According to a popular point of view, the Spaniards helped to win the last great empire of Mesoamerica that the Aztecs adopted their military leader for God. We checked how convincing the evidence of this legend.

Here's what the Encyclopedia reports "Myths of the peoples of the world" About one of the main deities of the peoples of Central America: “In one of the myths of the Aztecs, Kezalkoatl ... He retired on a raft from snakes to the Eastern overseas country of Tlilan-Tlapallan, promising to return from behind the ocean after a while. Therefore, when the bearded Spanish conquerors landed on the eastern coast of Mexico a year dedicated to Ketzalcoatlu, the actor of the Spaniards of Cortes for the returning Ketsalo -Eatl initially accepted the Aztecs. ”

This information has been widely reflected in culture, starting with fiction and ending with history textbooks. So, it is mentioned as a fact in the textbook "Culture of the ancient world", books "Travelers and discoverers", "Commander -in -laws and conquerors", "100 great cities in the world", on sites "Culturology", "Gazeta.ru" And in many other sources. It is often argued that Montesuma himself, Emperor Aztekov, made a similar mistake.

As you know, in 1519, a detachment led by Conquistador Ernan Cortes, who later succeeded, was landed on the coast of the Mexican Gulf. conquer The territory of the Aztec Empire, capturing the local ruler by the Motekosom II, behind which the not entirely correct name of the Montezuma was fixed with the filing of the Spaniards.

The first certificates that allow us to track the roots of the legend in question are contained in the second letter Ernana Cortes to Karl V (October 30, 1520). However, first we give some popular estimates this document.

The American historian Warren warns his colleagues from confidence in the letters of Cortes: “Using them, each researcher must remember that they are a creation of a person who sets out his own version of events in order to make a favorable impression on the Spanish king.” The authors are critical and "Cambridge History of Latin America" (Volume I): “The so -called transmission of the empire of Charles V by the Montezuma, as it is described by Cortes in the skillfully woven network of fictions and facts with which he treats the Spanish emperor in his famous letters, marks the beginning, and not the end of the conquest of Mexico.” Letters are given ambiguous assessments in Soviet historiography. “The“ reports ”of E. Cortes,” notes V.V. Zemskov, “are the most important source about the conquest of Mexico, while at the same time some studies of recent years have called into question many episodes of Conciste in the presentation of its leader. This circumstance clearly reveals the artistic and documentary nature of the Cortes letters, where only individual historical facts received a very subjective, distorted interpretation, but the whole version of events was deliberately straightened. ”

Now, in fact, about the letter. According to Cortes, the Motekusoma a few days after the captivity called all the rulers of nearby cities and said: “I believe you know from your ancestors that we are not the indigenous inhabitants of this land, and that they came here from a very distant country, and they were brought by the ruler (senor), who left us here and whose vassals we were all returning or who would return someone with such By force that will force us to obey his power. You know well that we always expected this, and judging by what this captain told us (Cortes. - Approx. Aut.) About that ruler and master who sent him here, and judging by the side of the world, where he came from, but he came, I am sure that this is the ruler whom we expected. "

Thus, Cortes, with all the artistic component of the letter, does not write that he or his companions were mistaken for the gods. The ruler, from his words, Montesum called the Spanish king. What is the ruler if we are talking about gods? The answer to this question is below.

Let us dwell in more detail on Ketsalcoatla, or rather, on Kezalcoatles, since the Aztecs had two of them. The first - translated "Feathered Serpent" - was one of the main deities Pantheon of the Indians of Central America with the body of a snake and a bright plumage of the Ketzal bird. Kezalcoatl occupied an important place in the mythology of Teotihuacan, and later became the supreme god of Toltecs, Aztecs and Maya (the latter revered it under the name Kukulkan). The second, known as Topylcin, was most likely a real person. That was the name of one of the Toltec rulers of Tula (Tollan), who lived in the X century. According to legend, as a result of a fierce struggle for the throne with rivals from another group of nobility and priests, Topylcin was defeated and was forced to escape with his adherents to the southeast, to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Topylcin was the supreme priest of the god Ketzalcoatl, which is connected with their future identification and the semi -legal status of the ruler.

Hence the conclusion: the legend of Cortes, adopted for the once left these edges of the ruler - albeit semi -legal, but still not quite God, would fit into the logic of facts. Suppose Monteesum really took Cortes for God Kemzalcoatl. However, by the time of his renunciation, the emperor had to be convinced repeatedly in his own mistake (the defeat of the Kemzalcoatla temple in Cholule, the murder of three sages - experts in the cult of Kezalcoatl in Koyoacan, his own captivity) and abandon the previous faith.

Most likely, Cortes did not know the myths of Ketsalcoatla. Neither he himself, nor the conquistador and chronicle Bernal Diaz Del Castillo never mention the name of this God in his writings. If you compare the Cortes with the ruler of the Topylcin-Kitsalcoatlem, then there is a big problem: not one of the sources says that he was the last lord of Tula, his dynasty of the rule of several centuries. And then a completely different people came here - Aztecs. Therefore, it is strange to consider an enlightened by the Motekosom a complete ignoramus and a fool who decided to transfer power to the messengers of the Toltek ruler who died 600 years ago.

