Tōnatiuh

In Mesoamerican culture, Tonatiuh was an important Aztec sun god who watched over the daytime sky and ruled the direction of east. Known as "The Fifth Sun," Tonatiuh was first shown in art from the Toltec people. He was seen as a strong and brave god, often pictured with an eagle. The Aztecs believed that Tonatiuh traveled across the sky each day, going down in the west and rising in the east. They thought his journey needed the help of people to keep going. His name means "He Who Goes Forth Shining" or "He Who Makes The Day." Tonatiuh was once thought to be the main god on the Aztec calendar stone, but this is no longer believed to be true. In Toltec culture, Tonatiuh was sometimes linked with Quetzalcoatl, another important god.

Creation myths

The Aztecs told many stories about how the sun god Tonatiuh came to be. They believed that the Earth and everything on it had been made and destroyed five times, each time under a different sun god. The first four suns were called "4 Jaguar", "4 Wind", "4 Water", and "4 Rain". Each of these times ended when everything was destroyed by forces linked to each sun — giants eaten by jaguars, monkeys destroyed by winds, creatures drowned by water, and turkeys killed by fires.

Tonatiuh was the god of the fifth and current age. One story says that for Tonatiuh to appear, a great sacrifice was needed. Two gods, Nanahuatl and Teucciztecatl, offered themselves, but Tonatiuh still would not rise until the god Xolotl gave himself up. In another version, after the sacrifices, Tonatiuh rose but did not move until the wind god Ehecatl blew on him, helping him start his journey across the sky. The Aztecs, including the Mexica people, held these powerful stories close to their hearts.

Aztecs • Mexica • Teotihuacan • Nanahuatl • Teucciztecatl • Xolotl • Bernardino de Sahagún • Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl

Representations and iconographic depictions

The Aztec calendar stone is often linked to Tonatiuh, the sun god. Some scholars think the face in the middle of the stone might actually be Tlaltecuhtli, an earth monster. The stone has four sections around the center, which might show the four times before Tonatiuh, known as the fifth sun.

Tonatiuh is sometimes shown in red with an eagle feather headdress and holding a shield that looks like the sun. The eagle is important because it shows how the sun was thought to capture the life force of people, which is part of stories about how the sun god was connected to important traditions.

Belief in Alvarado as Tonatiuh

During the time when the Spanish came to Mexico in the 1500s, the Aztecs called the Spanish explorer Pedro de Alvarado "Tonatiuh." They thought he looked like their sun-god because he had a red beard and was very fierce, like the warrior sun-god they believed in. The Aztec ruler Moctezuma II met Alvarado and another Spanish leader, Hernán Cortés. The Aztecs told Moctezuma about these men and said Alvarado looked like the sun, so they gave him the name "Tonatiuh," meaning the Sun or the Child of the Sun.