 Itzamna seated on a throne. |
Itzamna
An old god, consort of Ix Chel, Itzamna is a principal god of the Mayan scribes. He is associated with curing, and the disk on his forehead, which sometimes contains the sign for blackness, may represent an obsidian mirror used in divination. The Principal Bird Deity seems to be a celestial aspect of Itzamna |
"According to ethnohistorical sources, Itzamna was the inventor of writing as well as the patron of the priesthood; he was in fact, considered as the 'first priest' by the Yucatec Maya, which would have made him 'first scribe' among the Classic Maya" (Michael D. Coe, the Art of the Mayan Scribe, 102).
identifiers:
Roman nose
large eyes
beaded disk on brow