Centeotl

Centeotl (in standardized Classical Nahuatl orthography Centeōtl or Cintēōtl, derived from cintli, 'dried ear of maize', and teōtl, 'deity') is the supreme Mesoamerican sacred entity of cultivated maize and the divine personification of human vegetal sustenance (tonacáyotl). Born in the celestial realm of Tamoanchan from the union of the young solar lord Piltzintecuhtli and the lovely floral goddess Xochiquetzal, Centeotl is the protagonist of one of the most crucial aetiological myths of American agriculture, preserved in chapter VI of the Histoyre du Mechique: moved by the distress of the first mortals, the young god buried his own body in the dark bosom of the earth, so that from his nails, hair, fingers and organs there sprouted the cultivated plants essential to human subsistence, beginning with maize, cotton, chia and beans. In the liturgical calendar of Tenochtitlan, Centeotl formed a dynamic theological complex with kindred deities, complementing the mature femininity of Chicomecoatl and the tender youth of Xilonen. He received fervent veneration during the seasonal festivals of Huey Tozoztli and Ochpaniztli, which celebrated the blessing of seeds and the apotheosis of the harvest in the fields. In the pictorial codices of the Altiplano, his image is unmistakable for the prominent vertical black line painted along his face, crossing the eye, and for the ceremonial adornment of golden ears of maize sprouting upright from his headdress.

8 min read · Reviewed on September 30, 2026 · How we research

Maize cob (cintli), vertical black line across the face, yellow skin, jade necklace

Primary sources

• Fray Bernardino de Sahagún (Trilingual Nahua-Spanish Translation Team), Historia General de las cosas de la Nueva España (Tepeapulco and Tlatelolco manuscripts). translation: Critical paleographic edition by A. J. O. Anderson and C. E. Dibble (Florentine Codex, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1970-1981). read
• André Thevet (Royal Cosmographer of France) / Friar Andrés de Olmos, Histoyre du Mechique (Chapter VI: the myth of the germination of seeds). translation: Transcription and French introduction by Édouard de Jonghe (Journal de la Société des Américanistes, vol. II, Paris, 1905). read
• Traditional Tlacuilo artists of the Mixteca-Puebla tradition, Codex Borgia (Plates 14, 20, 52 and 57: the visual liturgy of maize). translation: Iconographic commentaries and facsimile by Eduard Seler (FCE, Mexico, 1980). read
• Indigenous painters of the Colegio de Santa Cruz, Codex Telleriano-Remensis (Folios 11r and 22r: the paradise of Tamoanchan). translation: Critical monograph and facsimile by E. Quiñones Keber (Univ. of Texas Press, Austin, 1995). read

Studies

• Johanna Broda (Institute of Historical Research, UNAM), The Great Temple of Tenochtitlan: Center and Periphery in the Aztec World (Chapters on agrarian cults). University of California Press, Berkeley, 1987. open
• Karl Taube (University of California, Riverside), The Classic Maya Maize God: A Reappraisal (study of the iconography and evolution of the maize god). Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco, 1985. open
• Doris Heyden (Directorate of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, INAH), Mitología y simbolismo de la flora en el México prehispánico (Botanical analysis of the myths of Centeotl). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, 1983. open
• Alfredo López Austin (eminent historian of Mesoamerican religions), Cuerpo humano e ideología: Las concepciones de los antiguos nahuas (chapter on plant physiology and tonacáyotl). Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas da UNAM, México, 1980. open