Aztec Myths

The World's Greatest Myths and Legends

by Jake Jackson (Editor)

Though the Olmecs (1250–200 bc) were the first civilization in Mexico, the Aztecs (1325–1521) –Mesoamerica’s last imperial civilization and the most significant of the militaristic post-Classic period – are probably who first come to mind when we think of great empires of that region. Like other Mesoamerican cultures, Aztec gods and myths reflected a natural philosophy where ideas concerning life and death were linked symbolically to the earth, sky and sea in a grand cosmic scheme. Their religion was dominated by the tribal war god Huitzilopochtli, the rain/fertility god Tlaloc and the supreme deity Tezcatlipoca, the Lord of the Smoking Mirror. This fascinating collection explores the history, culture, gods, calendar, myths and tales of this people, from migration legends to the origin myth of the Five Suns.

FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

Genres: Mythology, History, Nonfiction, Folklore, Classics

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 29, 2019

About the author

SF and dark fantasy author but also a writer/creator of practical music books - Beginner's Guide to Reading Music, Guitar Chords, Piano Chords, Songwriter’s Rhyming Dictionary and How to Play Guitar. Other publications include Advanced Guitar Chords, Advanced Piano Chords, Chords for Kids, How to Play the Electric Guitar, Piano & Keyboard Chords, Scales and Modes and Play Flamenco. Also editor of Mythology books 

Released EP Jakesongs on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, LastFM, etc and on CDBaby. Lifelong passion for fantastic worlds of any kind, from movies to fiction, art to music, posters, album and paperback book covers.

Jake Jackson is the artist name for Nick Wells, Publisher of Flame Tree Press / Flame Tree Publishing.

Reviews

[Isai Soto · Rating 2 out of 5]

BORING! Impossible thing to do when you’re covering mesoamerican myths but this book accomplishes that by making no effort at a historical timeline nor narrative. This book gets way better at Page 180, which is far too late to redeem it. Better off watching a history channel doc.

[Juan Manuel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is bad. If you have an interest in Aztec mythology there are so much better options. The book consist of multiple very small chapters each explaining a certain aspect of the mythology. Since the book includes the myths of Aztec, Toltec, Olmec, Maya, and South American cultures, each aspect is described very succinctly. Still, the worst aspect is that it contains numerous errors, misinterpretations and omissions. Even to someone mildly knowledgeable in the topic the errors are obvious. One of the major omissions is the contribution of Yury Valentinovich Knorozov to decipherement of the of Mayan hieroglyphs which the authors attribute to Bishop Landa (probably Diego de Landa Calderón) and to a Dr. Seler (probably Eduard Seler).
The authors and editor also adopt a patronizing tone that belittles the mesoamerican cultures and even use the term barbaric to describe them.
In conclusion, do not bother reading this book.

[Elliott Gladden · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book at an independent book store thinking it could be a good start to learn about Aztec myths. Since that's what it says on the cover in giant letters. "Aztec Myths."

What's inside the book is actually an extremely racist overview of the "history" of the Aztec, Olmec, Maya, Inca, and Pueblo people as seen by someone with a 19th-Century race-essentialist view. At every opportunity the author goes out of their way to belittle and pidgeon-hole the various peoples of that whole region. Nations are treated like blocks, with defining characteristics based on bloodline, certain nations are "civilized" inherently and others barbaric, and you can tell when the latter group steal the trappings of the former group because of how they retain their barbarism.

Every racist trope against the peoples being discussed is discussed. Any time a culture fails to perform to Victorian-era British sensibilities for what a "civilization" is supposed to do, it's magnified and emphasized.

You can hear the author adjusting his manacle as he points out that the Aztec and Maya writing systems were "still pictographic, so very primitive in nature"; how the Inca "either didn't invent or couldn't fathom a use for arches" shortly before implying the Inca were too simple and stupid to have made reliable records from which he could ascertain a True History (nevermind they did, and it was all purposefully destroyed, and every literate Incan was killed by the Spanish)

You might notice I've not talked about any myths. That's because I haven't found any yet. There are myths alluded to, but none actually told yet. It appears there might be some in the final third of the book but seeing how much vitriol the author has put into describing the people who's myths they're supposedly retelling, I don't think it's worth even glancing at it.

Do not buy this book.

