The Legend of the Four Suns is one of the most significant surviving texts detailing Nahua cosmology, offering a comprehensive account of the universe’s origins and evolution. Equally important, it presents a cyclical view of time, describing the successive ages the earth has undergone. According to this tradition, four previous suns—or eras—preceded the current one. In addition to the Legend of the Four Suns, the Aztec Calendar Stone also records these four previous ages, prominently depicted at its center (see image above). Consider the following questions as you analyze this source:
- What is the purpose of cosmologies?
- How were the different ages in Nahua cosmology created and destroyed?
- What insights does this cosmology provide about Nahua culture?
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The Legend of the Four Suns
Here is the oral account of what is known of how the earth was founded long ago.
One by one, here are its various foundations [ages].
How it began, how the first Sun had its beginning 2513 years ago—thus it is known today, the 22
of May, 1558.
This Sun, 4-Jaguar, lasted 676 years.
Those who lived in this first Sun were eaten by ocelots. It was the time of the Sun 4-Jaguar.
And what they used to eat was our nourishment, and they lived 676 years.
And they were eaten in the year 13.
Thus they perished and all ended. At this time the Sun was destroyed.
It was on the year 1-Reed. They began to be devoured on a day [called] 4-Tiger. And so with this
everything ended and all of them perished.
This Sun is known as 4-Wind.
Those who lived under this second Sun were carried away by the wind. It was under the Sun 4-
Wind that they all disappeared.
They were carried away by the wind. They became monkeys. 13. Their homes, their trees everything was taken away by the wind.
And this Sun itself was also swept away by the wind.
And what they used to eat was our nourishment.
[The date was] 12-Serpent. They lived [under this Sun] 364 years.
Thus they perished. In a single day they were carried off by the wind. They perished on a day 4-
Wind.
The year [of this Sun] was 1-Flint.
This Sun, 4-Rain, was the third.
Those who lived under this third Sun, 4-Rain, also perished. It rained fire upon them. They
became turkeys.
This Sun was consumed by fire. All their homes burned.
They lived under this Sun 312 years.
They perished when it rained fire for a whole day.
And what they used to eat was our nourishment.
[The date was] 7-Flint. The year was 1-Flint and the day 4-Rain.
They who perished were those who had become turkeys.
The offspring of turkeys are now called pípil-pípil.
This Sun is called 4-Water; for 52 years the water lasted.
And those who lived under this fourth Sun, they existed in the time of the Sun 4-Water.
It lasted 676 years.
Thus they perished: they were swallowed by the waters and they became fish.
The heavens collapsed upon them and in a single day they perished.
And what they used to eat was our nourishment.
[The date was] 4-Flower. The year was 1-House and the day 4-Water.
They perished, all the mountains perished.
The water lasted 52 years and with this ended their years.
This Sun, called 4-Movement, this is our Sun, the one in which we now live.
And here is its sign, how the Sun fell into the fire, into the divine hearth, there at Teotihuacán.
It was also the Sun of our Lord Quetzalcóatl in Tula.
The fifth Sun, its sign 4-Movement.
Is called the Sun of Movement because it moves and follows its path.
And as the elders continue to say, under this sun there will be earthquakes and hunger, and then
our end shall come
Source: León-Portilla, Miguel. Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind. University of Oklahoma Press.
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