EncyclopediaPopol Vuh
Popol Vuh (pōpōl' vOO') [key][Quiché,=collection of the council], sacred book of the Quiché. The most important document of the cosmogony, religion, mythology, migratory traditions, and history of the Quiché, the original Popol Vuh was destroyed by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, but it was rewritten in Spanish by a converted Quiché shortly after the Spanish conquest. The language and literary style, the philosophy, and the life it reveals show the Quiché had reached a high degree of learning. A similar document, more historical in content and treating of the neighboring Cakchiquel, is the Annals of the Cakchiquel.
See the English version of the Popol Vuh by D. Goetz and S. C. Morley (1950); study by L. Spence (1908, repr. 1972).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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