View source for Lords of the Night

{{short description|Set of nine gods in Mesoamerican mythology}}
{{for|the Venetian office|Lords of the Night (Venice)}}
{{Further|List of Aztec deities}}
{{See also|Lords of the Day}}
[[File:Codex Borgia page 14.jpg|500px|thumb|Lords of the Night in [[Codex Borgia]] (1a) Tlaloc, (1b) Tepeyollotl, (1c) Tlazolteotl, (2a) Centeotl, (2b) Mictlantecuhtli, (2c) Chalchiuhtlicue, (3a) Piltzintecuhtli, (3b) Tezcatlipoca, (3c) Xiuhtecuhtli. The actual reading order of the panels is [[boustrophedon]] and begins in the bottom right: 3c, 3b, 3a, 2a, 2b, 2c, 1c, 1b, 1a.]]
In [[Mesoamerican mythology]] the '''Lords of the Night''' ({{langx|nci|Yohualtecuhtin}}) are a set of nine [[teotl|deities]] who each ruled over every ninth night forming a calendrical cycle. Each lord was associated with a particular fortune, bad or good, that was an omen for the night that they ruled over.<ref>Anthony F. Aveni. 2001. Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico. University of Texas Press. pp. 156-57</ref>

The lords of the night are known in both the [[Aztec calendar|Aztec]] and [[Maya calendar]], although the specific names of the Maya Night Lords are unknown.<ref>Gabrielle Vail, Christine L. Hernández. 2010. Astronomers, Scribes, and Priests: Intellectual Interchange Between the Northern Maya Lowlands and Highland Mexico in the Late Postclassic Period. Harvard University Press p. 291</ref>

The [[Mayan script|glyphs]] corresponding to the night gods are known and Mayanists identify them with labels G1 to G9, the G series. Generally, these glyphs are frequently used with a fixed glyph coined F. The only Mayan light lord that has been identified is the God G9, [[Pauahtun]] the Aged Quadripartite God.<ref>Lynn V. Foster. 2005.  Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World. Oxford University Press. p. 259</ref><ref>http://www.pauahtun.org/Calendar/gglyph.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060222011801/http://www.pauahtun.org/Calendar/gglyph.html |date=2006-02-22 }} Night Gods discussion in Pauahtun</ref>

The existence of a 9 nights cycle in Mesoamerican calendrics was first discovered in 1904 by [[Eduard Seler]]. The Aztec names of the Deities are known because their names are glossed in the [[Codex Telleriano-Remensis]] and [[Codex Tudela]]. Seler argued that the 9 lords each corresponded to one of the nine levels of the underworld and ruled the corresponding hour of the nighttime; this argument has not generally been accepted, since the evidence suggests that the lord of a given night ruled over that entire night.<ref name="boone"/> [[Zelia Nuttall]] argued that the Nine Lords of the Night represented the nine moons of the [[Lunar year]].<ref>Zelia Nuttall. 1904. The Periodical Adjustments of the Ancient Mexican Calendar. American Anthropologist , New Series, Vol. 6, No. 4  pp. 486-500</ref> The cycle of the Nine Lords of the Night held special relation to the [[Mesoamerican calendars#Ritual 260-day calenda|Mesoamerican ritual calendar]] of 260-days and nights which includes exactly 29 groups of 9 nights each, and also, approximately, 9 vague lunations of 29 days each.

The Nine Lords of the Night in Aztec mythology are:<ref name="boone">Elizabeth Hill Boone. 2007.
Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate. University of Texas Press pp. 44-45</ref>

: [[Xiuhtecuhtli]] ("Turquoise Lord/Lord of Fire")
: [[Tezcatlipoca]] ("Smoking Mirror")
: [[Piltzintecuhtli]] ("Noble Lord")
: [[Centeotl]] ("Maize God")
: [[Mictlantecuhtli]] ("Underworld Lord")
: [[Chalchiuhtlicue]] ("Jade Is Her Skirt")
: [[Tlazolteotl]] ("Filth God[dess]")
: [[Tepeyollotl]] ("Heart of the Mountains")
: [[Tlaloc]] ("Rain")

== Sources ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Aztec mythology}}
{{Maya}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lords Of The Night}}
[[Category:Aztec mythology and religion]]
[[Category:Mesoamerican calendars]]
[[Category:Mesoamerican mythology and religion]]
[[Category:Aztec calendars]]
[[Category:Maya calendars]]
[[Category:Night deities]]
[[Category:Nonets]]