Aztec, Maya & Inca

41 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.What was the fate of the wooden people of the second creation?
- A. They burned in the fire rain
- B. They forgot their makers and became monkeys
- C. They drowned in the flood
- D. They were spared as farmers
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They forgot their makers and became monkeys
Did you know? The wooden people, hollow-hearted, were wrecked by their own pots and became monkeys.
2.Which god of spring and new maize wears the skin of the flayed?
- A. Tonatiuh
- B. Xipe Totec
- C. Centeotl
- D. Tlaloc
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Xipe Totec
Did you know? Xipe Totec's renewal rite dressed priests in flayed skins of the offerings.
3.What test fixed the site of Cusco for Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo?
- A. A golden staff sank easily into the soil
- B. An eagle circled three times
- C. The river spoke through reeds
- D. A rainbow touched the hilltop
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A golden staff sank easily into the soil
Did you know? The children of Inti wandered until their golden staff sank at Cusco.
4.What does the name Xibalba mean?
- A. Place of maize
- B. House of the sun
- C. Place of fear
- D. River of blood
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Place of fear
Did you know? Xibalba, the "place of fear," is the Maya underworld of the death lords.
5.Which sun god demands the eagle warriors' offering for the fifth sun's course?
- A. Huitzilopochtli
- B. Tlaloc
- C. Nanahuatzin
- D. Tonatiuh
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Tonatiuh
Did you know? Tonatiuh, the sun of movement, needed sustenance to keep his daily road.
6.What is Inti Raymi?
- A. The Inca festival of the sun at the solstice
- B. The harvest dance of the coast
- C. The coronation fast of new rulers
- D. The river blessing rite
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The Inca festival of the sun at the solstice
Did you know? Inti Raymi crowned the June solstice with the emperor's sun offerings.
7.Which goddess rules the moon and the weaving of time?
- A. Ix Chel
- B. Xochiquetzal
- C. Coatlicue
- D. Mictecacihuatl
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Ix Chel
Did you know? Ix Chel, the rainbow lady, pours out floods and guards weavers.
8.What does the great Sun Stone of Tenochtitlan depict at its center?
- A. The feathered serpent descending
- B. The moon goddess dismembered
- C. The founding eagle on the cactus
- D. The date-5 Earthquake sun, Nahui-Ollin
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The date-5 Earthquake sun, Nahui-Ollin
Did you know? The Sun Stone carves the fifth sun, Nahui-Ollin, destined to end in earthquake.
9.Which moon goddess, wife of Inti, rules silver?
- A. Ix Chel
- B. Pachamama
- C. Mama Quilla
- D. Mama Ocllo
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Mama Quilla
Did you know? Mama Quilla's silver face marked the Inca calendar's months.
10.Which sky creator god is credited with bringing writing to the Maya?
- A. Chaac
- B. Huracán
- C. Itzamna
- D. Kukulkan
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Itzamna
Did you know? Itzamna, lord of the sky, gave the Maya writing and the calendar.
11.How is Inti depicted in Inca imagery?
- A. A falcon on a cactus
- B. A golden face ringed by straight rays
- C. A serpent of feathers
- D. A bearded old man on a raft
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A golden face ringed by straight rays
Did you know? Inti's image was a gold mask face surrounded by long sun rays.
12.Which "Heart of Sky" storm deity's name yields our word "hurricane"?
- A. Chaac
- B. Itzamna
- C. Kukulkan
- D. Huracán
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Huracán
Did you know? Huracán, the Heart of Sky, thundered the first word of creation.
13.Which Yucatec feathered serpent mirrors Quetzalcoatl in Maya lands?
- A. Chaac
- B. Gucumatz
- C. Itzamna
- D. Kukulkan
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Kukulkan
Did you know? Kukulkan's serpent shadow slides down El Castillo at the equinoxes.
14.Which great tree links the underworld, earth and heavens in Maya thought?
- A. The ceiba
- B. The guanacaste
- C. The kapok of Tula
- D. The cacao
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The ceiba
Did you know? The ceiba stands as the world tree of the four quarters.
