Aztec and Maya Myths by Karl Taube, 80 pages This book starts off with a little history on Mesoamerica and talks about some details that are important for Mesoamerican religions such their calendar system, day versus night, and twins.
Next, it explores the sources for our knowledge of their myths and the history of those sources. By the time you get to the myths you are almost halfway through this slim book.
Then Aztec myths are covered including some of the many gods, the story of creation of heaven and earth and where people came from. There are some other creation and origin myths as well.
The section on Maya myths provides their myth on how the world and people were created. There is also a myth about how two twins vanquished the underworld realm by foiling some trickery.
There are similarities between the two mythologies and but also differences. Within Mayan mythology there are regional differences and the mythology evolved over time.
I liked this book but wanted more. I would recommend it as an introduction but for something more in-depth I would recommend something more up to day since this was published in 1993 and the author alludes to possible upcoming discoveries that would provide more knowledge to the field.
