Bøger af John Bierhorst

One of the great documents of colonial Mexico, the Codex Chimalpopoca chronicles the rise of Aztec civilization and preserves the mythology on which it was based. Its two complementary texts, Annals of Cuauhtitlan and Legend of the Suns, record the pre-Cortésian history of the Valley of Mexico together with firsthand versions of that region's myths. Of particular interest are the stories of the hero-god Quetzalcoatl, for which the Chimalpopoca is the premier source. John Bierhorst's work is the first major scholarship on the Codex Chimalpopoca in more than forty years. His is the first edition in English and the first in any language to include the complete text of the Legend of the Suns. The precise, readable translation not only contributes to the study of Aztec history and literature but also makes the codex an indispensable reference for Aztec cultural topics, including land tenure, statecraft, the role of women, the tribute system, warfare, and human sacrifice.

This volume is not an anthology, but rather a survey of the most important myths, figures and themes of 11 regions from the Arctic to the Southwest. An afterword looks at the very practical power that ancient myths have wielded in modern American Indian affairs.

In this volume, John Bierhorst traces the principle myths from tribe to tribe in seven carefully mapped regions of South America. The text includes samples from mythological stories and some chapters are devoted to special topics such as myth and politics.

This volume provides complete translations of 20 "basic myths" of Mexico and Central America and shows how they have influenced the artistic, literary and political life of modern Mesoamerica.

An authoritative transcription, translation, and commentary on a sixteenth-century Nahuatl codex that is one of only two principal sources of Aztec song and a key document in the study of Aztec life in the century after conquest.

A Stanford University Press classic.