The Council Book is a Quiché Mayan text from around 1550 that details the creation of the world and the defeat of the Lords of Xibalbá by the Hero Twins. It was originally part of an oral tradition and later written down in the Quiché language using the Latin alphabet. In the early 1700s, Francisco Ximénez copied the manuscript and it was later translated into German and French in the 19th century.
2. oral tradition
possibly written using ideographic language
written in Quiché language using the Latin alphabet around 1550
(lost)
copied by Francisco Ximénez ca. 172o (bilingual manuscript)
translated into German (Scherzer) and French (Brasseur) in the
the 19th century
3. Part One: the creation of the world
Part Two: The Hero Twins defeat the Lords of Xibalbá
Part Three: The first real humans are created
Part Four: the Tohil lineage and the Mayan tribes
4. Parents First Children Hero Twins Lords of Xibalba
One Hunter One Howler Hunter/Jun Aj Pu One Death
Seven Hunter One Monkey Jaguar Deer/ Seven Death
Ix B’alam Kej
Little Blood
7. “…when there was plenty of honey and the maize-plants
were straining under the weight of the cobs of corn
[…] then my village was a lively happy place…” (15)
