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Acolmiztli is the god of the underworld.

Acolnahuacatl is the god of the underworld.

Akuekukiotisiuati (Acuecucyoticihuati) - the goddess of the ocean, flowing water and rivers. Associated with the cult of Chalchiutlicue - is her incarnation. Supports working women.

Amimitl is the god of lakes and fishermen.

Aztlan - "Country of herons", the mythical ancestral home of the Aztecs. In legends, it is described as an island in the middle of a large lake. Initially, the Aztecs, like other Nahua peoples, considered their ancestral home to Chicomostoc, a country located somewhere northwest of the Mexico Valley. The myth of Aztlan arose after the Aztecs formed their own state.

Atl (Atl) - the god of water.

Atlacamani is the goddess of storms originating in the ocean.

Atlacoya - goddess of drought.

Atlatonin is one of the names of the Aztec mother goddess.

Atlaua - "Lord of the waters", a powerful god of water. Associated with an arrow (atlatl). He is also the patron god of fishermen.

Ayauteotl (Ayauhteotl) - the goddess of hoarfrost and fog, observed only at night or early in the morning. Associated with vanity and celebrity.

And
Ilamatecuhtli - "The Old Lady", in the mythology of the Aztecs, the goddess associated with the cult of the earth and maize, the first wife of Mixcoatl, one of the incarnations of the goddess of the earth and childbearing Zihuacoatl.

Iztaccihuatl - Sleeping Woman. Daughter of an Aztec ruler, beloved Popocatepetl. The gods turned them into mountains.

Itzlacoliuhque is the god of the obsidian knife. One of the incarnations of Tezcatlipoca.

Itzli (Itzli) - the god of a stone knife and sacrifices.

Itzpapalotl - "Obsidian Butterfly", the goddess of fate, associated with the cult of plants. It was originally one of the hunting deities among the Chichimecs. She was depicted as a butterfly with wings studded with obsidian blades at the edges, or as a woman with jaguar claws on her arms and legs. She was killed by Mixcoatl.

Ixcuina is the goddess of lust, the patroness of prostitutes and cheating spouses.

Ixtlilton - "Black Face", the goddess of medicine, health and healing, as well as festivities and games. Sacrifices were made to her when the child began to speak; sick children were treated with water from jugs that stood in front of the statue of Ishtlilton.

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Camaxtli is the god of war, hunting and fate. Fire maker. One of the 4 gods who created the world. He is also the tribal god of the Chichimecs.

Quetzalcoatl - "Feathered Serpent". In the mythology of the Aztecs and Toltecs, the demiurge god, the creator of man and culture, the lord of the elements. One of the main gods of the Toltecs, Aztecs and other peoples of central Mesoamerica. He took part in the creation and destruction of various world epochs, and ruled one of the world epochs, creating for this epoch a man from the bones of people of previous epochs, collected in Mictlan. He is also the god of the winds Ehecatl (one of his forms), and the god of waters and abundance. As the god of the waters, he commanded lightning, which in its forms reminded the Aztecs of the silhouettes of celestial serpents. He is believed to be the son of Coatlicue and the twin brother of Xolotl. As a bearer of culture, he gave the world corn (maize) and a calendar, and is the patron of arts and crafts. According to one of the myths, after his death he turned into the morning star (Venus) and became associated with Tlahuitzcalpantecuhtli. Among the Toltecs, Tezcatlipoca ("smoking mirror") acted as his opponent. Later, the Aztecs made it a symbol of death and rebirth, and the patron saint of priests. The priests of the highest ranks were called by his name - Quetzalcoatl. The god Quetzalcoatl is often associated with the Toltec priest-ruler Topiltzin Ce Acatl, who ruled Tula in the 10th century. The priest was the son of Michcoatl (Camaxtli) and Chimalman, and was born in Michatlauco (Michatlauhco) "Deep waters where fish live." The cult of Quetzalcoatl was widespread in Teotihuacan, Tula, Xochilco, Cholula, Tenochtitlan and Chichen Itza.

Coatlicue - "She is in a dress of snakes", Coatlantonan - "Our snake mother." Goddess of earth and fire, mother of the gods and stars of the southern sky. It contains both the beginning and the end of life. She was depicted in clothes made of snakes. She is the mother of the sun god Huitzilopochtli. According to the myth, Coatlicue was a pious widow and lived with her sons - Senzon Witznahua ("400 Southern Stars") and daughter Coyolshauki - the goddess of the moon. Every day, Coatlicue climbed Mount Coatepec ("serpent mountain") to offer a sacrifice. Coatlicue is the personification of the earth, from which the sun (Hutzilopochtli) emerges every day, driving away the moon and stars. At the same time, Coatlicue is the goddess of death, because. the earth devours everything that lives.

Coyolxauhqui - "Golden bells". Goddess of the earth and moon. Controls 400 Witznaun star deities. Possesses magical powers capable of inflicting colossal harm.

Cochimetl (Cochimetl) - the god of commerce, the patron of merchants (merchants).

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Mayahuel - in Aztec mythology, originally one of the goddesses of fertility, then the goddess who gave people the agave and the alcoholic drink octli. Goddess maguey (type of agave). It turned into a magway, instilling a longevity spell in the plant. Depicted as a woman with 400 breasts.

Macuilxochitl - "5 flower". God of music and dance. God of spring, love and fun, patron of the arts. Another name is Shochipilli.

Malinalxochi is Huitzilopochtli's sister. A sorceress with power over scorpions, snakes, and other stinging and biting desert insects.

Metztli is the moon god.

Meshtli (Mextli) - the main god of the Mexicans, who gave the name of the country. He is often associated with Huitzilopochtli. Hundreds of people were sacrificed to him every year. Meshitli was the god of war and storms.

Mictlan (Mictlan) - in Aztec mythology, the underworld, divided into nine levels. The last level of the underworld, located in the north. All souls, with the exception of warriors who fell in battle, women and children who died during childbirth (they went to Tonatiuichan or the "House of the Sun"), and drowned people (they ended up in Tlalocan), fell into it, where they found eternal rest. However, to get to Mictlan, the souls had to make a journey full of dangers. During the funeral, the dead were endowed with magical powers and, with the help of the god Xolotl, they could successfully reach Mictlan. The journey there took four days. The deceased had to pass between two mountains that threatened to crush him, while avoiding the attack of a snake and a giant crocodile, cross eight deserts, climb eight mountains, endure the frosty wind that threw stones and obsidian blades at him. The last obstacle - the dead man crossed a wide river on the back of a small red dog. Having reached the ruler of Mictlan - Mictlantecuhtli, the deceased offered him his gifts and received his place in one of the nine hells.

Mictlantecuhtli - "Lord of the Realm of the Dead". In the mythology of the Aztecs, the lord of the afterlife (underground) world and the underworld, was depicted as a skeleton or with a skull instead of a head with protruding teeth; his constant companions are a bat, a spider and an owl. His wife is Mictlancihuatl. According to myths, Quetzalcoatl descended to the 9th underworld to Mictlantheculi for the bones of the dead in order to create new people. Knowing that Mictlantecuhtli was distrustful and prone to deceit, Quetzalcoatl, having received the request, rushed to run. Angry, Mictlantecuhtli pursued him and ordered the quail to attack the creator god. In a hurry, Quetzalcoatl stumbled, fell on the bones, broke them and with difficulty slipped out of the underworld, carrying off the prey. Having sprinkled the bones with his blood, Quetzalcoatl created people, but since the broken bones were of different sizes, men and women differ in height.

