Note 180 — PART II. MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE.

The triplicate constitution of things is a prominent feature of the ancient Mexican philosophy, especially that of Tezcuco. The visible world was divided into three parts, the earth below, the heavens above, and man’s abode between them. The whole was represented by a circle divided into three parts, the upper part painted blue, the lower brown, the centre white (See Duran, Historia, Lam. 15a, for an example). Each of these three parts was subdivided into three parts, so that when the Tezcucan king built a tower as a symbol of the universe, he called it “The Tower of Nine Stories” (see my Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, Introduction, p. 36).