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Dante's heritage: questioning the multi-layered model of the Mesoamerican universe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jesper Nielsen
Affiliation:
Department of American Indian Languages and Cultures, Institute of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Artillerivej 86, 2300 Copenhagen S., Denmark (Email: jnielsen@hum.ku.dk)
Toke Sellner Reunert
Affiliation:
Grønnehøj 35 st. tv., 2720 Vanløse, Denmark (Email: toke@reunert.dk)

Abstract

Ancient Mesoamericans are generally thought to have imagined the universe stacked in vertical layers, not unlike the cosmic layers of Dante's Comedy. Dismantling this model, our authors show it to be based upon a post-conquest European-Aztec hybrid. This penetrating critique tracks the history of the hybrid cosmos from its first appearance through its resilient repetition until today.

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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