Note 774 — Chapter XVIII · ARCHITECTURE AND DWELLINGS OF THE NAHUAS.

Most of the old authors say that Tlaloc occupied the second chapel, but as the next largest temple in the court is dedicated to this god, I am inclined to think, with Clavigero, that Tezcatlipoca shared the chief pyramid with Huitzilopochtli. Another reason for this belief is that Tezcatlipoca was held to be the half-brother of Huitzilopochtli, and their feasts were sometimes attended with similar ceremonies. Tezcatlipoca was also one of the highest if not the highest god, and, accordingly, entitled to the place of honor by the side of the favorite god of the Aztecs. Tlaloc, on the other hand, had nothing in common with Huitzilopochtli, and the only possible ground that can be found for his promotion to the chief pyramid is to be seen in the fable of the foundation of Mexico, in which Tlaloc, as the lord of the site, gives the Aztecs permission to settle there. We have, besides, the testimony of Bernal Diaz, who saw Tezcatlipoca, adorned with the tezcatl, or mirror ornament, seated in the left hand temple. Hist. Conq., fol. 71; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 281. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 660, thinks it possible that the second temple was occupied by different idols, in turn, according to the festival.