Mictlancihuatl - wife of Mictlantecuhtli, goddess of the underworld.

Mixcoatl (Mixcoatl) - "Cloud Serpent", Istak Mixcoatl - "White Cloud Serpent", Camashtli - god of stars, polar star, hunting and wars, and clouds, father of Quetzalcoatl. Initially among the Chichimecas, Michcoatl was a deity of the hunt, revered in the form of a deer. Later, the Aztecs are associated with the cults of Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl and are considered as the progenitor of the Nahua tribes. Sometimes in myths he is the hypostasis of Tezcatlipoca - he kindled the first fire, using the vault of heaven for this, which he spun around the axis like a drill. He is the son of Cihuacoatl and the father of Xochiquetzal, as well as Huitzilopochtli, born of Coatlicue. Depicted with a spear thrower (atlatl) and darts in his hands. He killed Itzpapalotl ("obsidian butterfly").

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Nagual (Nagual) - a patron spirit in the form of an animal or plant. To determine the Nagual, sand was scattered near the hut of the newborn; the footprints that appeared in the morning indicated the animal. Each god and man has his own nagual, with whom he shares his fate until death. For example, Huitzilopochtli's nagual is a hummingbird, Quetzalcoatl's is a feathered snake, Tezcatlipoca's is a jaguar, Tonatiu's is an eagle.

Nahual (Nahual) - patrons (defenders) of mortals. They are made of the same matter as mortals. Every mortal has a nahual to watch over him.

Nanauatzin is a god who sacrificed himself so that the sun could continue to shine. Patronizes the brave and courageous people.

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Omacatl (Omacatl) - "2 reed". God of holidays and pleasures. It is one of the aspects of Tezcatlipoca. At one of the festivities, a figurine of a god was made from maize, and then they ate it.

Omecihuatl is the creator goddess. Ometekutli's wife. In Aztec mythology, there were two progenitors of all things - the goddess Omesihuatl and her husband Ometekutli.

Ometecuhtli - "2 Lord". Creator god, god of fire. He occupied the highest place in the Aztec pantheon of gods. Lord (or asexual master) of duality and unity of opposites. He did not have a clear cult and the center of his cult, but it is believed that he was present in every ritual and in every thing around the world.

Ometeotl is the deity of opposites. He combined both the feminine and the masculine.

Opochtli - "he who divides the water", the ancient Chichimec god of fishing, hunting and bird trapping. Perhaps he was worshiped back in Astlan.

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Paynal (Paynal) - "hurried", Huitzilopochtli's messenger.

Patecatl (Patecatl) - "He is from the country of medicines", the god of healing, fertility and alcoholic drink octli - "lord of the pulque root" - is the personification of the herbs and roots necessary for the preparation of octli. Husband of the goddess Mayahuel, together they are the parents of the Sentzon Totochtin ("400 Rabbits"). Depicted with an ax and a shield or with an agave leaf and a digging stick in his hands. He was originally a deity of the Huastecs.

Popocatepetl (Popocatepetl) - a young warrior who fell in love with Istaxiuatl, the daughter of the ruler. The gods, taking pity on them, turned them into mountains of the same name.

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Centzon Totochtin - "400 rabbits". A group of debauched and drunken deities.

Centzonuitznaua - the gods of the southern stars. They are the brothers of the sun god Huitzilopochtli, who opposed him.

Sivatateo (Civatateo) - the mention of these vampires goes back to Aztec mythology, it is believed that they served the gods. So, they have the magical powers of the priests. All of them are noble women who died during childbirth and returned to earth. These creatures sneak up on travelers at crossroads and hide in temples or churches. They look terrible (wrinkled, shriveled), and they are white as chalk. They often have painted heads of the dead or other glyphs on their clothes and on their bodies (tattoos).

Sinteotl (Centeotl) - "God of corn", the deity of young corn. He is the son of Tlasolteotl and is sometimes mentioned as the husband of Xochiquetzal. He was depicted as a young man with a bag filled with corn cobs behind his back and a digging stick or cobs in his hands. In some myths, he appears in a female form. In ancient times, before the Olmecs, Sinteotl was revered by all the inhabitants of Mesoamerica under various names; the Aztecs borrowed his cult from the Huastecs. He was considered the patron of farmers and goldsmiths who lived in Xochimilco.

Cipactli (Cipactli) - in Aztec mythology, the very first sea monster, having the appearance of both a fish and a crocodile, from which the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca created the earth. Tezcatlipoca sacrificed his leg for this monster. Another personification of the earth - Tlaltecuhtli, who had the appearance of a half-toad, half-alligator, was male; according to some myths, Cipactli is the wife of Tlaltecuhtli.

Citlalatonac is the creator god. With his wife, Citlalicue created the stars. It is one of the incarnations of Tonacatecuhtli.

Citlalicue - "Clothes of the Stars". Creator Goddess. Sitlalatonak's wife.

Ciucoatl is the goddess of the earth.

Cihuacoatl (Snake Woman). One of the oldest deities in the mythology of the Indians of Central America. Mother goddess of earth, war and childbearing, mother of Mixcoatl. The patroness of childbirth and women who died during childbirth, as well as the patroness of midwives and the mistress of siuateteo. She assisted Quetzalcoatl in the creation of the first people of this era, who are created from the bones of the people of the previous era and the blood of the old gods who sacrificed themselves for this purpose. Depicted as a young woman with a child in her arms or in white clothes, with a skull instead of a head, armed with a spear thrower and a shield; sometimes two-headed. Her cry signals the beginning of the war. The cult of Cihuacoatl was especially popular in the form of Tonatzin, and the center of her cult was in the city of Culuacán.

Ciuteoteo (Ciuteoteo) - spirits of the underworld, living under the patronage of Cihuacoatl. In the form of eagles, they lower the sun from the sky when it is at its zenith, home to the underworld, bringing illness to children. They are also the souls of women who died in their first childbirth or those who were warriors.

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Talokan is the home of the Aztec gods.

Tacatecutli is the god of merchants and travelers.

Tamats (Tamats) - the god of wind and air masses of the peoples of the Mexican Valley.

Tenoch - in the mythology of the Aztecs, a cultural hero, the son of the god Istac-Mishcoatl. In the image of Tenoch, legends about a historical person, the leader of the Aztecs during their resettlement in the Mexico Valley, merged. Under him, the Aztecs founded their capital on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco, named Tenochtitlan in his honor.

Tecciztecatl - "Old god of the moon". The god of the moon, representing her masculine aspect. He was depicted as an old man carrying a large white sea shell on his back.

Teoyaomqui is the god of dead warriors, one of the gods of death. Also known as Wowantly.

