CHAPTER 2 LATE POSTCLASSIC MESOAMERICA 107Box 2.4 The Story of Lord Eight Deer and His LegacyLord Eight Deer was a great Mixtec leader whose rise to power, his ultimate demise, and his
legacy are depicted in Mixtec pictorial records including the Codices Zouche-Nuttall, Colom-
bino, and Becker I. The saga of Eight Deer is filled with tales of love, war, ambition, and political
intrigue; but beyond the drama, it also provides us with insights about political transformations
and changing strategies for the establishment of political legitimacy during a critical period of
Mixtec history.
Eight Deer, named for the day of his birth in the 260-day calendar and typically pictured
with eight dots and the head of a deer, was born in A.D. 1063. The son of a high priest and an ad-
viser to the King of Tilantongo, Eight Deer grew up during a time of violent dynastic conflict
among various Mixtec kingdoms in and around Tilantongo and Jaltepec in the Mixteca Alta. In
the midst of this conflict, and during a time when different factions were struggling for control
over the Tilantongo throne, Eight Deer was sent to the coastal center of Tututepec where he
and his troops secured and expanded Tututepec’s realm.
Several years later, as factional fighting continued and with the death—possibly the murder—
of the young prince who was the legitimate heir to the Tilantongo throne, Eight Deer began to
take the steps that would lead to his own ascendancy to the Tilantongo throne. As a usurper, with
no legitimate claim to rule the Tilantongo kingdom, one of Eight Deer’s strategies was to appeal
to outside forces who could legitimize his claim.
Among Nahua-speaking groups (sometimes called the “Tolteca-Chichimeca”) to the north
of the Mixteca Alta, at centers like Cholula and Tlaxcala, high-ranking leaders, often heads of lin-
eages, underwent a nose-piercing ritual and subsequently wore a distinctive turquoise nose or-
nament that symbolized their high office and their new title of tecuhtli,a title that signified head
of a lineage or a royal estate. Mixtec codices portray Eight Deer traveling to one of the Tolteca-
Chichimeca centers where he had his nose pierced and was granted the title of tecuhtli, and in
all subsequent images, Lord Eight Deer wore the unique nose ornament that indicated his new
status and provided him with the legitimacy he sought. Eight Deer also was able to gain the sup-
port of other Mixtec royal families, and he soon ascended to the throne as King of Tilantongo.
With Eight Deer in power, rival dynasties continued their efforts to gain power over Tilan-
tongo, and soon Eight Deer’s brother was assassinated by sons of Eleven Wind, king of a place
called Red and White Bundle. To revenge his brother’s death, Eight Deer destroyed Red and
White Bundle, and during the battle Lord Eleven Wind and his wife, Lady Six Monkey (of the Ja-
caltec dynasty) were killed, although their children were spared. To further solidify his position,
Lord Eight Deer later married one of the daughters of Eleven Wind, thereby linking his own dy-
nasty with that of Red and White Bundle. Lord Eight Deer ruled his kingdom for the next twelve
years, but dynastic conflicts did not end. In 1115, Lord Four Wind, the son of Lord Eleven Wind
and Lady Six Monkey, avenged the death of his parents by killing Lord Eight Deer. Subsequently,
Four Wind married a daughter of Eight Deer, thus ensuring an enduring legacy for Lord Eight
Deer.
When Spaniards arrived in the Mixteca Alta over 400 years later, virtually all of the Mixtec
royal dynasties claimed descent from Lord Eight Deer, Lord Eleven Wind, or Lady Six Monkey. (For
further details about Lord Eight Deer, see Byland and Pohl 1994.)