Page "Tezcatlipoca" Paragraph 8

The rivalry between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca is also recounted in the legends of Tollan where Tezcatlipoca deceives Quetzalcoatl who was the ruler of the legendary city and forces him into exile.

But it is interesting to note that Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca both collaborated in the creation of the different creations and that both of them were seen as instrumental in the creation of life.

Karl Taube and Mary Miller, specialists in Mesoamerican Studies, write that, " More than anything Tezcatlipoca appears to be the embodiment of change through conflict.

" Tezcatlipoca appears on the first page of the Codex Borgia carrying the 20 day signs of the calendar ; in the Codex Cospi he is shown as a spirit of darkness, as well as in the Codex Laud and the Dresden Codex.

His cult was associated with royalty, and was the subject of the most lengthy and reverent prayers in the rites of kingship, as well as being mentioned frequently in coronation speeches.

The temple of Tezcatlipoca was in the Great Precinct of Tenochtitlan.