Kukulkan

[1] Prominent temples to Kukulkan are found at archaeological sites in the Yucatán Peninsula, such as Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Mayapan.

[7] Although the cult was originally centred on the ancient city of Chichen Itza in the modern Mexican state of Yucatán, it spread as far as the Guatemalan Highlands and northern Belize.

[2] Although Kukulkan was mentioned as a historical person by Maya writers of the 16th century, the earlier 9th-century texts at Chichen Itza never identified him as human and artistic representations depicted him as a Vision Serpent entwined around the figures of nobles.

[7] Kukulkan headed a pantheon of deities of mixed Maya and non-Maya provenance, used to promote the Itza political and commercial agenda.

[7] At Chichen Itza, Kukulkan ceased to be the Vision Serpent that served as a messenger between the king and the gods and came instead to symbolise the divinity of the territory.

After the fall of Chichen Itza, the nearby Postclassic city of Mayapan became the centre of the revived Kukulkan worshipers, with temples decorated with feathered serpent columns.

[13] At the time of the Spanish colonization, the high priest of Kukulkan was the family patriarch of the Xiu faction and was one of the two most powerful men in the city.

[14] The religion of Kukulkan spread as far as the Guatemalan Highlands and northern Belize, where Postclassic feathered serpent sculptures are found with open mouths from which protrude the heads of human warriors.

In the 2018 Video Game Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the main antagonist Dominguez/Amaru, who has usurped the throne of a hidden city founded by Mayan refugees in Peru, claims to be an incarnation of Kukulkan and seeks a pair of artifacts that will grant him the god's power.

Kukulkan at Chichen Itza during the Equinox .
The Classic Maya vision serpent, as depicted at Yaxchilan .
Ballcourt marker from the Postclassic site of Mixco Viejo in Guatemala. This sculpture depicts Kukulkan, jaws agape, with the head of a human warrior emerging from his maw. [ 8 ]