15.What food made the true humans of the final creation?
- A. Honey
- B. Maize, white and yellow
- C. Beans and squash
- D. Cacao
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Maize, white and yellow
Did you know? Ground yellow and white maize became the flesh of the true people.
16.Which creator pair spoke the world into being in the Popol Vuh?
- A. Tepeu and Gucumatz
- B. Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl
- C. Izanagi and Izanami
- D. Viracocha and Inti
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Tepeu and Gucumatz
Did you know? Whatever Tepeu and Gucumatz spoke in the dark took form.
17.What did the Hero Twins become after defeating Xibalba?
- A. The sun and the moon
- B. Two mountains of the sky
- C. The rain and the maize
- D. The morning and evening stars
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The sun and the moon
Did you know? Rising in glory, the twins became the sun and the moon of the fifth world.
18.Which pair of lords heads Xibalba's council?
- A. Vucub-Caquix and Zipacná
- B. One Hunahpú and Seven Hunahpú
- C. Tepeu and Gucumatz
- D. One Death and Seven Death
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One Death and Seven Death
Did you know? One Death and Seven Death judged all who descended the black road.
19.Which long-nosed god swings his axe to strike rain from the clouds?
- A. Tlaloc
- B. Chaac
- C. Huracán
- D. Itzamna
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Chaac
Did you know? Chaac's lightning axe cracks the clouds to water the maize.
20.Which trial houses did the twins pass through in Xibalba?
- A. Houses of darkness, knives, cold, jaguars and bats
- B. Houses of mirrors, echoes, shadows, thirst and hunger
- C. Houses of fire, snakes, rain, wind and sand
- D. Houses of gold, jade, feathers, shells and flint
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Houses of darkness, knives, cold, jaguars and bats
Did you know? Xibalba's trials ran from the House of Darkness to the House of Bats.
21.Which Lady of the Dead presides over Mictlan beside her husband?
- A. Mictecacihuatl
- B. Xochiquetzal
- C. Chalchiuhtlicue
- D. Coatlicue
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Mictecacihuatl
Did you know? Mictecacihuatl watches over the bones and the festivals of the dead.
22.What happened to the first people, molded of mud?
- A. They were eaten by jaguars
- B. They turned to stone
- C. They became monkeys
- D. They dissolved in water
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They dissolved in water
Did you know? The mud people crumbled apart as soon as they met water.
23.Which goddess called "Serpent Woman" watches over midwives and mothers?
- A. Cihuacoatl
- B. Coatlicue
- C. Chalchiuhtlicue
- D. Xochiquetzal
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Cihuacoatl
Did you know? Cihuacoatl's wails at night marked a mother's loss.
24.Who ground the maize that shaped the true people?
- A. Ix Chel
- B. Xmucane
- C. Xochiquetzal
- D. Chalchiuhtlicue
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Xmucane
Did you know? The grandmother Xmucane ground nine handfuls of corn into the people's flesh.
25.Which earth monster did the gods split to form sky and land?
- A. Chalchiuhtlicue
- B. Cipactonal
- C. Coyolxauhqui
- D. Tlaltecuhtli
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Tlaltecuhtli
Did you know? Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl tore Tlaltecuhtli into sky and earth.
26.In what script was the Popol Vuh written down after the conquest?
- A. Nahuatl pictograms
- B. Maya hieroglyphs
- C. Latin letters
- D. A runic alphabet
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Latin letters
Did you know? A K'iche' speaker transcribed the Popol Vuh in Latin script in the 1550s.
27.Which goddess of flowers, love and weaving bears a quetzal-feather name?
- A. Xochiquetzal
- B. Mictecacihuatl
- C. Coatlicue
- D. Chalchiuhtlicue
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Xochiquetzal
Did you know? Xochiquetzal, "Precious Feather Flower," keeps the garden of delight.
28.Which hesitating god followed Nanahuatzin into the fire and became the moon?
