Popol VuhMesoamerican MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeK'iche'SharePopol Vuh 15Spence - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableSpenceLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Popol Vuh 1Popol Vuh 2Popol Vuh 3Popol Vuh 4Popol Vuh 5Popol Vuh 6Popol Vuh 7Popol Vuh 8Popol Vuh 9Popol Vuh 10Popol Vuh 11Popol Vuh 12Popol Vuh 13Popol Vuh 14Popol Vuh 15Popol Vuh 16Popol Vuh 17›Bibliographical AppendixPopol Vuh 15ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1The various works which contain notices of the "Popol Vuh" and the kindred questions of Mayan and Kiché mythology are so difficult of access to the majority of readers that it has been thought best to divide them into two classes: (1) those which can be more or less readily purchased, and which are, naturally, of more recent origin; and (2) those which are not easy to come by, and which, generally speaking, are the work of Spanish priests and colonists of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. 2The work on the subject which is most easily obtained, and indeed the only work which gives the original Kiché text, is that of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, "Vuh Popol: Le livre sacré de Quichés et les mythes de l'antiquité Américaine." The Kiché text was translated by the assistance of natives into French, and the translation is more or less inaccurate. The notes and introduction must be read by the student with the greatest caution. It was published at Paris in 1861. 3Ximenes' translation into Spanish of the "Popol Vuh" and that of Gavarrete are about of equal value, rather inaccurate, and accompanied by scanty notes. The title of the first is "Las Historias del Origin de los Indios de Guatemala, par el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes (Vienna, 1856), and of the second, "El Popol Vuh," (San Salvador 1905). This exhausts the list of works written exclusively concerning the "Popol Vuh." The other works of Brasseur and those of Brinton contain more or less numerous allusions to it, but references to it in standard works of mythology are exceedingly rare. The only other works which have a bearing upon the subject are those upon Mayan and Kiché mythology, or which, among other matter, historical or political, refer to it in any way. The most important of these are: 4Dr. Otto Stoll--"Ethnographie der Republik Guatemala." 5---- "Ethnologie der Indianerstämme von Guatemala." 6Scherzer--"Die Indianer von Santa Catalina Istlavacan." 7Müller--"Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligion" (1855). 8E. Förstemann--"Commentary on the Maya Manuscript," in the Royal Public Library of Dresden. Translation from the German by S. Wesselhoeft and A. M. Parker (Harvard University, 1906). 9E. Seler--"Über den Ursprung der mittelamerikanischen Kulturen" (1902). 10---- "Ein Wintersemester in Mexico und Yucatan" (1903). 11---- "Codex Fejerváry-Mayer" (Berlin, 1901). 12P. Schellhas--"Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts," translated by S. Wesselhoeft and A. M. Parker (Cambridge, Mass., 1904). 13Cyrus Thomas--"The Maya Year," Washington, 1894. 14---- "Notes on Maya and Mexican Manuscripts." 15W. Fewkes--"The God 'D' in the Codex Cortesianus," (Washington, 1895). 16All these works relate more or less entirely to Mayan mythology, and are chiefly valuable as illustrating the connection between the Kiché and Mayan mythologies. It must be understood that this is not a list of works relating to Mayan antiquities, but only a list of such works as refer at the tame time to Mayan and Kiché mythology. 17The brief essay of the late Professor Max Müller upon the "Popol Vuh" is of little or no value except as a statement in favour of its authenticity. It gives little or no information concerning the work, and is, indeed, chiefly concerned with the authenticity and nature of North American picture-drawings. 18The principal works of the older Spanish authors, which in any way relate to the myths of Maya-Kiché peoples, are: 19Las Casas--"Historia de los Indias" (1552). 20Cogolludo--"Historia de Yucathan" (1688). 21Diego de Landa--"Relacion de los Cosas de Yucatan" (translated into French, and edited by Brasseur). 22Ximenes--"Escolias à los Historias del origèn de los Indios" (Circa, 1725). 23Palacios--"Description de la Provincia de Guatemala" (in the collection of Ternaux-Compans). ‹Previous chapterPopol Vuh 14Next chapterPopol Vuh 16›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg