Tlaloc stone relief

Tlaloc stone relief, Mexica (Aztec), 1350--1521 CE, basalt, width 28 cms., Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.

The rain god Tlaloc was one of the most important, if not the most important god in the high Basin of Mexico. He caused rain, but - like all gods - he had two sides. He was responsible for fertility and the preservation of life, but he could also destroy it. Floods or droughts were interpreted as the will of the gods. He is always recognisable by his ‘goggle eyes’, which stand for water, and his jaguar-like fangs.

From Aztecs, eds. Doris Kurella, Martin Berger and Inés de Castro, with INAH, Mexico - catalogue for the exhibition Azteken, Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Hirmer Publishers, Germany, 2019, p. 291.

Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.