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The starting point for this study is a group of murals discovered in the Atetelco apartment compound, Teotihuacan, during the 1990s (Cabrera Castro et al. 2007). The search for their meaning will take us far from Atetelco and Teotihuacan in an iconographic investigation that has developed into the reconstruction of several episodes of an important Teotihuacan myth. The murals, which were found in a small patio close to Patio 7, in the south eastern section of Atetelco, are painted in shades of red and belong to the local Xolalpan phase (a.d. 350-550) (Figure 1). They have been commented on in various studies (Cabrera Castro 1995:247; Cabrera Castro et al. 2007; Giral Sancho 2003, 2004), but so far no detailed study has been made, such as their exceptional iconography deserves. I have made an initial study of the murals which serves as the basis for the research presented in this article (Paulinyi 2011). The four murals on the eastern half of the patio present a group of three motifs: a figure with the attributes of a bird and a butterfly, a mountain, and a bird whose body is covered with birds' heads. The triad, consisting of the motifs mentioned above, is unique in Teotihuacan mural painting. The western half of the patio, in contrast, is characterized by murals with complex scenes composed of small human figures painted in a different style. Figure 1.
The location of the murals analyzed in Atetelco, Teotihuacan, with their numbering (after Cabrera Castro et al. [2007:Figure 1]).
The central figure of this triad is the character with attributes of both the bird and butterfly (Figure 2). Cabrera Castro et al. (2007:132, 136-137) correctly identified this character on the basis of several of his attributes, including butterfly wings, bird headdress, and "Reptile's Eye" glyph, with the Teotihuacan god originally interpreted by Séjourné as representing the Aztec god Xochipilli (Séjourné 1959:116-128, 1962). This has since been reinterpreted in various ways by different authors, including myself (Berlo 1983, 1992; Berrin and Pasztory 1993; Caso 1966:259-263; Paulinyi 1995, 2006; Taube 2005a, 2006:164; von Winning 1987:1:111-124). In the course of my investigations I have concluded that this is a sun god and god of plant fertility, I believe most appropriately...