Tepeyollotl (Tepeyollotl) - "the heart of the mountains", the god of the earth, mountains and caves. It is his fault that earthquakes occur and it is believed that the echo is also created by him. His totem is a jaguar.

Tezcatlipoca (Tezcatlipoca) - in the mythology of the Aztecs and Mayans, one of the three main gods; patron of priests, punishing criminals, lord of the stars and cold, lord of the elements, causing earthquakes; he is the god-demiurge and at the same time the destroyer of the world. God of the night and everything material in the world, god of the northern side of the world. He carries with him a magical mirror Itlachiayaque - "The place from which he looks", which incenses with smoke and kills enemies, and therefore he is called a "smoking mirror" (Tezcatl - mirror, Ipoka - smoking). Even in this mirror, he sees everything that is happening in the world. And in his right hand he holds 4 arrows, symbolizing the punishment that he can send to sinners of people. As the lord of the world and natural forces, he was an opponent of the spiritual Quetzalcoatl and sometimes acted as a tempter of people. Punishing evil and encouraging good, he tested people with temptations, trying to provoke them to commit sin. He was also the god of beauty and war, the patron of heroes and beautiful girls. Once he seduced the goddess of flowers Shochiketsal, the wife of the god Shochipilli, because she was very beautiful, to match him. Still quite often he was perceived as a sorcerer, changing images and the god of mystical powers. Tezcatlipoca also has the following incarnations: Moyocoyatzin - "The Fickle Creator", Titlacahuan - "He whose slaves we are", Moquequeloa - "Mockingbird", Moyocoyani - "Creator of himself", Ipalnermoani - "Lord of Nearby and Night" and Nahuaque - "Night Wind".

Teteoinnan is the mother of the gods. Hypostasis Tlazolteotl.

Titlakauan (Titlacauan) - one of the images of the god Tezcatlipoca. Sahagún mentions that the sick worshiped Titlakauan in the hope of his mercy. At the crossroads of all roads, stone seats called Momuztli were placed, decorated with flowers (which were changed every 5 days) in honor of one of the most revered deities.

Tlaloc (Tlaloc) - "Forcing to grow", the god of rain and thunder, agriculture, fire and the south side of the world, the lord of all edible plants; the Mayans have Chak, the Totonacs have Tahin, the Mixtecs have Tsavi, and the Zapotecs have Cosiho-Pitao. His cult spread from the 2nd century. BC, displacing the more ancient cult of Quetzalcoatl. Tlaloc was depicted as anthropomorphic, but with owl eyes or circles (in the form of stylized snakes) around the eyes (sometimes such circles were placed on his forehead), with jaguar fangs and snake curls in front of his nose. On the head of Tlaloc there is a jagged crown, the body is black, in the hands is a snake-like staff (lightning bolt) planted with teeth, or a maize stalk, or a jug of water. According to the Aztecs, Tlaloc is a beneficent deity by nature, but can cause floods, droughts, hail, frosts, lightning strikes. It was believed that he lives on the tops of mountains or in a palace above the Gulf of Mexico, where clouds form. In his dwelling, in the courtyard, in each of the four corners there is a large jug, which contains beneficial rain, drought, plant diseases and destructive downpours (therefore, Tlaloc was sometimes depicted as a jug). The priests considered him to be a single deity, but, according to earlier popular beliefs, there were many individual dwarf-shaped Tlalocs ("rain boys") who ruled over rain, mountain peaks, hail and snow; they controlled rivers and lakes. Frogs and snakes were associated with Tlaloc. Tlaloc sent people rheumatism, gout and dropsy. Therefore, those killed by lightning, drowned people, lepers and gouty fell into Tlalocan (his possession in the sky). Tlalocan had an abundance of water, food and flowers. Tlaloc's first wife was Xochiquetzal and then Chalchiutlicue; and according to some myths, he is considered the father of the moon god Tekquiztecatl. Depictions of Tlaloc are innumerable, as he enjoyed an unusually wide veneration. The Aztecs performed rituals in his honor on the deep pools of Lake Texcoco. Every year many children were sacrificed to him by drowning them in water. On Mount Tlaloc, near Tenochtitlan, a large statue of Tlaloc was erected from white lava with a depression in the head. In the rainy season, the seeds of all edible plants were invested there. Tlaloc was the lord of the 3rd of the 5 Aztec world eras.

Tlaltecuhtli - "Lord of the Earth". An earthly monster that had the appearance of a half-toad, half-alligator; according to some myths, the wife of Tlaltecuhtli is Cipactli.

Tlalchitonatiuh is the god of the rising sun of the peoples of the Mexican Valley.

Tlasolteotl (Tlazolteotl) - "Goddess - devourer of dirt (excrement)". Goddess of the earth, fertility, sex, sexual sins and repentance (hence her name: devouring dirt, she cleanses humanity of sins); mistress of the night. According to legend, she got her name like this - one day she came to a dying man who confessed his sins, and she cleansed his soul by eating all the "dirt". Tlasolteotl - one of the oldest deities of Mesoamerica, goes back to the "goddess with braids"; the Aztecs probably borrowed her cult from the Huastecs. She is also known by other names: Tosi ("our grandmother"), Tlalli-ipalo ("heart of the earth"), Ishkuina, Teteoinnan ("mother of the gods"), Chikunawi-acatl ("nine reeds"), etc. Tlasolteotl was portrayed sometimes naked, sometimes in clothes; distinctive features - a nasal insert in the form of a crescent, a headdress made of quail feathers with a piece of cotton wool and two spindles, the color of the face is yellow; her symbol is a broom or a man absorbing excrement. At the festival in her honor, a girl was sacrificed, a jacket was made from her skin, which was worn by a priest who personified the goddess. This was followed by her symbolic reunion with the god of war and the sun Huitzilopochtli and the birth of the god of young maize. During the years of drought, Tlasolteotl (in the guise of Ishkuina) sacrificed a man. Having tied him to a post, they threw darts at him (the dripping blood symbolized rain). Tlasolteotl was considered the patroness of sinners.

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli - "Lord of the morning dawn (dawn)". God of the morning star - the planet Venus. It is believed that he was another incarnation of Quetzalcoatl.

Tlillan-Tlapallan (Tlillan-Tlapallan) - 2nd level of 3rd level heaven. A place for the souls of those people who knew the wisdom of Quetzalcoatl.

Tloquenahuaque (Tloquenahuaque), Tloque Nahuaque - "He who contains everything in himself", Ipalnemouani - "The one we all live" - ​​the supreme deity. Initially, he is one of the epithets of the creator god Tonacatecuhtli and the god of fire Xiuhtecuhtli, later the Texcoco priestly school began to personify him with the supreme creative spirit and erected a special temple for him, but without the image of Tloque Nahuake.

Tonacacihuatl is the wife of the creator god Tonacatecuhtli.

Tonacatecuhtli - "Lord of our existence", the god who gives food to people. He brought order to the world (when it was created), dividing the sea and the earth. Together with his wife, Tonacasihuatl were considered the creators of the world, the first divine and human couple, the parents of Quetzalcoatl, the lords of Omeyokan - the uppermost (13th) sky. Tonacatecuhtli and his wife had no special cult. The Maya Tonacatecuhtli - the supreme deity, was born in both female and male guise at the same time. His name translates as "being in the center" and symbolizes the fixed point of the center of the moving ring, where everything is balanced, is in balance and rests peacefully.

