The K'iche' Maya creation epic — "the Book of the Council." The making and breaking of three races of humans, the descent of the Hero Twins to Xibalba, and their victory over the Lords of Death. The greatest surviving narrative of the New World.
1 chapter
Tradition
K'iche' Maya. Composed in the mid-16th century from older oral and pictographic sources; the manuscript was discovered and transcribed by Friar Francisco Ximénez (c. 1701). The single most important text of pre-Columbian American religious literature.
Translation
Lewis Spence, *The Popol Vuh: The Mythic and Heroic Sagas of the Kiches of Central America* (London: David Nutt, 1908). Public domain. Spence's volume is a literary paraphrase rather than a strict translation; for a full modern translation see Dennis Tedlock's *Popol Vuh* (1996) or Allen Christenson's *Popol Vuh* (2007).
License
Public domain (pre-1929 English translation). Reproduced for educational and religious commentary.