El Morzillo

El Morzillo (the black) was a horse of the Spanish conquistadores who became a deity.

When he set out for Honduras in 1524/25, Hernán Cortés brought 90 Andalusian horses with him and rode a stallion named El Morzillo himself. He was injured in the mountains around La Sierra de los Pedernalos and was left behind in the Mayan city ​​of Tayasal (Noh Petén) of the Itzá ethnic group on the shores of Lake Petén-Itza . The Itzá had promised to provide adequate care for the horse, but did not know how to handle the animal. El Morzillo died within a short time.

His hosts erected a larger than life statue of the horse on one of the islands in the lake. It showed El Morzillo sitting on his hind legs and with his forelegs stretched out, thus in the posture of a weakened or sick horse. Presumably the statue was supposed to appease Cortez when he announced his return, but he never saw it. El Morzillo was later equated by the Indians with the weather god Tziunchan - perhaps because his symbol resembled the Christian cross introduced by the Spaniards.

In 1697 the Franciscan padres Orbieta and Fuensalida discovered the statue and destroyed it as a pagan idol.

literature

• Elwyn Hartley Edwards: Horses. Their Role in the History of Man. Willow Books, London 1987, ISBN 0-00-218216-5 .
• Hans-Heinrich Isenbart : The kingdom of the horse. Based on the idea and design by Emil Martin Bührer. 5th edition. Bucher, Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 3-7658-0010-4 .