Meeting the gods: apotheoses and exchanges of the early encounter

ABSTRACT

In November 1519, Motēuczōma Xōcoyōtl, Marina/Malīntzin and Hernán Cortés met, conversed, and exchanged gifts. According to Cortés's letters to Charles V, Motēuczōma identified him as a returned ancestral chieftain (often considered to be the deity Quetzalcōātl). By reading the accounts of their gift exchange as mythohistorical texts presenting a uniquely contact perspective, we may gain insight into how both parties negotiated linguistic, cultural, and religious differences in order to shape the situation each in his best interest. The visual record of their exchange suggests that Motēuczōma gave Cortés the vestments of the gods in order to transform him into a tēīxīptla, a localized deity embodiment, as a precursor to possible sacrifice. Alphabetic accounts of their meeting describe Mesoamericans identifying Cortés and his companions as tēteoh (deities), a concept Cortés accepts insofar as it advances his military, political, and economic agendas. I argue that understanding these texts as mythohistories with contact perspectives complicates—or perhaps clarifies—their reading by acknowledging that they both betray Mesoamericans and belie Europeans.