| Object Name: | Relief representing Tepeyolotl (the heart of the mountain) |
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| Creation Date: | 1000 BC - 200 BC | |
| Culture: | Olmec | |
| Site: | Chalcatzingo | |
| Material: | Rock | |
| Repository: | ||
| Image source: | © Dr. Manuel Aguilar | |
| This relief in the top of the Cerro Chalcatzingo, shows the only representation found of the head of a personage full face. The personage is wearing a conical hat and two-piece earrings that hang down to the chin. The features are coarse and have the characteristic Olmec wide nose and heavy lips with the ends turned down, as in the colossal heads from the Gulf Coast. Above the head is a graphic representation of a left forearm, with hand open and fingers extended upward. The distance between the head and the hand is correct anatomically, although there are no lines uniting these two elements. Gay (1971) suggests that this personage is the Rain God, dwelling in the high spheres, whose magic hand extends towards the clouds to make rain fall on fields below. He supports his idea based on the fact that in Olmec iconography, hand signs and paws are frequently integral to rain propitiation themes. If Gay's hypothesis is true, the relief would be the forerunner of the rain gods Chac, Cocijo, Tajin and Tlaloc of the Classic period. Dr. Aguilar proposes the possibility that this personage could be the god of Wind that is calling with his hand the rain to the interior of the mountain to fertilize the earth. Another hypothesis he proposes is that this god would be the same Lord of the Mountain ( Tepeyollotl) that was represented inside of the cave in "El Rey", receiving in the top of his dwelling the rain that he will provide to the world for the creation and sustenance of life. Different deities were associated with the sun in its day and night-time phases. When it traveled through the Underworld in the hours of darkness, it took the form of Tepeyollotl, the "Heart of the Mountains", a jaguar whose roar could be heard in the sound of avalanches and volcanic eruptions. Tepeyollotl is a deity of the earth pure and simple, a god of desert places. His origin can be found among the Mixtecs and Zapotecs. He is generally depicted as a jaguar, who is the god of dark caves in the earth and stands for the innermost earth and the darkness spotted with stars. This darkness meant the unknown and impenetrable. | ||
