Editing Tláloc (section)

==Mesoamerican representations==
[[File:Gulf Coast Polychrome Ceramic Brazier with Head of Rain God Tlaloc.jpg|thumb|A [[brazier]] depicting Tláloc from [[Ozuluama]], [[Classic Veracruz culture]].]]

Evidence suggests that Tláloc was represented in many other [[Mesoamerica]]n cultures and religions. Tláloc is thought to be one of the most commonly worshipped deities at Teotihuacan and it is specifically here, in Teotihuacan, that representations of Tláloc often show him having jaguar teeth and features. This differs from the Maya version of Tláloc, as the Maya representation depicts no specific relation to jaguars. The inhabitants of Teotihuacan thought of thunder as the rumblings of the jaguar and associated thunder with Tláloc as well. It is likely that this god was given these associations because he is also known as "the provider" among the Aztecs.<ref name="auto1" />

A [[chacmool]] excavated from the Maya site of [[Chichen Itza|Chichén Itzá]] in the [[Yucatán Peninsula|Yucatán]] by [[Augustus Le Plongeon]] possesses imagery associated with Tláloc.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=Mary Ellen|date=1985|title=A Re-examination of the Mesoamerican Chacmool|jstor=3050884|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=67|issue=1|pages=7–17|doi=10.2307/3050884}}</ref> This chacmool is similar to others found at the [[Templo Mayor]] in [[Tenochtitlan|Tenochtitlán]].<ref name=":2" /> The chacmool found at Chichén Itzá appears to have been used for sacrificial purposes, as the chacmool is shaped like a captive who has been bound.<ref name=":2" /> Likewise, two of the chacmools that have been found at [[Templo Mayor]] make clear reference to Tláloc. The first chacmool portrays Tláloc three times. Once on the vessel for collecting the blood and heart of sacrificed victims, once on the underpart of the chacmool with aquatic motifs related to Tláloc, and the actual figure of the chacmool itself is of Tláloc as the figure portrays the iconic goggle eyes and large fangs. The other [[chacmool]] was found at the Tláloc half of the double pyramid-temple complex and clearly represents Tláloc for the same reasons. In addition to the chacmools, human corpses were found in close proximity to the Tlálocan half of Templo Mayor, which were likely war captives.

These archaeological findings could explain why the Maya tended to associate their version of Tláloc, [[Chaac]], with the bloodiness of war and sacrifice, because they adopted it from the Aztecs, who used Maya captives for sacrifice to Tláloc.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pasztory, Esther |title=The Aztec Tláloc: God of Antiquity, writings for Thelma Sullivan}}</ref> Furthermore, Tláloc can be seen in many examples of Maya war imagery and war-time decoration, such as appearing on “shields, masks, and headdresses of warriors.”<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pasztory  |first=Esther  |title=The Iconography of the Teotihuacan Tláloc |date=1974 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41263427 |journal=Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology |issue=15 |pages=1–22 |jstor=41263427 |issn=0585-7023}}</ref> This evidence affirms the Maya triple connection between war-time, sacrifice, and the rain deity as they likely adopted the rain deity from the Aztecs, but blurred the line between sacrifice and captive capture, and religion.<ref name=":2" />

Tláloc was also associated with the earth, and it is believed this is also a reason why sacrifices may have been made to him.<ref name=":2" /> Sacrifices to Tláloc were not solely a Maya phenomenon, and it is known that the Aztecs also made sacrifices to Tláloc. Just as the Maya had also worshipped their own version of Tláloc, so did the [[Mixtec]] people of [[Oaxaca]], who were known to worship a rain god that is extremely similar to other manifestations of Tláloc.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Osorio|first1=Liana Ivette Jiménez|last2=Santoyo|first2=Emmanuel Posselt|date=2016-12-01|title=The sanctuaries of the Rain God in the Mixtec Highlands, Mexico: a review from the present to the precolonial past |journal=Water History|language=en|volume=8|issue=4|pages=449–468 |doi=10.1007/s12685-016-0174-x|issn=1877-7236|doi-access=free}}</ref>