The Aztec Underworld

Mural by R. Anguiano (1964), National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

Welcome to our new (2023) section on the Aztec Underworld! We have some gems coming to you very soon - stories, animations, articles and more...

(Pictured right: detail from a 1964 mural by Raúl Anguiano, showing upper world, earth and underworld, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.)

We intend to bring you here the most accessible and carefully researched information we can on the all-important underworld that formed a crucial element in ancient Mesoamerian cosmology. There are precious few descriptions of the underworld, or of the notorious hazard-filled journey to get there, in ethnographic sources, and the few that exist show discrepancies: we will point these out, and supply background context where appropriate and helpful.

‘Dogs as guides for souls of the dead to Mictlan’‘Why did the Aztecs believe they had to go on a 4-year journey to the underworld when they died?’‘The 13 Mexica heavens and 9 underworlds’‘Aztec Hell - Christian Mictlan’