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50 free Quetzalcoatl trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Quetzalcoatl trivia quiz covers the Feathered Serpent of Mesoamerica from the Olmec stela of 900 BC to the pterosaur named after him in 1975. It starts with what the name means, which forces and crafts the god ruled over, the conch-shell wind jewel he wears, and the animals that stood for him. It then follows the myths: the four accounts of his birth, the four Tezcatlipocas of the cardinal directions, the descent into Mictlan to make humanity from old bones and his own blood, the gift of maize and cacao, and the night of pulque with his sister that ended in a stone chest and a funeral pyre. The second half is places, cousins and controversies. Teotihuacan's temple and its sacrificial burials, Cholula's pyramid, Xochicalco's day sign 9 Wind, the Maya Kukulkan and the shadow serpent at Chichen Itza, the twin Xolotl and the axolotl, the Toltec ruler Ce Acatl Topiltzin, the year One Reed, and the long argument over whether Moctezuma really greeted Cortés as a returning god. It ends with Thomas the Apostle, the Book of Mormon, the resplendent quetzal on Guatemala's flag and Quetzalcoatlus of Texas. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Quetzalcoatl and the related deities, sites and creatures, and each question links to the page that establishes it. Fifty questions, free, with an explanation after every answer.
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Q 01According to Ixtlilxóchitl, what was the allegorical meaning of the name Quetzalcoatl?
Wisest of men
Literally the Nahuatl name means 'serpent of precious feathers'; the 17th-century historian was a descendant of Aztec royalty.
Q 02Which planet was Quetzalcoatl associated with?
Venus
As Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, lord of the star of the dawn, he was the planet at sunrise; his twin was its evening aspect.
Q 03Quetzalcoatl was the patron god of which Aztec group?
The priesthood
The two most important priests of the Templo Mayor were titled Quetzalcoatl Tlamacazqui.
Q 04What was the ehecacozcatl that Quetzalcoatl wears around his neck?
A cut conch shell 'wind jewel'
The spiral cross-section may have symbolised hurricanes, dust devils and whirlpools; rulers were buried wearing them.
Q 05In his form as Ehecatl, Quetzalcoatl was the god of what?
Wind
In that aspect he is represented by spider monkeys and ducks.
Q 06In his aspect as the dawn star, Quetzalcoatl was depicted as which bird?
Harpy eagle
The Mazatec astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, also linked to Venus, is closely related.
Q 07When is the earliest known worship of a Feathered Serpent documented at Teotihuacan?
First century BC or AD
The cult spread across Mesoamerica by the Late Classic period of 600 to 900 AD.
Q 08The earliest depiction of the deity, around 900 BC, is on a stela at which Olmec site?
La Venta
Stela 19 shows a serpent rising behind a figure apparently engaged in a shamanic ritual.
Q 09Which city was the main centre of Quetzalcoatl worship in the Postclassic period?
Cholula
The world's largest pyramid there was dedicated to him; the Spaniards compared the pilgrimage centre to Rome and Mecca.
Q 10What did the Maya call their equivalent of Quetzalcoatl?
Kukulkan
The K'iche' name Gukumatz also translates roughly as feathered serpent.
Q 11What happens at El Castillo, Chichen Itza, around the equinoxes?
Shadows make a serpent seem to crawl down the stairs
The late-afternoon sun casts triangular shadows on the northwest balustrade; whether it was designed is uncertain.
Q 12How many steps does El Castillo have on each of its four sides?
91
With the temple platform counted as one more, the total comes to 365, one for each day of the year.
Q 13Which Maya city became the centre of the revived feathered-serpent cult after Chichen Itza?
Mayapan
Its temples were decorated with feathered-serpent columns.
Q 21Which crop was Quetzalcoatl said to have given to humanity?
Maize
He was also credited with inventing books and the calendar.
Q 22Which plant did Quetzalcoatl bring from a sacred mountain to the Toltecs?
Cacao
He taught the women how to make the traditional chocolate drink.
Q 23In the Codex Chimalpopoca, what did Tezcatlipoca trick Quetzalcoatl into drinking?
Pulque
Drunk, he cavorted with his celibate priestess sister Quetzalpetlatl; the next morning he burned himself in a stone chest.
Q 24After his self-immolation, what did Quetzalcoatl's heart become?
Q 14Who was Quetzalcoatl's twin, the evening star?
Xolotl
The dog-headed psychopomp is also represented by Venus and lends his name to the axolotl.
Q 15Quetzalcoatl's twin was commonly depicted with the head of which animal?
A dog
As a psychopomp he guided the dead; the salamander called the axolotl is named after him.
Q 16In the myth of the four Tezcatlipocas, which direction and colour were his?
West, white
Huitzilopochtli was the blue south, Xipe Totec the red east and Tezcatlipoca himself the black north.
Q 17What does the name Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl's great rival, mean?
Smoking mirror
He was the god of night, sorcery, judgment and the Earth.
Q 18Which virgin is said to have conceived Quetzalcoatl, in one story by swallowing an emerald?
Chimalman
Other tales say Ometeotl appeared to her in a dream or that Mixcoatl's arrow struck her womb.
Q 19From what did Quetzalcoatl create the people of the fifth sun?
The bones of previous races and his own blood
He fetched the bones from the underworld with Cihuacoatl's help and bled from his earlobes, calves, tongue and penis.
Q 20What is the name of the Aztec underworld from which Quetzalcoatl retrieved the bones?
Mictlan
Most Mesoamerican beliefs held that ours is the fifth sun, the earlier four destroyed by flood, fire and the like.
The morning star
His ashes rose into the sky first, then his heart followed.
Q 25Which mushrooms may have been ingested in the worship of Quetzalcoatl?
Psilocybes
The hallucinogenic mushrooms were considered sacred.
Q 26With which Toltec ruler of Tollan did post-conquest records conflate Quetzalcoatl?
Ce Acatl Topiltzin
The name means Our Prince One-Reed; historians debate whether the tales describe real events.
Q 27In which century did Aztec tradition place the Toltec ruler Our Prince One-Reed?
10th
The Aztecs saw the Toltecs as their ruling predecessors on the central plateau.
Q 28Quetzalcoatl's year Ce Acatl, One Reed, matched which year of the European calendar?
1519
That coincidence fed the later story that Cortés was taken for the returning god.
Q 29Which Aztec emperor supposedly took Cortés for the returning Quetzalcoatl?
Moctezuma II
Most modern scholars regard the story as a post-conquest myth.
Q 30Which text, written 50 years after the conquest, is the main source for the Cortés-as-god idea?
The Florentine Codex
Bernardino de Sahagún's informants recorded Moctezuma's flowery welcome speech.