Home > Myths and Legends of the World > Mayan Mythology

The Mayan civilization flourished in Mesoamericacultural region consisting of southern Mexico and northern regions of Central America from around 300 B.C. until the Spanish conquest of the early A.D. 1500S. The mythology of the Maya had many elements in common with those of other civilizations of the region. But the Maya developed their own variation of the Mesoamerican pantheonall the gods of a particular culture of gods and goddesses, the stories about them, and the image of the universe and the place of humans in it.

In Mayan mythology, the gods and heroes had many different names and appearances, stories occurred in varying forms, and scenes and figures changed and shifted with confusing rapidity. Beneath this seeming confusion, though, lay a sense that the universe was an orderly, structured place and...