Aztec Stone of the Five "Suns" or Worlds

The Aztec carving, usually called the Calendar Stone but more accurately called the Sun Stone, depicts, at its center, the Five Suns or worlds created in sequence by the gods of Mexica mythology. According to this myth, it took the gods five tries to succeed in producing creatures who could talk and thereby offer praise to their creators.

The whole stone is designed as a series of concentric rings. The outer ring is composed of two fire serpents, whose heads can be seen at the bottom. Their tails are at the top, with a date for creation in-between. Serpents symbolize the primal caos from which the gods create an ordered world and human beings to inhabit it.

Inside the serpent circle is a solar disc with rays marking the four cardinal directions of the created world, together with four intermediate points. Inside this is a circle of the twenty day signs for the divinatory calendar of 260 days, which is created by combining the twenty day names with thirteen numbers in rotation. The dates of this calendar were used to divine the fate of individuals, based on their birth date, and whether any particular day was auspicious or dangerous for actions to be taken. 

Within this circle, signs for four suns or successive eras of creation surround the Fifth Sun, that of the Aztec era. The outline around the five, together with two circles at the sides, form the sign of "ollin," representing "motion" or "cycle of time." The five worlds are named by the forces that brought them to an end:

1. Jaguar
2. Wind
3. Fire
4. Water
5. Sun