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Popol Vuh
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Francisco XimĆ©nez's manuscript of the Popol Vuh (1700ā€“15), found in Santo TomĆ”s Chichicastenango, Guatemala. It presents the creation account of the Mayan people in a transcription of the original K'iche' (QuichĆ©), a language of the Mayans, side-by-side with a Spanish translation.
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Francisco XimĆ©nez's manuscript of the Popol Vuh (1700ā€“15), found in Santo TomĆ”s Chichicastenango, Guatemala. It presents the creation account of the Mayan people in a transcription of the original K'iche' (QuichĆ©), a language of the Mayans, side-by-side with a Spanish translation.
Francisco XimĆ©nez's manuscript of the Popol Vuh (1700ā€“15), found in Santo TomĆ”s Chichicastenango, Guatemala. It presents the creation account of the Mayan people in a transcription of the original K'iche' (QuichĆ©), a language of the Mayans, side-by-side with a Spanish translation.

Popol Vuh

Mayan document
Written by
Amber VanDerwarker
Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara. Author of Farming, Hunting and Fishing in the Olmec World.
Amber VanDerwarker
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Popol Vuh, Maya document, an invaluable source of knowledge of ancient Mayan mythology and culture. Written in Kā€™icheā€™ (a Mayan language) by a Mayan author or authors between 1554 and 1558, it uses the Latin alphabet with Spanish orthography. It chronicles the creation of humankind, the actions of the gods, the origin and history of the Kā€™icheā€™ people, and the chronology of their kings down to 1550.

The original book was discovered at the beginning of the 18th century by Francisco XimĆ©nez (JimĆ©nez), parish priest of Chichicastenango in highland Guatemala. He both copied the original Kā€™icheā€™ text (now lost) and translated it into Spanish. His work is now in the Newberry Library, Chicago.

In 2009 archaeologist Richard Hansen discovered two 8-metre- (26-foot-) long panels carved in stucco from the pre-Classic Mayan site of El Mirador, Guatemala, that depict aspects of the Popol Vuh. The panelsā€”which date to about 300 bce, some 500 years before the Classic-period fluorescence of Mayan cultureā€”attested to the antiquity of the Popol Vuh. In explaining how the Mayan gods created the world, the Popol Vuh features the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who were transformed into, respectively, the Sun and the Moon. One of the panels depicts the Hero Twins beneath a bird deity; the other panel features a Mayan maize (corn) god surrounded by a serpent. The panels thus authenticated the earliest written version of the Mayan origin story, transcribed by XimĆ©nez.

Contemporary editions of the Popol Vuh include those by Dennis Tedlock (rev. ed., 1996) and Allen J. Christenson (2003, reissued 2007).

Amber VanDerwarker