[Galaxial · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean. It wasn't bad. But it wasn't much good either, and the title is wholly misleading. By "Aztec Myths" I went into this book excited. I love learning about mythology. And North American mythology is so ignored and I think it has a really interesting aspect to it that many European mythologies lack.

First of all, the book is not about Aztec mythology. It encompasses the whole of North and South American Indian mythologies. That's fine, but why not call the book "Mesoamerican myths"?.

Secondly, the book is not about myths. Only in the last fifth of the book or so are there any myths whatsoever. The rest of the book is about Mesoamerican culture, architecture, customs, hymns, politics, languages, writing systems etc. Again, that's all interesting. I found it fascinating, but the bizarre lack of actual myths betrays the title.

The whole book also reads like a history textbook. There's no personality that went into this at all, and the writing style is rather dry, and without life. Also, there's a ton of sections throughout the book where the editor just threw in, for multiple pages at a time, other people's works. It acts like a textbook in that manner too, and often the inserts seemed very misplaced and even more boring than the actual writing style of the book.

It was ok. When it actually got to the myths it got more interesting. The title is wholly misleading and I think they thought they were writing a textbook. Meh.

[stormew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel somewhat bad leaving so poor a rating, but at the same time: this is rather evidently a reprinting of an old, 19th-century text and that acknowledgement was not evident anywhere on the cover or in the publicity material or even in the foreword. Which leads me to think this is just a cheap attempt to cash in on reprinting an out-of-copyright text.

As for the actual text reprinted: it's as much a discussion of mezoamerican history as it is a discussion of mythology, but every topic covered is given merely a paragraph or two. I had to drop out of reading it halfway through because the disconnected style was driving me up the wall. Also your mileage may vary but casual (and, likely, unremarkable for when it was first written) use of words like 'orientals' drops me right out my reading zone.

I was honestly hoping for a modern volume of, well, Aztec mythology. I was disappointed with this.

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Calling this 'Aztec Myths' is a big of a stretch. It'd be more accurate it call it 'Mesoamerican Culture and History'. The majority of the text is about the history of the region from what is present day Mexico to Peru, and discusses the Nahuas, Aztecs, Mayans and Incas. It does go into the mythology in parts, but the bulk of this really is historical.

It's also very difficult to read. It's incredibly dry in parts (and as others have mentioned, it feels ripped from a mid-20th century text) and also confounding. There were many passages I had to go back and read a few times, just to get a grasp of what was being said. Other times, chunks of test were ripped from another source with only a hazy reference as to the original material.

If this was repackaged as a book about the history of the region and not myths, I think it would be fine. But as a few other reviewers have said, I'd love to know where the original texts came from as it's weirdly written and with no references.

[Chris Sheldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is okay. It has some Aztec myths but most of it is the religious, cultural and historic context for them, as well as Incan and Mayan. That's helpful but it's a bit of a stretch to call it Aztec myths. It'd be helpful to have references to the original texts too, as then you can actually find them if you were interested. There is a limitation in what actually survived colonialism but this should probably be prefaced.

The stories that are there are brilliant. The style is a little old fashioned but possible to follow. You get a sense of a culture completely apart from our own, which is fascinating.

[Astrid · Rating 2 out of 5]

The structure made no sense neither did the sentences at times... "the common ppl made drinks out of fruit & added the intoxicating drink. Many common folk were not allowed to drink the intoxicating drink, so there was plenty of it." That is the end of a sub chapter. Did they or did they not drink it??

[Circa Girl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like a lot of the reviews have stated, this really is a copy/paste reprint of old texts on the subject and the way its organized isn't the smoothest read. It throws the facts and names at you without any narrative flow.

[Griffin Peralta · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of an informational text *about* mythologies and peoples who told them than a collection of myths in and of itself.
Still a good resource for information, break down of symbols, references to source materials, etc.

[Val · Rating 2 out of 5]

Essentially, a cheap re-printing of sometimes century-old works on the civilizations of Mesoamerica and the Andes. They may have been worthwhile once, but the progression of historiography has left them well behind. The age of the works also lends itself to some offensive language which one must be prepared for.

That's all well and good if you know what you're getting into, but the book's binding and the wording on the back do not make it explicitly clear that this is what you're getting.

I would not recommend this for anybody. If you're interested in the works that are reprinted here, most are in the public domain and available online.