Tonantzin - "Our mother", mother goddess. Known as Cihuacoatl.

Tonatiuh (Tonatiuh) - "Sun", Kuautemoc - "Descending Eagle", Pilzintekutli - "Young Lord", Totek - "Our Leader", Shipilli - "Turquoise Prince". In Aztec mythology - the god of the sky and the sun, the god of warriors. Those who died in the service had eternal life ahead of them. He governs the 5th, current world age. He was depicted as a young man with a red face and fiery hair, most often in a sitting position, with a solar disk or half-disk behind his back. To maintain strength and preserve youth, Tonatiu must receive the blood of victims every day, otherwise he may die while traveling at night through the underworld, so every day his journey to the zenith was accompanied by the souls of sacrificed warriors who fell in battle. According to the Aztecs, the universe went through several eras during which various gods were the sun. In the current, fifth era, it was Tonatiu under the calendar name Naui Olin ("Four Movements"). The Aztecs had several myths about the origin of the sun, the most common was the following. After the creation of the world (or at the beginning of the fifth era), the gods gathered to decide which of them would become the god of the sun. To do this, they lit a fire, where the chosen one was supposed to rush, but everyone was afraid of the terrible heat. Finally, Nanahuatl ("Spangled with buboes"), suffering from a terrible disease, threw himself into the flames, where "began to crackle like meat roasted on coals." He was followed by Tequistecatl ("Located in a sea shell"), who tried to jump into the fire three times before Nanahuatl, but retreated from the unbearable heat. Nanahuatl became the sun, Tequiztecatl - the moon - the god Metzli. At first, the moon shone as brightly as the sun, until one of the gods, annoyed by this, threw a rabbit at her. Since then, Metzli has been depicted as a black disc or water vessel with a rabbit on it. Tonatiu is the patron of the union of "eagle warriors", his symbol is an eagle. The cult of Tonatiu was one of the most important in Aztec society.

Toci is the mother goddess of other gods, earth and healing.

Tochtli is the god of the south.

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Wowantli - see Teoyaoomkui.

Huitzilopochtli - “Hummingbird of the south”, “he is from the south”, “hummingbird of the left side”, “left-handed hummingbird”. He was originally a tribal god of the Aztecs (the hummingbird often acts as the personification of the sun among many Indian tribes of Central America). Huitzilopochtli promised the Aztecs that he would lead them to a blessed place where they would become his chosen people. This happened under the leader Tenoch. Later, Huitzilopochtli takes on the features of more ancient gods, as well as the features of the sun god Tonatiu and Tezcatlipoca (sometimes acting as his double). He becomes the god of the blue clear sky, the young sun, war and hunting, a special patron of the emerging Aztec nobility. In some variants of the myth, Huitzilopochtli is associated with the old fertility deities. During the solemn holidays held twice a year, a huge image of Huitzilopochtli was made from bread dough with honey; this image after religious rites was broken into pieces and eaten by all participants in the holiday. In other myths, Huitzilopochtli appears as a warrior who daily defeats the forces of the night and does not allow them to kill the sun; hence his connection with the cult associations of "eagle warriors". Huitzilopochtli was depicted anthropomorphically wearing a hummingbird-beak helmet made of gold, with a shield in his left hand, decorated with five white balls of down in the shape of a cross and four arrows sticking out of it, and a bow or spear thrower and darts. In his right hand he holds a club in the form of a snake, painted blue. He has gold bracelets on his wrists and blue sandals on his feet. He was also depicted as a hummingbird, or with hummingbird feathers on his head and on his left leg, and with a black face, holding a snake and a mirror in his hands. He is the son of Coatlicue. According to legend, he cut off his sister Coyolxauqui's head and threw it into the sky, where she became the moon. Huitzilopochtli is one of the more revered deities of the Aztecs; bloody human sacrifices were offered to him; in honor of Huitzilopochtli, a temple was built in Tenochtitlan. The sanctuary at the top of this temple was called Lihuicatl Xoxouqui (Blue Sky). Duran tells that in the temple there was a wooden statue of Huitzilopochtli sitting on a blue bench. Serpents propped up the bench in the corners. The headdress of the statue was made in the shape of a bird's beak. And a curtain was always hung in front of his face, testifying to reverence for him. In Texcoco, as well as in Tenochtitlan, on top of the main temple there were two sanctuaries - dedicated to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli. The statue in the sanctuary depicted a young man covered with a cloak of feathers, with a necklace of jade and turquoise, and with numerous golden bells. The statue was wooden, the body was covered with blue paint, and the face was painted with stripes. The hair was made of eagle feathers, and the headdress was made of quetzal feathers. The head of a hummingbird was carved into his shoulder. His feet were painted and decorated with golden bells. In his hands he held a spear thrower with darts and a shield adorned with feathers and covered with gold stripes.

Huixtocihuatl (Huixtocihuatl) - “Salt woman”, in the Aztec and pre-Aztec mythology was the goddess of fertility. Goddess of salt and salty waters. One of the sources calls Huxtocihuatl the wife of the death god Mictlantecuhtli. She was considered the patroness of debauchery. According to some reports, she is the older sister of Tlaloc. She was depicted in clothes covered with wavy lines, with a white shield and a reed staff in her hands.

Ueuecoyotl - "Old, old coyote." The god of sex and unbridled fun, songs and dances, one of the incarnations of Makuilshochitl (Shochipili); by origin, obviously, the deity of the Otomi tribe. He was depicted as a seated coyote or in an anthropomorphic form with musical instruments in his hands. He was the patron saint of troublemakers and those who spread rumors.

Huehueteotl - "Old God", the god of fire. Another name for the god is Xiuhtecuhtli.

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Tzitzimime - the god(s) of the stars.

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Chalmecacihuilt is the goddess of the underworld.

Chalmecatecuhtli is the god of sacrifice.

Chalmecatl is the god of the underworld.

Chalchiuhtlatonal is the god of water.

Chalchiuhtlicue - “She is dressed in jade”, Matlalqueye - “She is dressed in blue”. In the mythology of the Aztecs - the goddess of fresh water, flowing waters - controls all the waters on earth. Wife of Tlaloc, sister of Tlalocs, mother of Senzon-Mimishkoa (stars of the northern part of the sky). Identified young beauty and passion. It was depicted as a river from which a prickly pear tree grew full of fruits, symbolizing the human heart. Either was depicted as a young woman sitting in the middle of a stream, wearing a headdress of blue and white ribbons, with two large strands of hair along her cheeks. She arranged a flood (in punishment for sinners), which destroyed the fourth world. She was the patroness of water travelers.

Chalchiutotolin (Chalchiutotolin) - "Bird, adorned with jewels", the god of epidemics, diseases. One of the hypostases of Tezcatlipoca.

Chantico - "She who lives in the house." Goddess of the fire of the hearth and the fire of volcanoes. When she broke the ban on eating paprika (red pepper) on fasting days and ate fried fish with paprika, Tonacatecuhtli turned her into a dog.

