Miguel León-Portilla is professor emeritus at the Institute of Historical Research in the National University
of Mexico, where he served as director for two terms. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees summa cum laude from Loyola
Univeristy at Los Angeles and the Ph.D. degree from the National Univeristy of Mexico. Widely known for his work
on Nahuatl culture, he is also the author of Pre-Columbian Literatures of Mexico and Time and Reality in the Thought
of the Maya, both published by the Univeristy of Oklahoma Press. Jack Emory Davis, who is in the Department of
Romance Languages at the Univeristy of Arizona, prepared the original translation. He holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees
from Tulane University.
Review
"The Aztecs were an incredible and proud people who developed from a nomadic group into builders of a great
and complex civilization. From rich documentation - codices and accounts written in their native language, Nahuatl,
but using the Latin alphabet - Dr. León-Portilla has presented a superb analysis of how and why the Aztecs
developed as they did."
-- Library Journal
"León-Portilla has made an outstanding contribution to our understanding of Aztec religious thought....
Along with his analysis of this philosophical revolution León-Portilla also provides us with a superb summary
of the official cosmological and cosmogonic system. His analyses are among the most dramatic illustrations of the
integrative functions of religion and the functional interrelationships between religion and socio-political organizations."
-- American Antiquity
"Dr. León-Portilla's definitive work will be a model, and, quite possible, and object of envy to anthropologists
with similar interests in other New World high civilizations."
-- El Palacio
"León-Portilla reminds us that the New World, conquered so long ago by Europeans, still cries out for
attention and understanding. As the legend of the plumed Serpent reveals, the present can gather new life from
an adventure into the past. Few books have to read, but for a citizen of the Americas, this is one of them."
-- Journal of the West
University of Oklahoma Press Web Site, October, 2000
Summary
Translations of ancient Aztec documents reveal their thoughts on the origin of the universe, the nature of God,
and the significance of art.
