5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.
The Maya gods were worshipped in the city-states of Mesoamerica, such as Tikal, Palenque, and Chichén Itzá. Astronomer-priests read the skies and the calendar to honor them at the right time, in pyramid-temples now swallowed by the jungle. Many of their myths survive in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiché Maya.
Maya kings and queens offered their own blood in bloodletting rituals to feed the gods, and the ritual ballgame re-enacted the duel against the lords of the underworld. Cenotes such as the one at Chichén Itzá received precious offerings, guided by the 260-day sacred calendar.
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At a glance
Itzamná (spelled Itzamnaaj in classic Maya epigraphic orthography) is the supreme deity of the Maya pantheon, lord of the sky, priestly wisdom, hieroglyphic books, the calendar and medicine. Classified by Paul Schellhas in his seminal typology as the “God D”, Itzamnaaj appears with exceptional frequency in the post-Classic Dresden and Madrid codices, as well as on carved monuments and hundreds of ceramic vessels of the Classic period. Iconographically, he is shown as a venerable old man of noble features, with a prominent hooked nose, a jaw without teeth or with a single rounded front tooth, wrinkled cheeks, and a head band holding a flower or sacred mirror, often associated with the “ruler” or “ajaw” glyph. In the classic hieroglyphic texts of Palenque, Copán and Naranjo, Itzamnaaj presides over the celestial courts and appears as the first and supreme priest, establishing the inaugural rites of drilling the cosmic fire and the ordering of the universe. In the ethno-historical colonial sources gathered in Yucatán by Friar Diego de Landa and Bernardo de Lizana, the main centre of his veneration was the city of Izamal, where a renowned oracular sanctuary of miraculous cures operated under the titles Itzamná Kabul (“He who works with the hands”) and Kinich Kakmó. Consort of the old weaving goddess Chak Chel (Goddess O), Itzamnaaj personifies primordial cosmic intelligence, acting as the divine prototype of the scribes, rulers and astronomers of the Maya.
7 min read · Reviewed on September 29, 2026 · How we research
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Sacred symbols
The glyph codex, the solar disk, the two-headed serpent and the elder
Genealogy according to Relación de las cosas de Yucatán de Diego de Landa; Inscrições do Templo XIX de Palenque; Códice de Dresde; Códice de Madrid; Vasos cerâmicos do período Clássico (Kerr K2796)
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Sources and further reading
Primary sources
Fray Diego de Landa, Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (manuscript c. 1566). translation: A. M. Tozzer, Landa's Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan: A Translation (Harvard Peabody Papers 18, 1941, ch. Izamal and Gods). read
Fray Bernardo de Lizana, Historia de Yucatán: Devocionario de Nuestra Señora de Izamal (1633). translation: Ed. R. Acuña, UNAM, Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, Mexico City, 1988. read
Maya priestly scribes, Dresden Codex (Codex Dresdensis, fols. 25–28, rituals of God D). translation: J. E. S. Thompson, Commentary on Dresden Codex (Memoirs of the APS, vol. 93, Philadelphia, 1972). read
Palenque epigraphy (King K'inich Ahkal Mo' Nahb III), Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Temple XIX at Palenque. translation: David Stuart, Inscriptions from Temple XIX at Palenque (PARI, San Francisco, 2005). read
Paul Schellhas, Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts (section on God D). translation: Peabody Museum Papers, Harvard University, vol. 4(1), Cambridge, MA, 1904. read
Studies
Karl Andreas Taube, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan (Studies in Pre-Columbian Art & Archaeology 32). Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, 1992. open
John Eric Sidney Thompson, Maya History and Religion (Civilization of the American Indian Series). University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1970. open
Michael D. Coe and Stephen D. Houston, The Maya (10th ed., chapter on religion and pantheon). Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 2022. open
Stephen Houston and Karl Taube, An Archaeology of the Senses: Perception and Cultural Expression in Ancient Mesoamerica. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, vol. 10, issue 2, 2000. open
Name and epithets
The theonym Itzamnaaj (often simplified in the Hispanic chronicles as Itzamná or Ytzamna) has been the object of in-depth epigraphic and etymological debate.
In the ancient sources
Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, c. 1566 AD. Diego de Landa documents the veneration of Itzamná in Izamal, his healing rites at the new year, and the attribution to him of having invented writing and books.
The myths
The Primordial Enthronement and the Cosmic Fire in Temple XIX of Palenque. The most monumental classic mythic narrative involving Itzamnaaj survives on the carved slabs of the south platform of Temple XIX at Palenque, t…
Worship and archaeology
The cult of Itzamnaaj combined state priestly liturgical practices in the great metropolises of the Classic period with oracular veneration and pan-regional pilgrimages that lasted until the European invasion.
How the god was depicted
The iconography of Itzamnaaj is remarkably uniform across more than a thousand years of Maya history. In figurative representations, he is characterized as a venerable old man, with a face marked by deep wrinkles around…
What scholars debate
The Identification of Itzamnaaj with the Two-Headed Celestial “Dragon”. For decades in the twentieth century, under the influence of J. Eric S.
After antiquity
Itzamnaaj is unanimously celebrated in Mesoamerican archaeology and modern epigraphy as the culminating figure of high Maya culture.
Did you know?
In the post-Classic Maya codices, God D is the deity depicted with the greatest dignity and hierarchical respect, never appearing with marks of death, mutilation or warlike subjugation, unlike warriors or lesser gods.
Codex relic
Codex of Creation. A sacred book of glyphs holding the knowledge of writing, time, and medicine.
The rest of this scroll is sealed
The legends, the myth, the cult and relics are part of the full Codex. You can open 1 full entry for free every day; to open all 500 deities with no limits and no ads, subscribe to Codex PRO.