Chikomecoatl (Chicomecoatl) - "7 snakes", the goddess of maize in the classical period of the life of the Aztecs. Sometimes called the "goddess of food", the goddess of abundance, she was the female aspect of corn. Every September, a young girl representing Chicomecoatl was sacrificed. The priests beheaded her, collected her blood and poured it over the statue of the goddess. Next, the skin was removed from the corpse, which the priest put on. They portrayed (described) her in different ways: a girl with water flowers; a woman whose embrace meant death; and a mother who carries the sun with her as a shield. She is the counterpart of the maize god Sinteotl, their symbol is an ear made of corn. Sometimes she is called Shilonen.

Chicomexochtli is the god and patron of artists.

Chiconahui is the goddess of the hearth and the guardian of the family.

Chiconahuiehecatl (Chiconahuiehecatl) - an insignificant creator god.

Chicomostok - “seven caves”, in Chichimec mythology - the legendary ancestral home, the starting point of the wanderings of many tribes.

W
Shilonen (Xilonen) - “Mother of young maize”, Shkanil (“maize” in Quiche) - goddess of young corn, patroness of the poor. It is also called "covered with hair", alluding to the fleecy ear of corn. In the middle of summer, people were sacrificed in her honor in order to propitiate her and reap a good harvest of maize. She is the wife of Tezcatlipoca. Depicted as a girl dressed in a yellow and red dress.

Shipe-Totec (Xipe Totec) - “Our lord with the skin removed”, “Our leader is skinned”, Tlatauki Tezcatlipoca - “Red Tezcatlipoca”, Itztapaltotec - “Our leader of the flat stone”. In the mythology of the Aztecs - a deity that goes back to the ancient deities of spring vegetation and sowing, the patron of goldsmiths. Mystical god of agriculture, spring and the seasons. Xipe-Totec was associated both with the spring renewal of nature, and with the harvest and with the intoxicating drink octli. Its symbol is death and the rebirth of nature. For the growth of both maize and people, he cut his flesh and offered it to the people as food (just like planted maize seeds, shedding their outer shell before germinating). After shedding his old skin, he appears as a rejuvenated, shiny and golden god. In his honor, people were sacrificed every year at the beginning of spring. All the peoples of Central America had such a holiday with the rite of sacrifice to Xipe-Toteku, on which the priests, dressed in the skin of the sacrificed people, solemnly danced along with the soldiers who captured the prisoners. These rituals symbolize the rebirth of the earth. Xipe-Totek was also the god of the western side of the world. It is believed that it is he who sends diseases, epidemics, blindness and scabies to people. Most often, he was depicted wearing a jacket made of flayed human skin, laced up at the back; the arms of the victim hang from the elbows with spread fingers. On the face is a mask made of human skin (double lips resulting from this are characteristic), on the head is a conical hat with two decorations in the form of a swallowtail, in the hands is a figured rod with a rattle at the top and a shield. In the process of syncretization, Xipe-Totec merged with Tezcatlipoca in the form of his red incarnation. The Zapotec considered him the patron saint of their nation. According to Sahagun, the Xipe Totec cult originated from Zapotlan, a city in the state of Jalisco.

Xiuhcoatl - "Fire Serpent". The personification of drought and scorched earth.

Xiuhtecuhtli - “Lord of the Year”, in Aztec mythology the god of fire, the lord of volcanoes. The cult of Xiuhtecuhtli and his image are attested as early as pre-Olmec times. He was the god of fire, both heavenly and underground, cruel, all-devouring, but at the same time the god of the hearth, as evidenced by his other names and hypostases: Tsonkastli (“yellow-haired”), Kuesaltsin (“flame”), Tota (“our father ”), Huehueteotl (“a very old god”), Tlalshiktenika (“sitting in the navel of the earth”), “mother of the gods, father of the gods”, etc. He is the personification of light in darkness, warmth in cold and life in death. Among the Aztecs, he was depicted with a face painted half red, half black, the head decoration was two reeds or a butterfly; in his hands is either a rod or a shield, or a copal (smoking resin) and a censer. At feasts, his statue was always brought last, as he is old and walks very slowly. As the god of light and fire, he was also depicted with a red or orange face with an incense burner on his head. His wife is called Chalchiutlicue, although in other myths she is considered the wife of Tlaloc. At the end of the 52-year cycle, people were afraid that the gods would destroy them, and in order to appease the gods, they held holidays in their honor, where Xiuhtecuhtli (as the god of fire) was in special honor at these celebrations (in the center of attention). Hearts torn from the bodies of the victims roasted on coals were dedicated to him.

Xocotl - god of fire and stars.

Xolotl (Xolotl) - among the Toltecs and Aztecs, he is the god of light and the guide of the dead to Miktlan. The Aztecs consider him the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl. As the lord of the evening star and the personification of Venus, he “pushes” the sun across the ocean, causing sunset, and then guards the sun’s journey through the underworld all night. Xolotl is depicted either as a skeleton or as a man with a dog's head.

Xochiquetzal - “Flower Feather”, Seatl - “One Water”, Masateotl - “Deer Goddess”. In Aztec mythology - the goddess of love, flowers, fertility, pregnancy, household chores. Goddess of the earth, flowers, plants, games and dances, but mostly the goddess of love. Patronizes artisans, prostitutes, pregnant women and childbearing. It was originally associated with the moon. She is the most charming in the Aztec pantheon, and her retinue consists of butterflies and birds. Usually depicted as a young woman in a plaid skirt, with two braids or two tufts of quetzal feathers in her hair. Shochiketsal is one of the later incarnations of the “goddess with braids”, so the myths about her are very diverse: she is the first woman who came with Pilzintekutli (aka Tonatiu) from the earthly paradise of Tamoanchan; in other sources, Xochiquetzal is the wife of Tlaloc, abducted from him by Tezcatlipoca; mother of the first celestial twins Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl; the wife of Macuilxochitl or Xochipilli (or twin sister of the flower lord). Spanish sources of the 16th century. compare it with the Roman Venus. Among the Aztecs, Xochiquetzal was considered the patroness of wives, weavers, lovers, artists, whores, sculptors. Every 8 years, festivities were held in her honor, where participants wore flower masks and animal masks.

Xochipilli (Xochipilli) - "Lord of Flowers". God of flowers, maize, love, games (including the ball), beauty, songs, dances and fun. Husband of Mayahuel and twin brother of Xochiquetzal, son of Tlazolteotl. It is often associated with Macuilxochitl ("5 flowers"). He was depicted as a young man sitting among flowers and butterflies, with a scepter in his hands, on the sharp end of which human hearts were strung. He was considered the patron saint of artists, singers, weavers, musicians and ball players.

E
Ehecatl (Ehecatl) - "Wind", the god of the winds. He organized the movement of the sun across the sky and swept (by blowing on them) the roads of Tlaloc, which are high in the sky. As one of the incarnations of Quetzalcoatl, he brings life to everything lifeless. He gave love to mankind after he himself fell in love with the young woman Mayahuel. Their love is symbolized by the beautiful tree that grows in the place where they set foot on earth.

