Deities
Cocijo
Zapotec Deities
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Cocijo is the rain and lightning deity of Zapotec tradition, worshipped across the Oaxaca valley of southern Mexico from the Preclassic period through the Zapotec state centered on Monte Alban. He is depicted on funerary urns, reliefs and effigy vessels with a distinctive goggle-eyed face, a forked serpentine tongue representing lightning, and a headdress marking him as a being of the sky, an image so consistent across centuries of Zapotec art that it serves archaeologists as a diagnostic marker of Zapotec religious material. Cocijo presided over the rains the valley's agriculture depended on, and his name survives in Zapotec compound terms for lightning, thunder and earthquake, reflecting his standing as one of the tradition's most widely attested deities.
Facts
Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 1 Cult
Attributes and IconographyCocijo is depicted on Zapotec funerary urns, reliefs and effigy vessels with a distinctive goggle-eyed face, a forked serpentine tongue representing lightning, and a headdress marking him a being of the sky, an image consistent enough across centuries to serve archaeologists as a diagnostic marker of Zapotec religious material. 1 Origins
Place of OriginOaxaca Valley, Mexico (Zapotec civilization, centered on Monte Alban) 1 Origin of the NameCocijo's name survives today embedded in Zapotec compound terms for lightning, thunder and earthquake, reflecting his standing as the tradition's rain and lightning power. 1 Function
Domain / Function Attributions
Mythic AssociationZapotec cosmology divided Cocijo's rain bringing power across the four cardinal directions, each linked to its own wind and season, an arrangement archaeologists read from effigy urns and reliefs distinguishing four aspects of the god rather than one undifferentiated figure. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Cocijo directly: "paralleling Tlaloc among the Aztec and Cocijo among the neighboring Zapotec."
This source names Monte Alban directly: "through the Zapotec state centered on Monte Alban."
This source names Cocijo directly: "It documents Cocijo, the Zapotec rain and lightning deity whose stylized goggle-eyed, forked-tongue image recurs on urns and reliefs across the Oaxaca valley from the Preclassic period onward, and..."
Belongs to Tradition
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.