THE LEGEND OF THE FOUR SUNS

by
Charles William Johnson

Introduction

In ancient mexica culture exists a legend about the four suns or periods of time in the past, whereby the people just prior to the Spanish conquest were living under the fifth sun. The Aztec Calendar portrays these four suns, alongwith the fifth sun:

The duration in time of each sun varies according to the cited source. Verbal legend or oral history has the periods as follows
:

The fifth sun is said to be still in existence.

However, if one looks at some of the codices then the ages of each sun varies. The Chimalpopoca Codex places the same ages upon each of the first three suns, but states that the fourth sun lasted 728 years. In that case the total for the four suns would be 2080 years, while oral tradition would have the total at 2028 years.

The Codex of the Vatican 3738 would place the ages of each period or sun at much longer intervals:

Such differences in the duration of each sun becomes quite intriguing as we revise the logic of the numbers. In this essay, we shall attempt to discern the possible meaning behind the numbers, in order to explore their internal logic. It seems difficult to understand how such enormous differences in the ages of the suns could have come about.

Since the historical record shows such obvious discrepancies, let us then examine the numbers in and of themselves, in relation to the ancient reckoning systems. The nature of the numbers, in some cases being multiples of the 52-year cycle, would appear to reflect knowledge within astronomy. However, the patterns established by the numbers, periods of equal or almost equal duration, would suggest that these numbers were chosen, and do not reflect the spontaneous character of history.

The question arises that if they are numbers that were consciously chosen, then why were they chosen. It would appear that the numbers were chosen to communicate specific ideas. In order to discern these ideas, we must analyze the nature of the numbers themselves.

Earth/matriX
Science in Ancient Artwork Nº.15
The Legend of the Four Suns
21 May 1995
©1995-2012 Copyrighted by Charles William Johnson. All Rights Reserved
Earth/matriX,
USA
Reproduction prohibited without written consent of the author.

The Aztec Calendar: Math and Design

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