I
Yacatecuhtli - "Lord of the way", the god of traveling merchants.

Yaotl - "Enemy", the hypostasis of Tezcatlipoca.

Sources

Anonymous authors. Codex Magliabecca / Ed. and trans. V.N. Talakha, S.A. Kuprienko. - K.: Vidavets Kuprienko S.A., 2013. - 202 p. - ISBN 978-617-7085-04-0.
Anonymous author. Code of Mendoza / Ed. and trans. S. A. Kuprienko, V. N. Talakh .. - K .: Vidavets Kuprienko S.A., 2013. - 308 p. - ISBN 978-617-7085-05-7.
Presbyter Juan; Antonio Perez; fray Pedro de los Rios (glosses). Mexican Manuscript 385 "Code Telleriano-Remensis" (with additions from the Codex Rios) / Ed. and trans. S. A. Kuprienko, V. N. Talakh .. - K .: Vidavets Kuprienko S.A., 2013. - 317 p. - ISBN 978-617-7085-06-4.
Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Fernando de. The history of the Chichimec people, its settlement and substantiation in the country of Anahuac .. www .. - per. from Spanish - V. Talakh, Ukraine, Kyiv, 2010. Retrieved March 23, 2010. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.

Literature

// Mythological Dictionary / Ch. ed. E. M. Meletinsky. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - 672 p.
Tales of the Suns. Myths and historical legends of the Nahua / Ed. and trans. S. A. Kuprienko, V. N. Talakh .. - K .: Vidavets Kuprienko S.A., 2014. - 377 p. - ISBN 978-617-7085-11-8.
Talakh V.N., Kuprienko S.A. America is original. Sources on the history of the Maya, Nahua (Azteks) and Incas / Ed. V. N. Talakh, S. A. Kuprienko .. - K .: Vidavets Kuprienko S.A., 2013. - 370 p. - ISBN 978-617-7085-00-2.

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In Mayan mythology, Ah Puch is the god of death and the lord of the underworld, the worst of the nine hell realms. Usually Ah Puch was depicted as a skeleton or a corpse, or in an anthropomorphic form with a skull instead of a head, black cadaveric spots on the body; his headdress is shaped like an owl's head or a caiman's head. The Maya had a large number of death gods, their names vary depending on the tribes in which they are attested. The most frequently mentioned are: Kumhav (among the Yucatan Maya), Kisin (among the Lacandons), Pukukh (among the Tzeltals), Ma As Amkuink (among the Kekchi), Ah Alpuh (among the Quiche), and others. All of them lived in the underworlds (usually the number of these there are nine worlds). Their iconographic appearances are different. Even today, many indigenous peoples of Central America believe that the owl screams, predicting imminent death, according to a proverb in Spanish: cuando el tecolote canta ... el indio muere (when the big owl sings, the Indian dies).

Cavil

Cavil (Kauil), one of the supreme gods of the Maya, the lord of the elements, causing earthquakes, possibly the god of thunder. Its connection with the war is obvious, its permanent attribute is the ax-celt. He was the patron of the ruling dynasty of the largest Mayan cities. For example, the names of some Tikal, Calakmul, Karakol, Narankh and Kopan rulers contained the name of this deity. A feature of Cavil's iconography is that one of his legs was always depicted as a snake. The scepter of supreme power in many major Mayan cities was an image of this god. Items associated with Cavil - incense burner, mirror. In Aztec mythology, it corresponds to Tezcatlipoca.

Camaxtli

Camaxtli is the god of the stars, the polar star, hunting, war, clouds and fate. The creator of fire, he kindled the first fire, using the vault of heaven for this. One of the four gods who created the world. Father of Quetzalcoatl. Initially, among the Chichimecs, Camashtli was the deity of hunting, revered in the form of a deer. Later, the Aztecs associated with the cults of Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl. Sometimes in myths he is synonymous with Mixcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl - “a snake covered with green feathers” or “the precious father of snakes sweeping away roads”, in the mythology of the Indians of Central America, one of the three main deities, the creator god of the world, the creator of man and culture, the lord of the elements, the god of the morning star, twins, patron of the priesthood and science, ruler of the capital of the Toltecs - Tollana. He had many hypostases, of which the most important are: Eekatl (god of the wind), Tlayiskalpantekytli (god of the planet Venus), Xolotl (god of twins and monsters), Se-Akatl and others. Quetzalcoatl is the son of Mixcoatl and Chimalmat. The first images of Quetzalcoatl found in Olmec sculpture date back to the 8th - 5th centuries. BC e. During this period, Quetzalcoatl was the personification of the winds from the Atlantic, bringing moisture to the fields, and a cultural hero who gave people maize. In the 1st - 6th centuries. n. e. the cult of Quetzalcoatl spread throughout Central America. He became the supreme god, the creator of the world, the creator of people and the founder of culture. Quetzalcoatl gets food for people: turning into an ant, he penetrates into an anthill where maize grains are hidden, steals them and gives them to people. Quetzalcoatl taught people to find and process precious stones, build, create mosaics from feathers, follow the movement of stars and calculate dates using a calendar. In the same period, the functions of the patron of the priesthood also appear in Quetzalcoatl: according to myth, he is the organizer of sacrifices, fasts and prayers. In the subsequent period, Quetzalcoatl enters into a struggle with his antipode Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipoca seduces the old Quetzalcoatl, and he violates his own prohibitions: he gets drunk, enters into communication with his sister. With his subjects - the Toltecs there are misfortunes caused by the same Tezcatlipoca. The upset Quetzalcoatl leaves Tollan and goes into voluntary exile in the countries of the East, where he dies and his body is burned.

For almost eight centuries, Chernobyl was just a small Ukrainian town, but after April 26, 1986, this name began to denote the worst man-made disaster in the history of mankind. The very word "Chernobyl" bears the sign of radioactivity, the imprint of human tragedy and mystery. Chernobyl scares and attracts, and for many decades it will remain in the center of attention of the whole world.

Accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986 is the beginning of a new period in the relationship between man and the atomic nucleus. A period full of fear, caution and distrust.

An object: Power unit No. 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the city of Pripyat, Ukraine.

Victims: 2 people died during the disaster, 31 people died in the following months, about 80 in the next 15 years. 134 people developed radiation sickness, resulting in death in 28 cases. About 60,000 people (mostly liquidators) received high doses of radiation.

Causes of the disaster

An unusual situation has developed around the Chernobyl disaster: the course of events of that fateful night on April 26, 1986 is known literally up to seconds, all possible causes of the emergency have been studied, but it is still unknown what exactly led to the explosion of the reactor. There are several versions of the causes of the accident, and over the past three decades, the disaster has acquired a lot of speculation, fantastic and frankly delusional versions.

The first months after the accident, the main blame for it was placed on the operators, who made a lot of mistakes that led to the explosion. But since 1991, the situation has changed, and almost all charges against nuclear power plant personnel have been dropped. Yes, people made several mistakes, but they all corresponded to the reactor operation regulations in force at that time, and none of them were fatal. So, the low quality of regulations and safety requirements was recognized as one of the causes of the accident.