- A. Xolotl
- B. Tezcatlipoca
- C. Tecuciztecatl
- D. Nanahuatzin
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Tecuciztecatl
Did you know? Tecuciztecatl's delay left him the moon, dimmed by a rabbit flung at his face.
29.Which body part of Tezcatlipoca is replaced by the smoking mirror?
- A. His tongue
- B. His left eye
- C. His right hand
- D. His foot
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His foot
Did you know? Tezcatlipoca lost a foot in the struggle against the earth monster.
30.What ended the first sun, Nahui-Ocelotl?
- A. Jaguars devoured the giants of that age
- B. A rain of fire fell
- C. A flood drowned the world
- D. The sun simply burned out
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Jaguars devoured the giants of that age
Did you know? The jaguar sun Nahui-Ocelotl fell when jaguars ate its giant people.
31.What happened to the people of the second sun, Nahui-Ehecatl?
- A. They turned to stone
- B. They became fish in the flood
- C. They were swept away and became monkeys
- D. They became birds of the night
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They were swept away and became monkeys
Did you know? The wind sun ended in hurricanes, and its people scampered off as monkeys.
32.Which "Jade Skirt" goddess rules rivers, lakes and the fourth sun?
- A. Chalchiuhtlicue
- B. Xochiquetzal
- C. Coatlicue
- D. Mictecacihuatl
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Chalchiuhtlicue
Did you know? Chalchiuhtlicue governed the waters and the flood that ended the fourth sun.
33.What trick drove Quetzalcoatl from Tula into exile?
- A. His temple was burned by priests
- B. He was condemned in a rigged ballgame
- C. Tezcatlipoca got him drunk on pulque
- D. A false prophecy turned the people
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Tezcatlipoca got him drunk on pulque
Did you know? Shamed by drunkenness, Quetzalcoatl left Tula eastward on a raft of woven serpents.
34.Which coyote god of music and mischief is the Aztec trickster?
- A. Tezcatlipoca
- B. Huehuecoyotl
- C. Ehecatl
- D. Xolotl
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Huehuecoyotl
Did you know? Huehuecoyotl's pranks could backfire on the prankster himself.
35.Which humble god leapt into the bonfire at Teotihuacan to become the fifth sun?
- A. Tecuciztecatl
- B. Nanahuatzin
- C. Xolotl
- D. Tezcatlipoca
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Nanahuatzin
Did you know? The scabby god Nanahuatzin rose from the fire as Tonatiuh, the sun of movement.
36.What became of humankind at the fall of the water sun?
- A. The people became fish
- B. The people became jaguars
- C. The people became stones
- D. The people became trees
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The people became fish
Did you know? The fourth sun ended in a flood, and its people took fish form.
37.Which dog-shaped god doubles Quetzalcoatl as his twin and underworld guide?
- A. Ehecatl
- B. Tonatiuh
- C. Xolotl
- D. Nanahuatzin
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Xolotl
Did you know? Xolotl, the canine twin, guided the sun at night and the dead on their road.
38.Which rain-filled paradise, a garden of plenty, belongs to Tlaloc?
- A. Tlalocan
- B. Xibalba
- C. Aaru
- D. Mictlan
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Tlalocan
Did you know? Those taken by water, lightning and droughts went to Tlalocan's green abundance.
39.What did Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl carry back from Mictlan to make people?
- A. Bones of the previous ages
- B. Vials of blood
- C. Bags of maize
- D. Stones of jade
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Bones of the previous ages
Did you know? Quetzalcoatl tricked Mictlantecuhtli for the old bones, then dripped his own blood on them.
40.Which celestial body is tied to Quetzalcoatl as the morning star?
- A. Venus
- B. Mars
- C. The sun
- D. Mercury
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Venus
Did you know? Quetzalcoatl's death and return were read into Venus as the morning star.
41.Under which wind-god aspect is Quetzalcoatl also worshipped in myth?
- A. Tlaloc
- B. Ehecatl
- C. Xolotl
- D. Tonatiuh
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Ehecatl
Did you know? Quetzalcoatl's wind aspect, Ehecatl, swept the paths before the rain gods.

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