What was the name of the Aztec sun god in the fifth sun?
Answer
Tonatiuh
Answer
Tonatiuh
What was the name of the Aztec sun god in the fifth sun? Tonatiuh was the Aztec sun deity associated with the Fifth Sun.
In the Aztec creation tradition known as the Five Suns, the world had passed through earlier cosmic ages, each ending in catastrophe. Tonatiuh ruled the current, fifth age. His calendrical name was Nahui Ollin, meaning “Four Movement,” a sign that also expressed the motion and instability associated with the present sun and its eventual destruction by earthquakes in some accounts.
According to a creation story set at Teotihuacan, the gods sacrificed themselves to bring the new sun into existence. Nanahuatzin leapt into the fire and became the sun, while the hesitant Tecuciztecatl became the moon. In some versions, the newly risen sun would not move until Ehecatl, the wind aspect of Quetzalcoatl, set it in motion. These varying accounts can make Nanahuatzin seem like an alternative answer, but Tonatiuh is the standard name for the Fifth Sun as a deity.
Tonatiuh was portrayed as fierce and warlike, and his daily journey across the sky was believed to require nourishment through sacrifice.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026