It is important to note that in none of the Indian documents and legends, nor in a single code of pre-Columbian times there are no references that the Topylcin-Kitsalkoatl will return to the country from the east and will again receive the supreme power in it. Nowhere, except for the late Spanish chronicles, there is no data regarding the fact that God Kemzalcoatl had blond hair, white skin, a long beard and high growth. He was usually portrayed with a black beard and a painted face, or even with a bird's beak.

In addition, we note that after the so -called Nights of sadnessWhen Cortes fled from Tenochtitlan, having lost all his artillery, gunpowder and two -thirds of the soldiers, the Aztecs received a chance to start from scratch, even if a certain “divine” legend was originally sitting in their heads. Mexico could not help the final conquest of Mexico. But after its completion, he became a convenient tool to justify the cruelty of the Spanish conquerors and accelerate the Christianization of the Indians.

For example, the Spanish Franciscan monk Bernardino de Sagun moved to the New World only in 1529, ten years after the events described, and his own "Florence Code", which describes the admiration of the Motekusoma in front of the “divine” Cortes, created in general in the second half of the 16th century. The fact is that the appeal of the Aztecs to Christianity was incredibly difficult - they considered Europeans to be strangers imposing their religion. Then the Franciscans decided to connect the conquest of Mexico with divine predestination. They studied the events preceding the arrival of the Spaniards, and interpreted them as omen and signs of the upcoming conquest. Another author, who has popularized the myth of the Spaniards-gods, is a Spanish historian Francisco Lopez de Gomarawho himself was never in a new light, but decades later became the secretary of Cortes who returned to Spain. The attitude of modern historians is also extremely skeptical towards his works.

Finally, one of the main sources of information about the gods in the guise of the Spanish conquistadors is the chronicles of the aforementioned Bernal Diaz "The true story of the conquest of the new Spain". In them, talking about how Cortes persuaded Totonakov (local people) to send taxes to the Aztec collector to prison, the author describes the response of the Indians: “The act, whose witnesses they became so amazing and important for them that they said that not a single person dared to do this, and this must be the work of Teules. Therefore, from that moment they began to call us Teules, which means "gods" or "demons". "

Diaz also has other quotes related to the conclusion of the Spaniards of the Union with the state of Tlashkal, one of the main enemies of the Aztecs.

1. "... There were speeches that we are genuine Teules (deities) and that we should be propitty by gifts."

2. “The world with Tlashkala incredibly increased our glory. Already before, Teules saw us, so they called their idols, now everyone finally bowed with fear before the winners of the proud and strong Tlashkala. ”

However, there are several problems with these episodes. Firstly, it is not very clear whether the Spaniards themselves have popularized the use of the word Tele in relation to themselves, or in each individual case it was the initiative of local residents. Secondly, in the languages of these peoples there is no word Tele. There is a word in another local language Teōtlabsent in Totonak. The Spaniards were interpreted as “gods” or “demons”. However, the Mesoamerican Teōtl is not an analogue of the Greek or Roman gods, rather, just a supernatural creature. Let us pay attention to the fact that when the Spaniards arrived in the capital of the Aztecs Tenochtitlan, Montesum in a conversation with Cortes put an end to this, and in narrative He makes Bernal Diaz on the fact that God called him: “I know very well, Malinche, what kind of nonsense told you, your faithful allies: that I am like a deity or teul and that everything is golden, silver and from precious stones in my homes; They well know that this is not so, but they, not believing in it themselves, wanted to deceive; Now, Senor Malinche, you see, my body is made of bones and meat, like yours, and my houses and palaces of stone, wood and lime; I must say that I am a great king, this is so, having a wealth that got from my ancestors, this is not nonsense and lies that they told about me comparable to the lie that I own your thunder and lightning. ”

Anastasia Kalyuta, senior researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, He thinks The most accurate translation of the word teōtl is such a thing as “spirit”. She notes that the above Spanish sources mention the rich Aztec gifts of Cortes and his associates, including elegant attributes of a number of gods. At the same time, as she writes, such honors were ordinary practice regarding other people's leaders, even enemy. In addition, it does not exclude the option that foreigners were thus prepared for a sacrifice, which, according to traditions, could take place both a month later and a year later. Kalyuta also, in principle, allows the option with deification as theoretically possible, but strict evidence in favor of this version. Again, do not forget that the chronicles of the Franciscan monks, mentioning the fact of the offer of costumes, are recognized on the one hand unreliable, and on the other hand, how they could become the basis for the legend of the divine perception of the conquistadors among the Aztecs.

Thus, the information that Concistador Ernan Cortes was mistaken for the god Ketzalcoatl is not a completely accurate interpretation of the legend about his identification with the ruler of the Topylcin-Kitsaloatlem. The latter, in turn, is based on the mentioned purely Spanish historians of the myth that the latter should return to the heart of Mexico. Finally, the word Teōtl, which, possibly, was called the conquistadors, there is no single meaning “God”, and the Spanish conquerors themselves could popularize its use in their attitude.