Editing Ōmeteōtl

{{short description|Aztec dual deity}}
[[File:Tonacacihuatl Tonacatecuhtli Fejevary-Mayer.jpg|thumb|Tonacacíhuatl and Tonacatecuhtli as depicted in the [[Codex Fejérváry-Mayer]]<ref name="tonaca">{{cite book|author=Bodo Spranz|title=Los Dioses en los Codices Mexicanos del Grupo Borgia: Tonacacihuatl-Tonacatecuhtli|url=|date=1964|publisher=Fondo de Cultura Económica|language=spanish|isbn=968-16-1029-6|pages=285–315}}</ref>]]
[[File:Ometecuhtli-Omecihuatl.jpg|thumb|Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl described in the [[Codex Fejérváry-Mayer]]]]

'''{{lang|nci|Ōmeteōtl|italic=no}}''' ({{IPA|nah|oːmeˈteoːt͡ɬ|-|Ometeotl.ogg}}) ("Two-God") is a name used to refer to the pair of  [[Aztec mythology|Aztec deities]] '''{{lang|nci|Ometecuhtli|italic=no}}''' and '''{{lang|nci|Omecihuatl|italic=no}}''',<ref name="NahoaMythology">{{cite book|author=Cecilio A. Robelo|title=Diccionario de Mitología Nahoa|url=|date=1905|publisher=Editorial Porrúa|language=spanish|isbn=970-07-3149-9|pages=302 & 305–308}}</ref> also known as {{lang|nci|[[Tōnacātēcuhtli]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|nci|[[Tonacacihuatl]]|italic=no}}.<ref name="adelaf">{{cite book|author=Adela Fernández|title=Dioses Prehispánicos de México|url=|date=1992|publisher=Editorial Panorama|language=spanish|isbn=968-38-03067|pages=56}}</ref> {{lang|nci|Ōme}} translates as "two" or "dual" in [[Classical Nahuatl language|Nahuatl]] and {{lang|nci|teōtl}} translates as "Divinity".Ometeotl was one as the first divinity, and [[Ometecuhtli]] and [[Omecihuatl]] when the being became two to be able to reproduce all creation.<ref>{{cite book|author=Otilia Meza|title=El Mundo Mágico de los Dioses del Anáhuac|url=|date=1905|publisher=Editorial Universo|language=spanish|isbn=968-35-0093-5|pages=25, 26}}</ref>

==Definition==
[[File:Tonacatecuhtli standing.jpg|thumb|Tonacateuchtli as depicted in the [[Codex Borgia]]<ref name="tonaca"/>]]
[[File:Tonacacihuatl TellerianoRemensis.jpg|thumb|Tonacacihuatl as depicted in the [[Codex Telleriano-Remensis]]<ref name="tonaca"/>]]
Multiple Nahuatl sources, notably the ''[[Florentine Codex]]'', name the highest level of heaven {{lang|nci|[[Ōmeyōcān]]|italic=no}} or "place of duality" ({{lang|es|Sahagún|italic=no}} specifically terms it "in {{lang|nci|ōmeyōcān}} in {{lang|nci|chiucnāuhnepaniuhcān}}" or "the place of duality, above the nine-tiered heavens)."{{sfn|Sahagún book 6}} In the {{lang|frm|[[Histoyre du Mechique]]|italic=yes}}, Franciscan priest {{lang|fr|André Thevet|italic=no}} translated a Nahuatl source reporting that in this layer of heaven there existed "a god named {{lang|nci|Ometecuhtli}}, which means two-gods, and one of them was a goddess."{{sfn|Garibay}}  The ''[[History of the Mexicans as Told by Their Paintings]]'' ({{lang|es|Historia de los mexicanos por sus pinturas|italic=yes}}) names the inhabitants of the uppermost heaven {{lang|nci|Tōnacātēcuhtli|italic=no}} and {{lang|nci|Tonacacihuatl|italic=no}} (Lord and Lady of Abundance).{{sfn|Garibay}} {{lang|es|Sahagún|italic=no}} concurs that these are epithets of "in {{lang|nci|ōmetēuctli}} in {{lang|nci|ōmecihuātl}}", giving as another name of {{lang|nci|ōmeyōcān}} "in {{lang|nci|tōnacātēuctli īchān}}" ("the mansion of the Lord of Abundance").{{sfn|Sahagún book 6}}

