Asiatic Society.

HINDUISM.
By Dr. L. D. Barnett, of the Department of Oriental Printed Books and MSS., British Museum.

SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION.
By William A. Craigie, Joint Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.

CELTIC RELIGION.
By Professor Anwyl, Professor of Welsh at University College, Aberystwyth.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
By Charles Squire, Author of The Mythology of the British Islands.

JUDAISM.
By Israel Abrahams, Lecturer in Talmudic Literature in Cambridge University, Author of Jewish Life in the Middle Ages.

SHINTO. By W. G. Aston, C.M.G.

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU.
By Lewis Spence, M.A.

THE RELIGION OF THE HEBREWS.
By Professor Yastrow.

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

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.

L. S.

CONTENTS

THE MYTHOLOGIES OF
ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU

CHAPTER I

THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN RELIGIONS

The question of the origin of the