What is teotl? A new study of Aztec religion in the ERC Starting Grant, 9th November

Meet dr Agnieszka Brylak, the first ERC grant winner at the Faculty of Modern Languages! Thursday, 9th November, 11.30-13.00, room 3.045.

What is teotl? While the usual answer to this question is that it is god, the early colonial sources from Central Mexico use the term teotl to describe sorcerers, dead people, Spaniards and their horses, and many other human and non-human agents. So the truth is that after 500 years into writing about Nahua culture, we are still far from fully understanding what teotl is.

The ERC Starting Grant project TEOTL, directed by dr Agnieszka Brylak, seeks to find the answer to this compelling question by studying the pre-Hispanic Nahua system of beliefs. The conference focuses on presenting the project’s general premises, research hypothesis, sources, methods, and work packages.