Ek Chuah
Ek Chuah (alternative names: Ek Chuaj , God M ) was in the mythology of the Maya , especially during the Postclassic in Yucatán and in the Chontal Maya god of merchants, travelers and prosperity. On the other hand, he was also known as the Black Warlord and at the same time patron of the cocoa plant .
His attributes are a staff that can be interpreted as a walking staff as well as a striking weapon, a bundle of goods on his back and a drooping lower lip. As a rule, he was portrayed as an old man with incomplete teeth, but also always armed, i.e. ready to fight. He is depicted several times in the Maya Codices . As a god of war, he was also known as the black scorpion or black captain . He shows affinity to the Old Black God (God L) a lord of the underworld .
Since Ek is translated both with the color black and with a star , Ek Chuah is also said to operate as Xamen Ek the Pole Star . Here he shows traders and travelers the way. In fact, many of the Mayan cocoa plantations found by the Spanish are said to have been referred to with references to Stern .
A temple of the god is said to have been in Itzamkanac , but its worship was widespread.
literature
- Lynn V. Foster: Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World , 2005, p. 169.
- David M. Jones and Brain L. Molyneaux: Mythology of the New World: An Encyclopedia of Myths in North, Meso and South America , Reichelsheim 2002, p. 110.
- Sylvanus Griswold Morley , Robert J. Sharer : The Ancient Maya , 1994, p. 535.
- Paul Schellhas : Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts , in: Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology , Harvard University, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2006, pp. 36-38.
Individual evidence
- ^ Jones / Molyneaux, 2002, p. 127.