The main causes of the disaster lay in the technical plane. Many volumes of investigations into the causes of the disaster boil down to one thing: the exploded RBMK-1000 reactor had a number of design flaws, which, under certain (rather rare!) conditions, turn out to be dangerous. In addition, the reactor simply did not comply with many nuclear safety regulations, although it is believed that this did not play a special role.

The two main causes of the disaster are considered to be a positive vapor reactivity coefficient and the so-called "end effect". The first effect boils down to the fact that when water boils in the reactor, its power increases sharply, that is, nuclear reactions begin to take place in it more actively. This is due to the fact that steam absorbs neutrons worse than water, and the more neutrons, the more active the uranium fission reactions are.

And the "end effect" is caused by the design features of the control and protection rods used in the RBMK-1000 reactors. These rods consist of two halves: the upper one (7 meters long) is made of neutron-absorbing material, the lower one (5 meters long) is made of graphite. The graphite part is necessary so that when the rod is pulled out, its channel in the reactor is not occupied by water, which absorbs neutrons well, and therefore can worsen the course of nuclear reactions. However, the graphite rod did not displace water from the entire canal - approximately 2 meters of the lower part of the canal were left without a displacing rod, and therefore filled with water.

It is known that graphite absorbs neutrons much worse than water, and therefore, when completely pulled out rods are lowered in the lower part of the channels, nuclear reactions do not slow down due to the sharp displacement of water by graphite, but, on the contrary, sharply accelerate. That is, due to the “end effect” in the first moments of lowering the rods, the reactor is not shut down, as it should be, but on the contrary, its power increases abruptly.

How could all this lead to disaster? It is believed that the positive steam reactivity coefficient played a fatal role at the moment when the power of the reactor was reduced, and at the same time the speed of the circulation pumps was also reduced - because of this, the water inside the reactor began to flow more slowly and began to evaporate rapidly, which caused an acceleration of the flow of nuclear reactions. In the first seconds, the increase in power was controlled, but then it acquired an avalanche-like character, and the operator was forced to press the button for the emergency lowering of the rods. At that moment, the “end effect” worked, in a fraction of a second the power of the reactor increased abruptly, and ... And an explosion thundered, almost putting an end to not all nuclear energy, and leaving an indelible mark on the face of the Earth and in the hearts of people.

Chronicle of events

The accident at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred so rapidly that until the last seconds all control devices remained operational, thanks to which the entire course of the disaster is known literally to fractions of seconds.

The shutdown of the reactor was scheduled for April 24-26 to carry out scheduled preventive maintenance - this is, in general, a common practice for nuclear power plants. However, very often during such shutdowns, various experiments are carried out that cannot be carried out with the reactor running. Just one of such experiments was scheduled for April 25 - testing the “turbine generator rotor run-down” mode, which in principle could become one of the reactor protection systems during emergencies.

This experiment is very simple. Turbogenerators of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are units consisting of a steam turbine and a generator that generates electricity. The rotors of these units are combined, and their total mass reaches 200 tons - such a colossus, accelerated to a speed of 3000 rpm, after the steam supply is stopped, can rotate for a long time by inertia, only due to the acquired kinetic inertia. This is the “run-out” mode, and theoretically, it can be used to generate electricity and power circulation pumps when regular power sources are turned off.

The experiment was to show whether the turbogenerator was able to supply power to the pumps in the "coast" mode until the emergency diesel generators returned to normal operation.

From April 24, the reactor power gradually began to decrease, and by 0.28 on April 26, it was possible to bring it to the required level. But at that moment, the reactor power dropped to almost zero, which required the immediate lifting of the control rods. Finally, by 1:00 a.m., the reactor power reached the required value, and at 1:23:04, with a delay of several hours, the experiment was officially launched. This is where the problems started.

The turbogenerator in the "runaway" mode stopped faster than expected, which caused the speed of the circulation pumps connected to it to drop. This led to the fact that the water began to pass more slowly through the reactor, boil faster, and a positive vapor coefficient of reactivity intervened. So the power of the reactor began to gradually increase.

After some time - at 1:23:39 - the instrument readings reached critical values, and the operator pressed the emergency protection button AZ-5. The completely withdrawn rods began to sink into the reactor, and at that moment the “end effect” worked - the reactor power increased many times, and after a few seconds an explosion thundered (more precisely, at least two powerful explosions).

The explosion completely destroyed the reactor and damaged the building of the power unit, a fire started. Firefighters quickly arrived at the scene of the accident, who by 6 o'clock in the morning completely coped with the fire. And in the first two hours, no one imagined the scale of the catastrophe and the degree of radiation contamination. Already an hour after the start of the extinguishing, many firefighters began to show symptoms of radiation damage. People received large doses of radiation, and 28 of the firefighters died of radiation sickness in the following weeks.

Only at 3:30 am on April 26, the radiation background at the crash site was measured (because at the time of the accident, the standard control devices were out of order, and compact individual dosimeters simply went off scale), and an understanding came of what actually happened.

From the first days after the explosion, measures began to eliminate the consequences of the disaster, the active phase of which lasted several months, and in fact lasted until 1994. During this time, over 600,000 people took part in the liquidation work.

Despite the powerful explosion, the bulk of the contents of the nuclear reactor remained at the site of the destroyed fourth power unit, so it was decided to build a protective structure around it, which later became known as the Sarcophagus. The construction of the shelter was completed by November 1986. The construction of the "sarcophagus" took over 400 thousand cubic meters of concrete, several thousand tons of a mixture attenuating radioactive radiation and 7,000 tons of metal structures.

Explosion

Until now, disputes have not stopped about the nature of the explosion of the reactor at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Many experts agree that the explosion was similar to a nuclear one. That is, an uncontrolled chain reaction began in the reactor, similar to what happens when a nuclear bomb is detonated. These reactions lasted a fraction of a second, and did not turn into a full-fledged nuclear explosion, since the entire contents of the reactor were ejected from the mine, and the nuclear fuel dissipated.

However, the main explosion of the reactor was facilitated by an explosion of a different nature - steam. It is believed that due to the avalanche-like growth of steam generation inside the reactor, the pressure increased many times (in fact, by 70 times), which ripped off the multi-ton plate that covered the reactor from above, like a lid on a pan. As a result, the reactor was completely dehydrated, uncontrolled nuclear reactions began in it, and an explosion.

A different version of what happened was proposed by Konstantin Pavlovich Checherov, a man who devoted more than 10 years to analyzing the causes of the Chernobyl disaster, during which he personally examined virtually every meter of the reactor shaft and the reactor hall of the fourth power unit. In his opinion, due to an emergency shutdown of the pumps, the temperature in the lower part of the reactor rose sharply, the pipelines (the water pressure in them reached 70 atmospheres) broke, and as a result, the entire reactor, like a colossal jet engine, was thrown out of the shaft up into the reactor hall . And already there, under the roof of the hall, there was an explosion that had a nuclear nature, but a relatively small power - about 0.01 kilotons. This explosion destroyed the roof and walls of the reactor hall. That is why virtually all the fuel (90-95%) was ejected from the reactor shaft. Checherov's version for a long time contradicted the official position and therefore remained (and remains) practically unknown to a wide circle.

