Ahuizotl(1450 — 1502)
Ahuitzotl
6 min read
A legendary creature of Aztec mythology, the Ahuizotl is an aquatic monster resembling a small dog, with smooth black fur and a grasping hand at the tip of its tail. Lurking in lakes and ponds, it lures and drowns its victims to devour their eyes, teeth, and nails.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Described in detail in the Florentine Codex of Bernardino de Sahagún (c. 1540-1585), a major source on Aztec beliefs
- Its name in Nahuatl (āhuitzotl) means “water dog” or “spiny water creature”
- Depicted as a small black-furred animal with a hand at the tip of its tail, living in the waters of the Basin of Mexico
- According to belief, its drowned victims were honored by the rain god Tlaloc and joined his paradise, the Tlalocan
- The 8th tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, Ahuitzotl (reigned 1486-1502), bears the name of this legendary creature
Works & Achievements
The most complete and most frequently cited description of the ahuitzotl, gathered by Sahagún from Nahua informants. The reference source for the entire mythology of the creature.
Monument commemorating the enlargement of the great temple under Tizoc and Ahuitzotl. It bears the emperor's name-glyph, that is, the image of the creature.
Post-conquest pictographic manuscript in which the glyph of Ahuitzotl depicts the little aquatic beast with the hand-tipped tail, fixing its iconography.
The first major Nahuatl-Spanish dictionary, which records "auitzotl" and attests to the spread of the word and the creature within the language.
Illustrated colonial manuscript recounting the lineage of the rulers, including Ahuitzotl, and reproducing his glyph inspired by the monster.
Anecdotes
The creature's name was given to the eighth emperor of Tenochtitlan, Ahuitzotl, who reigned from 1486 to 1502. Said to be as ferocious as the monster whose name he bore, he had the Templo Mayor enlarged. In the codices, the glyph that records his name depicts that very small aquatic beast.
According to the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún, who gathered Nahua accounts in the 16th century, the Ahuizotl drowned its prey and then devoured only their eyes, teeth, and nails. The bodies floated back to the surface intact but stripped of these three parts: that was the signature of the attack.
To lure fishermen, the Ahuizotl made fish and frogs rise to the surface, like easy prey. It was also said to imitate a child's crying from among the reeds; the curious soul who came closer was seized by the hand at the tip of its tail and dragged to the bottom.
Far from being cursed, drowning victims were thought to have been chosen by Tlaloc, the god of rain. They were not cremated like other dead: they were buried with the body adorned, for it was believed they reached Tlalocan, the god's green and watery paradise.
Because death by water was sacred, only the priests had the right to recover the body of an Ahuizotl's victim. The family received honors instead of mourning a mere drowning, a sign that the deceased had been called by the gods of the waters.
Primary Sources
There is in this land an animal that lives in the water, never seen anywhere else, which is called ahuitzotl. It is the size of a small dog, with short, smooth fur, small pointed ears, a black and very glossy body, and at the end of its tail it bears a hand like that of a person.
From those it has drowned, it eats the eyes, the teeth, and the nails; the body bears no other wound and floats back to the surface.
Auitzotl: a certain water animal.
The ruler's anthroponymic glyph depicts the small aquatic creature whose tail ends in a hand, read “Ahuitzotl”.
Key Places
Large brackish lake in the Valley of Mexico that surrounded Tenochtitlan. Its waters and whirlpools were the supposed domain of the Ahuizotl.
Aztec capital built on islands in the lake and crisscrossed by canals. The constant proximity of water fed the fear of the creature.
Great double pyramid of Tenochtitlan, one of whose shrines was dedicated to Tlaloc. It was ceremonially enlarged under Emperor Ahuitzotl in 1487.
The lush, watery paradise of the god Tlaloc, where the drowned and victims of water were believed to go. A place of abundance, flowers, and eternal waters, sometimes associated with Mount Tlaloc.
An area of chinampas (floating gardens) and canals in the south of the Valley of Mexico, still visible today. Its still waters embody the kind of setting where legend placed the Ahuizotl.