There is some evidence that these two gods were considered aspects of a single being, as when a singer in the {{lang|es|[[Cantares Mexicanos]]|italic=yes}} asks where he can go given that "{{lang|nci|ōme ihcac yehhuān}} {{lang|es|Dios}}" ("they, God, stand double").{{sfn|Bierhorst}} The {{lang|es|Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas|italic=yes}} reports of the two that "{{lang|es|se criaron y estuvieron siempre en el treceno cielo, de cuyo principio no se supo jamás, sino de su estada y creación, que fue en el treceno cielo}}" (''they were raised and had always been in the thirteenth heaven; nothing was ever known of their beginning, just their dwelling and creation, which were in the thirteenth heaven'').{{sfn|Garibay}}

As a result of these references, many scholars (most notably {{lang|es|[[Miguel León-Portilla]]|italic=no}}) interpret the rare name {{lang|nci|ōmeteōtl}} as "Dual God" or "Lord of the Duality". {{lang|es|León-Portilla|italic=no}} further argues that {{lang|nci|Ōmeteōtl|italic=no}} was the supreme [[creator deity]] of the Aztecs, and that the Aztecs envisioned this deity as a mystical entity with a dual nature.

==Criticism==
Other scholars however, notably Richard Haly (1992), argue that there was no {{lang|nci|Ōmeteōtl|italic=no}}, {{lang|nci|Ometecuhtli|italic=no}} or {{lang|nci|Omecihuatl|italic=no}} among the Aztecs. Instead, he claims, the names should be interpreted using the Nahuatl root {{wikt-lang|nci|omi}} ("bone"), rather than {{wikt-lang|nci|ōme}} ("two"). Haly further contends that {{lang|nci|Omitecuhtli|italic=no}} was another name for {{lang|nci|Tonacatecuhtli|italic=no}} and {{lang|nci|Mictlantecuhtli|italic=no}}, both gods related to the creation of humans from dead bones. He argues that, of the five sources used by {{lang|es|León-Portilla|italic=no}} to argue in favor of the existence of a single creator god among the Aztecs, none contains a clear reference to a god of duality.

First, {{lang|es|León-Portilla|italic=no}} cites the [[Franciscans|Franciscan]] {{lang|es|[[Fray Juan de Torquemada]]|italic=no}}, who affirms in his chronicle that the "Indians wanted the divine Nature shared by two gods". In his translation of the {{lang|es|Cantares Mexicanos|italic=yes}} {{lang|es|León-Portilla|italic=no}} introduces a reference to the "God of duality" where it is not explicitly found in the original text, which reads "{{lang|nci|ōme ihcac yehhuān Dios}}".{{sfn|Bierhorst}} Haly argues that {{lang|es|León-Portilla|italic=no}} erroneously unites "stands dual" with the Spanish loanword {{lang|es|Dios}} ("God") to invent this dual deity.<ref>Haly 1992:275</ref><ref>Payas 2004:553</ref> Another example given by {{lang|es|León-Portilla|italic=no}} is from the {{lang|es|[[Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca]]|italic=yes}}: "{{lang|nci|ay ōmeteōtl ya tēyōcoyani}}", literally "two-god, creator of humanity."{{sfn|Kirchhoff et al.}} Haly, reading the interjection {{lang|nci|ay}} as part of a longer (and similarly unattested) {{lang|nci|ayōmeteōtl}}, argues that this should rather be translated as "juicy [[maguey]] God" as the text talks about the imbibing of [[pulque]]. The {{lang|es|[[Codex Ríos]]|italic=yes}} has a representation of a god labelled {{lang|nci|hometeule}} — iconographic analysis shows the deity {{lang|nci|Hometeule|italic=no}} to be identical to {{lang|nci|Tonacatecuhtli|italic=no}}.<ref>Haly 1992:277</ref><ref>Anders et al.</ref> The fifth source is the ''History of the Mexicans as Told by Their Paintings'' which Haly shows does not in fact read {{lang|nci|ōmeteōtl}}, but rather "{{lang|nci|omiteuctli}}, ("bone-lord") who is also called {{lang|nci|Maquizcoatl}}" and is explicitly stated to be identical to {{lang|nci|[[Huitzilopochtli]]|italic=no}}.