To imagine the scale of the disaster, you need to understand what the RBMK-1000 reactor is. The basis of the reactor is a concrete shaft with dimensions of 21.6 × 21.6 × 25.5 m, at the bottom of which lies a steel sheet 2 m thick and 14.5 m in diameter. A cylindrical graphite stack rests on this slab, pierced by channels for fuel elements, coolant and rods - in fact, this is the reactor. The diameter of the masonry reaches 11.8 m, the height is 7 m, it is surrounded by a shell with water, which serves as additional biological protection. From above, the reactor is covered with a metal plate with a diameter of 17.5 m and a thickness of 3 m.

The total mass of the reactor reaches 5000 tons, and all this mass was simply thrown out of the mine by the explosion.

Consequences of the Chernobyl accident

The Chernobyl disaster is in the forefront of the most serious man-made accidents in the history of mankind. It had such disastrous consequences that even now - almost 30 years later - the situation remains very difficult.

The explosion of the reactor led to monstrous radiation contamination of the area. At the time of the accident, the reactor contained about 180 tons of nuclear fuel, of which from 9 to 60 tons were released into the atmosphere in the form of aerosols - a huge radioactive cloud rose above the nuclear power plant and settled over a large area. As a result, significant territories of Ukraine, Belarus and some regions of Russia were subjected to pollution.

It should be noted that the main danger is not uranium itself, but highly active isotopes of its fission - cesium, iodine, strontium, as well as plutonium and other transuranium elements.

In the first hours after the accident, its scale remained unknown, but already on the afternoon of April 27, the entire population of the city of Pripyat was hastily evacuated, in the following days people were taken out first from the 10-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and then from the 30-kilometer one. To this day, the exact number of people evacuated is unknown, but according to rough estimates, about 115,000 people were evacuated from more than a hundred settlements in the whole of 1986, and in subsequent years more than 220,000 people were resettled.

Subsequently, around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in a 30-kilometer zone, the so-called “exclusion zone” was created, in which a ban on all economic activity was introduced, and in order to prevent the return of people, almost all settlements were literally destroyed.

Interestingly, even now in some contaminated areas, there are over-permissible levels of radioactive isotopes in the soil, plants and, as a result, in cow's milk. This situation will be observed for several more decades, since the half-life of cesium-137 is 30 years, and that of strontium-90 is 29 years.

Over time, the radioactive background in the contaminated areas generally decreases, but this effect has unexpected manifestations. It is known that during the decay of radioactive elements, others are formed, and they can be either less or more active. So, during the decay of plutonium, ameretium is formed, which has a higher radioactivity, therefore, over time, the radioactive background in some areas only grows! It is believed that in the contaminated territories of Belarus, due to the increase in the amount of ameretium, by 2086 the background will be 2.5 times greater than immediately after the accident! The only reassurance is that the bulk of this background is alpha radiation, from which it is relatively easy to protect yourself.

The terrible consequences of the accident caused mass dissatisfaction with nuclear energy, people simply became afraid of nuclear power plants! This led to the fact that in the period from 1986 to 2002 not a single new nuclear power plant was built, and the construction of new power units at existing plants was either frozen or completely stopped. And only the last ten years there has been an increase in nuclear energy, but this applies more to Russia - a new blow was dealt by the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-1, and a number of countries have already announced the abandonment of nuclear energy (for example, Germany wants to completely abandon nuclear power plants by the 2030s).

The Chernobyl disaster also had some very surprising consequences. The exclusion zone has long been the subject of dark jokes about mutations and other scary things caused by radiation. But in fact, the situation in those areas is quite different. Almost 30 years ago, people left the 30-kilometer zone, and since then no one has lived there (with the exception of several hundred "self-settlers" - people who returned here, despite all the prohibitions), did not plow and did not sow, did not pollute the environment and did not dump waste. As a result, radioactive forests and fields have almost completely recovered, the populations of animals, including rare ones, have increased many times over, and the ecological situation has generally improved. Paradoxical as it may seem, but the radiation catastrophe was not an evil, but rather a boon for nature!

And, finally, Chernobyl brought to life a new socio-cultural phenomenon - stalking. The exclusion zone perfectly embodies the Zone created by the Strugatsky brothers in the novel Roadside Picnic. Since the beginning of the 90s, hundreds of “stalkers” have been drawn to close the territory, dragging everything that is bad, visiting abandoned cities and striving for the stalker “Mecca” - the post-apocalyptic city of Pripyat, forever frozen in the Soviet past. And no one knows what doses of radiation these unfortunate stalkers received, and what dangerous things they brought home.

Stalkerism acquired such proportions that the government of Ukraine was forced to adopt special legislative acts restricting people's access to the Exclusion Zone. But despite the increased control of the zone's borders and all the prohibitions, the newly-minted stalkers do not give up trying to get into the most mysterious region of the planet, covered with myths and legends.

The current situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Despite the disaster, the Chernobyl NPP resumed its work in the autumn of 1986: already on October 1, power unit No. 1 was launched, and on November 5, power unit No. 2. The launch of the third power unit was difficult because it was in close proximity to the emergency fourth, so he began work only November 24, 1987.

On the evening of October 11, 1991, a serious fire occurred at the second power unit, which actually put an end to the work of the station. On this day, the reactor of power unit No. 2 was shut down, later work began on its restoration, but they were never completed, and since 1997 the reactor has been officially shut down. The reactor of power unit No. 1 was shut down on November 30, 1996. The shutdown of the reactor of power unit No. 3 was carried out by the President of Ukraine on December 15, 2000 - this event was staged like a show and broadcast live.

So today, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not functioning, but work is being done on it to replace the “sarcophagus” (which is starting to collapse) with a new protective structure. In this regard, about 750 people continue to work on the territory of the station. The progress of work is broadcast around the clock on the official website of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant http://www.chnpp.gov.ua/.

On November 14, 2016, the process of moving the assembled new shelter began - in 4 days it should take its place above the destroyed power unit.

What has been done to prevent a disaster from happening again?

It is believed that the main causes of the Chernobyl disaster were the design flaws of the RBMK-1000 nuclear reactor. But these reactors were not only at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but also at several other stations - Leningrad, Smolensk and Kursk. Millions of people are in potential danger!

After the disaster, the question arose of modernizing all these reactors, which was done in subsequent years. Now 11 more RBMK-1000 reactors remain in operation, which no longer pose a danger, however, due to physical wear and tear and moral obsolescence, most of them will be decommissioned in 5-10 years.

Also, the Chernobyl disaster made it necessary to revise the regulations for the operation of reactors and tighten nuclear safety requirements. So, really serious safety measures at nuclear power plants were introduced only after 1986 - before that, it was believed that many accident scenarios were simply unthinkable, and fears were far-fetched.

To date, the global nuclear power industry has become one of the most high-tech industries in which special attention is paid to safety, equipment reliability and personnel training. And this was largely due to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which showed that the fission of the atomic nucleus is much more complicated and dangerous than the simple burning of coal.

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