A critical review of the history of research devoted to the Great
Goddess of Teotihuacan shows that over the past twenty years, and in
several publications, this goddess has been transformed gradually into a
universal nature deity, has received the title “Great,” and
has been regarded by many authorities as the principal deity of
Teotihuacan. This has become accepted even though, in my judgment, the
goddess was created through a highly speculative line of argument, fusing
several different iconographic complexes under that name, and despite the
fact that the greater part seem to have nothing to do with each other. As
a consequence, the concept of this omnipotent goddess has become a serious
obstacle holding back the progress of iconographic research on the
Teotihuacan supernatural world. The discussion here reaches the conclusion
that in place of a Great Goddess, we are able to identify at least six
different gods and goddesses, several among them not yet subjected to
analysis.