Itzamna

History & Origin

Itzamna is the supreme creator deity of the Yucatec Maya, one of the most important and enduring gods in the Maya pantheon from the Classic period through the Postclassic. As lord of the heavens, Itzamna was believed to have brought writing, the calendar, agriculture, and medicine to the Maya people, making him patron of the specialist knowledge classes — astronomers, calendar keepers, physicians, and scribes — whose learning made Maya civilization extraordinary. He is depicted both as an aged man with sunken cheeks (representing wisdom and antiquity) and in reptilian form as a feathered or two-headed serpent. The name's etymology has been debated since J. Eric S. Thompson proposed 'Iguana House' (from itzam, iguana, + na, house) — an interpretation now largely abandoned. Modern scholars read the root itz as denoting vital secretions (dew, sap, semen) and sorcery, so the agentive form itzam likely means 'asperser' or 'sorcerer.' His consort was Ix Chel, the moon and medicine goddess.