Popol Vuh

The Popol Vuh, or "book of council" tells the story of the creation of the world and the first humans as those events were understood by the pre-Hispanic Maya. Much of what modern scholars have learned about pre-Columbian Maya cosmogony comes from from a version of the Popol Vuh that was written down in the mid sixteenth century by an unknown K'iche' author, probably a member of the elite, in his own language using the newly introduced Latin script of the Spanish conquistadors and from a copy of that text made by a Spanish priest, Francisco Ximenez. Scenes from the Popol Vuh are commonly found in friezes and on ceramics excavated at pre-Hispanic archaeological sites in the Maya region and the story's legacy persists in a variety of ways in modern Maya cultures.