Popol Vuh

From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

The Popol Vuh, or "book of council" tells the Maya creation story. The original Popol Vuh was written in Maya hieroglyphics, but to date no hieroglyphic version has been located. The oldest surviving copy was made by a Spanish priest, Francisco Ximenez, from a version that was written down in the mid sixteenth century by an unknown K'iche' author in his own language using the newly introduced Roman alphabet of the Spanish conquistadors. Pre-Columbian records of the Maya creation story do exist: scenes depicted in the Popol Vuh abound in the archaeological record of the Maya region. What is more, parts of the story persist in a variety of ways in modern Maya cultures.