James Maffie in his book ''Aztec Philosophy'' poses the argument that Aztec religion was [[Pantheism|pantheistic]], centered on the entity [[Teotl]].  As a result of the pantheism proposed by Maffie that he claims was practiced by the Aztecs, it is by definition not possible that Ometeotl can be a “God of Duality” that is separate from Teotl, which is contradictory to the way in which Leon-Portilla talks about Ometeotl as a transcendental creator god.<ref>Ometeotl, the God that Didn’t Exist, Itztli Ehecatl. http://www.calmecacanahuac.com/blog/uncategorized/ometeotl-the-god-that-didnt-exist/. 2014</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}<!--BEGIN biblio format. -->
*{{cite book|author1=Anders, Ferdinand |author2=Maarten Jansen |author3=Luis Reyes García |title=Religión costumbres e historia de los antiguos mexicanos : libro explicativo del llamado Códice Vaticano A, Codex Vatic. Lat. 3738 de la Biblioteca Apostólica Vaticana.}}
*{{cite book |translator-last=Bierhorst |translator-first=John |date=1985 |title=Cantares Mexicanos: Songs of the Aztecs |location=Stanford |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804711821 |ref={{sfnref|Bierhorst}} }}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Garibay Kintana |editor-first=Ángel Ma. |date=1965 |title=Teogonía e historia de los mexicanos: tres opúsculos del siglo xvi |location=Mexico City |publisher=Editorial Porrúa |isbn=9789684323124 |ref={{sfnref|Garibay}} }}
*{{cite journal|author=Haly, Richard  |title=Bare Bones: Rethinking Mesoamerican Divinity|journal=History of Religions|volume=31|issue=3|year=1992|pages= 269–304|doi=10.1086/463285|s2cid=161142066 }}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Kirchhoff  |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Odena Güemes |editor2-first=Lina |editor3-last=Reyes García |editor3-first=Luis |date=1989 |title=Historia tolteca-chichimeca |location=Mexico City |publisher=Fondo de Cultura Económica |isbn=9789681629038 |ref={{sfnref|Kirchhoff et al.}} }}
* {{cite book |author=León-Portilla, Miguel   |author-link=Miguel León-Portilla |year=1963 |title=Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Náhuatl Mind |edition=translation and adaptation of: ''La filosofía náhuatl'', 1st [1990] pbk reprint|series=Civilization of the American Indian series, no. 67|others=Jack Emory Davis (trans.) |location=Norman |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |isbn=0-8061-2295-1 |oclc=23373512}}
*{{cite journal|author=León-Portilla, Miguel   |author-link=Miguel León-Portilla |year=1999 |title=Ometeotl, el supremo dios dual, y Tezcatlipoca "Dios Principal" |journal=Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl|volume=30}}
* {{cite book |author=Miller, Mary |author-link=Mary Miller (art historian) |author2=Karl Taube |year=1993 |title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |location=London |isbn=0-500-05068-6 |oclc=27667317 |author2-link=Karl Taube |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill }}
* {{cite journal|author=Payàs, Gertrudis  |title=Translation in Historiography: The Garibay/León-Portilla Complex and the Making of a Pre-Hispanic Past|journal=Meta: Journal des traducteurs / Meta: Translators' Journal|volume=49|issue=3|year=2004|pages=544–561|doi=10.7202/009378ar|url=http://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/meta/2004-v49-n3-meta816/009378ar.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/meta/2004-v49-n3-meta816/009378ar.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite book |last=Sahagún |first=Bernadino |translator1-last=Dibble |translator1-first=Charles E. |translator2-last=Anderson |translator2-first=Arthur J. O. |date=2012 |title=Florentine Codex Book 6: Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy |location=Salt Lake City |publisher=University of Utah Press |isbn=978-1607811619|ref={{sfnref|Sahagún book 6}} }}
* {{cite book |author1=Van Tuerenhout |author2=Dirk R. |year=2005 |title=The Aztecs: New Perspectives |series=ABC-CLIO's Understanding Ancient Civilizations series |location=Santa Barbara, CA |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=1-57607-921-X |oclc=57641467}}
* {{cite web |author=Wimmer, Alexis |year=2006 |url=http://sites.estvideo.net/malinal/nahuatl.page.html |title=Dictionnaire de la langue nahuatl classique |format=online version, incorporating reproductions from ''Dictionnaire de la langue nahuatl ou mexicaine'' [1885], by [[Rémi Siméon]] |access-date=2009-07-14}} {{in lang|fr|nah}}

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{{Aztec mythology}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ometeotl}}
[[Category:Aztec gods]]
[[Category:Creator gods]]
[[Category:Aztec philosophy]]