Coxcox

In Aztec mythology, Coxcox was the only male survivor of a worldwide flood, which was the fourth destruction of the world in Aztec myth.^[1]^[2]^{[unreliable source?]}

The Aztecs believed that only Coxcox and his wife, Xochiquetzal, survived the flood. They took refuge in the hollow trunk of a cypress -or, in some versions, a small boat - which floated on top of the water and finally banked on a mountain in Culhuacan.^[1]^{[unreliable source?]}

They had many children, but all of them were mute. The great spirit took pity on them, and sent a dove, which attempted to teach the children how to speak. Fifteen of them succeeded, and from these, the Aztecs believed, the Toltecs and Aztecs were descended.^[1]^{[unreliable source?]}

Another account

In another account, the Nahua god Tezcatlipoca spoke to a man named Nata and his wife Nana, saying: "Do not busy yourselves any longer making pulque, but hollow out for yourselves a large boat of an ahuehuete (cypress) tree, and make your home in it when you see the waters rising to the sky."^[1]^{[unreliable source?]}

When flood waters came, the Earth disappeared and the highest mountain tops were covered in water. All other men perished, being transformed into fish.^[1]^{[unreliable source?]}

The legend in art

Ancient Aztec paintings often depict the boat floating on the flood waters beside a mountain. The heads of a man and a woman are shown in the air above the boat and a dove is also depicted. In its mouth the dove is carrying a hieroglyphic symbol representing the languages of the world, which it is distributing to the children of Coxcox.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Hale, Susan (1891). Mexico. The Story of the Nations. Vol. 27. London: T. Fisher Unwin. pp. 22–23.
^ Humboldt, Alexander von (2013-01-25) [First published (in French) 1810]. Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: A Critical Edition. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-86509-6.

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[Hale-1] Hale, Susan (1891). Mexico. The Story of the Nations. Vol. 27. London: T. Fisher Unwin. pp. 22–23.

[2] Humboldt, Alexander von (2013-01-25) [First published (in French) 1810]. Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: A Critical Edition. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-86509-6.

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