Note 12 — Chapter VII · THE FIRE-GODS

His rulership of the ninth day and the ninth week, of which the symbol is atl, water, seems directly opposed to all our ideas of his character, but, as Seler points out, the Mexicans thought of water “primarily as a derivative concrete element, which originally means something like ‘the shooting thing,’ derived from the verb a, which was in fact used in the sense of ‘to shoot, to throw the spear.’ ” It is also connected with the symbol tlachinolli, which Seler12 states means “spear-throwing and firebrand,” that is, “war.” In the Codex Borgia group, too, where the Fire-god is pictured as ruler of the ninth day, we find equivalents to this symbol, which undoubtedly connect him with the destruction which follows upon war, and there are also pictorial indications, such as the throne with the jaguar-skin covering, which associate him with the idea of justice, of law-giving, and, again, with that of sustenance.