World at War  /  Conflicts  /  Aztec Myth
Wars of the Five Suns

War of the Five Suns

3600–1300 BC Cosmos Status: ended Casualties: Four worlds and four humanities destroyed in turn

Five suns, five ages. The first sun was eaten by jaguars; the second swept by hurricanes; the third burned by fire-rain; the fourth drowned. The fifth — our age — will end in earthquakes. Each transition was a war of gods: Quetzalcoatl knocked Tezcatlipoca from the sky with a club; Tezcatlipoca toppled Tlaloc. Leyenda de los Soles.

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Belligerents

  • Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, Chalchiuhtlicue
  • Each previous age and its inhabitants

Casualties

Four worlds and four humanities destroyed in turn

Key events

  • Sun of Jaguar (4 Ocelotl)
  • Sun of Wind (4 Ehecatl)
  • Sun of Fire-rain (4 Quiahuitl)
  • Sun of Water (4 Atl)
  • Sun of Movement (4 Ollin) — to end in earthquake

Sources

  • Leyenda de los Soles
  • Codex Chimalpopoca
  • Sun Stone of Tenochtitlán
From World at War, an interactive atlas by Jairus Pereira. Figures are approximate, drawn from Wikipedia, UCDP, ACLED and academic sources — a design artefact, not an authoritative register. Contact.