Aztec Myths

Serie/Series: Del av en mytologiserie, men fristående/part of a mythology series but stand alone.
Författare/Author: Jake Jackson.
Genre: Fakta/non fiction, mytologi/mythology.
Språk/Language: Engelska/English.
Sidor/Pages: 255.

(English below)


Handling: Vad vet vi om de tidiga folken i Sydamerika? Vilka byggde de enorma stenpyramiderna mitt i djungeln? Vad hette deras gudar och vad var deras krafter? Hur lyder deras skapelseberättelser och vad skiljer sig folken emellan?


Min åsikt om boken: Detta var en intressant bok att läsa, även om den var lite svår att ta till sig, i alla fall för min del. Dels är gudarnas namn väldigt könsneutrala för min del och rätt lika varandra, så det var svårt att hålla koll på vem som var vem. Speciellt när det är längre namn som innehåller en hel del "zlatlan"-delar och liknande. Och dels är språket lite väl fackmannamässigt på engelska, så det var inte helt enkelt att förstå allt. Men boken var spännande överlag, för det var mycket jag inte visste! Jag upplever att gemene man ren generellt blandar ihop t.ex. inkafolket och azteker, som att de vore samma sak, när det inte stämmer. Inkariket fanns i Peru medan aztekerna levde i Mexiko om jag inte minns fel nu. De levde inte under samma tidsperiod heller. Det var också väldigt intressant att få reda på varför man höll på med så mycket människooffer som aztekerna gjorde! Utan människoblod trodde man att gudarna skulle dö, så man var tvungen att mata dem hela tiden. För om gudarna dog, så gick ju hela världen under trodde man. Ganska bisarrt men ändå logiskt. Man byggde individuella tempel för varje gud och vissa tempel hade flera olika rum som var inredda på olika sätt. En del var helt klädda i guld, silver, snäckor, fjädrar och liknande. Måste ha varit en ganska stor upplevelse att se ett sånt rum!
Om man är intresserad av azteker, maya, inka och liknande samt kan ta fackmannaspråk på engelska är detta helt klart en passande bok. Den är packad med fakta och intressanta legender om ett flertal gudar men också information om folkslagen i sig.


Mitt favoritcitat ur boken:

Om guden Xipe:

"Xipe (the Flayed) was widely worshipped throughout Mexico, and is usually depicted in the pinturas as being attired in a flayed human skin. At his special festival, the 'Man-flaying', the skins were removed from the victims and worn by the devoteesof the god for the succeeding twenty days."
- sid 72-73.

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Story: What do we know about the early people of South America? Who built the huge stone pyramids in the middle of the djungel? What were the names of their gods and what were their powers? What are their creation stories and what seperates the people from each other?


My opinion of the book: This was an interesting book to read, even though it was a bit hard to grasp at times. Partly because the name of the gods are very gender neutral for me and pretty much alike each other, so it was hard to keep track of who's who. Especially when the names contain a lot of "zlatlan"-ends and such and partly because the text is written in a very technical language in english, so it wasn't easy to get everything. But the book was intriguing to read over all, because there was a lot I didn't know! I also feel like people in general often mix the incas with the aztecs, like they were the one and the same when that's not true. The Incas lived in Peru and the aztecs in Mexico and in different time periods as well. It was also interesting to get to know more about why the dealt so much in human sacrifices like the aztecs did. They believed that without human blood the gods would die which meant the end of the world, so they had to keep feeding them. Pretty bizarre but kind of makes sense. They built individual temples for each god and some temples had several different rooms that were dressed in gold, silver, seashells, feathers and so on. Must have been a pretty big deal seeing a room like that!
If you're interested in the aztecs, mayans, incas and so on, and can take the technical language in english then this is the perfect book for you! It's packed with facts and interesting legends about several gods but also information about the different peoples in general.


My favorite quote from the book:

About the god Xipe:

"Xipe (the Flayed) was widely worshipped throughout Mexico, and is usually depicted in the pinturas as being attired in a flayed human skin. At his special festival, the 'Man-flaying', the skins were removed from the victims and worn by the devoteesof the god for the succeeding twenty days."

- page 72-73