August 15, 2025 • 16 mins
Did a Viking arrive on the shores of Mayan Mexico 1,000 years ago? Who was the mythical Votan?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Welcome to Mexico Unexplained, where we will explore the magic,
the mysteries and the miracles of Mexico. This series presents
information based partly on theory and conjecture. The podcaster's purpose
is to suggest some possible explanation, but not necessarily the
only ones to the subjects we will examine. Here is
your host, Robert Bitto.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Welcome in Moui bian beneathos to episode number thirty two
of Mexico Unexplained, where we examined the magic, the mysteries
and the Miracles of Mexico. I'm your host, Robert Biddow.
Ancient contact between the Old World and the New World
Eurasia and Africa with the Americas has always been a
(01:17):
difficult road to go down. As soon as Europeans made
contact with the peoples in the Western Hemisphere, questions arose
not only about the nature of the people the Europeans encountered,
as in whether or not they had a soul or
were really completely human. Questions arose as to the origins
(01:39):
of these people, as ruins were uncovered of civilizations more
ancient than the ones initially contacted. The questions about Native
American origins intensified, people began looking for similarities between the
Old world and the New. Theories arose, and confirmation bias
(01:59):
set out in According to Wikipedia, confirmation bias is defined
as quote the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and
recall information in a way that confirms one's pre existing
beliefs or hypotheses while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities.
(02:23):
It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic
error of inductive reasoning. People display this bias when they
gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it
in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally
charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. People also tend
(02:47):
to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. Cognitive
bias plays an important role in the topic of today's episode,
the mysterious and oft maligned character from ancient Mexican myths
and legends called Votan. He has been plugged into many
(03:08):
different researchers, theories, and speculations about what happened in the
New World during times before the European conquest. On this
episode of Mexico Unexplained, we will ask the question who
was Votan and will explore some of the major theories
out there and how they relate to original sources. Within
(03:31):
the first decade of the Spanish conquest of the New World,
members of the clergy and royal officials began the task
of writing down everything they could about the newly conquered populations.
This served several purposes. The main reason why there was
such a push to document everything native, especially ruling structures
(03:55):
in religion, was so that the Spanish could better understand
how to summon pubjugate completely their newly conquered populations. Many
of the early Spanish chroniclers had a very poor understanding
of local languages and customs, and some interpretations of local
histories and local belief systems are off as a result.
(04:20):
The Spanish, who encountered living civilizations, some of which had
formal written languages and complex social structures, are often the
best sources from which to base further research. However, since
the conquest, these often fragmented and incomplete writings have been
(04:41):
augmented by modern scientific research, with specific emphasis on the
science of archaeology, to help piece together an accurate picture
of life in the Americas before the Europeans we will
look at first had chronicles of the Votan story, examine
any art, archaeological, or scientific evidence for Votan, and look
(05:04):
at some modern interpretations. The first documented account of the
Votan legend comes from the bishop of Chiappas, a man
named Fernando Nunias de la Vega. Bishop Nunius's seventeen o
two work titled Constituciones the ose Sanas de lobispaalo de
(05:25):
Chiapa Votan, was based on information taken from original indigenous
written texts and calendars from the area of the modern
Mexican state of Chiappas. We find that the person of
Votan lived in a great stone structure which he had
been ordered to build by his uncle. The building was
(05:48):
near the banks of the Usimacinta River in the kingdom
of Nachan, which was founded by Votan. The kingdom's territory
eventually extended across the mountains and jungles of Chiappas and
to the Pacific Ocean. The gods commanded Votant to divide
up the lands among the people. Votana is also noted
(06:11):
in the seventeen o two Nunias work as to have
been the one to give the ancient civilizations of Mexico
written language. Further, Nunia states that Votan, as the founder
of the royal house of cham or Snake, had many
descendants in Chiappas, and some still living at the time
of his writing. Votan here also sounds more like a
(06:35):
real historical person instead of a supernatural being. The bishop
also made mention that the current Chiappans were now all
faithful Christians, and, after having studied the Gospels for many years,
had claimed to be the sons of Noah of the
biblical flood story. The Nunias chronicle does not mention any
(06:58):
physical characteristics of Votan or where he supposedly came from.
Those and other pieces of information would be fleshed out
by future researchers and those putting forth alternative hypotheses. Voton
next makes his appearance in the Spanish written record in
(07:19):
a seventeen eighty six publication by a man named Antonio
del Rio. He took Bishop Nunius's writings and added to them,
throwing in his own speculations and theories. Del Rio wrote
about Votan's travels in the New World and his possible
connection to the ancient Middle East. He speculated that Votan
(07:41):
had come to Mexico after the destruction of the Tower
of Babel and had also connected Votant to Noah, much
as the native Chioppins themselves did eighty years before. Del
Rio's speculations may have come from hazy reports from local
Indians who had by then been many generations removed from
(08:03):
the conquest and out of touch with their own pre
Hispanic legends and histories, or they may have been part
of a fanciful embellishment on the part of del Rio.
During del Rio's time, a few decades before Mexican independence,
the ancient cultures of Mexico still had been poorly understood,
(08:24):
and there were many theories of the origins of the
native cultures at that time. During del Rio's era, similar
information about Votan was coming from a Spanish priest named
Ramon de Ordonne Siaguilar, who was assigned to the Maya
villages around the ruins of Plenke and Chiappus near the
(08:45):
border with Guatemala. He wrote a book titled Proban Save
Botan based on accounts of the locals, with some information
supposedly coming from actual descendants of Votan. In the book,
it details Votan's four voyages back and forth between the
Old world and the New World. In modern archaeology, Votan
(09:09):
has been associated with the Maya godd also known as
itsam Nah reptile house among certain Maya groups. He looks
like an old man with sunken cheeks and flowing robes
as a scribe would wear. He is tall. Sometimes he
is associated with wings on his head, along with a
(09:29):
flat obsidian disk in the middle of his forehead. The
ancient Maya prayed to him as a grantor of kuhul,
a sacred life force energy used for healing. Votan is
seen as a god of kings and a patron of
noble houses, and is associated with the third day of
(09:50):
the week on the Maya calendar. In the Maya creation story,
he also placed the third stone on the cosmic hearth,
from whence all warmth generates. In newly translated classical Maya writings,
this hearthstone is also called the water lily throne stone.
(10:13):
It was the Berlin born Alexander von Humboldt who first
made the connection between Votan and the Northern European myths
and legends. In the early nineteenth century, Von Homboldt was
first struck by the similarities between the name Votan and Woden,
the Anglo Saxon Germanic version of the Viking god Odin name.
(10:37):
Coincidences happened throughout the world and across many languages, but
looking at the Oden Woden connection to Votan, we see
some similarities that may go beyond coincidence. Votan is credited
with giving writing to the Mesoamericans, Odin gave Runic writing
to the Norse. Odin is pictured with wings on his
(11:01):
head and wearing robes. Wodin or Odin, as one of
the main gods of the ancient European legends, was also
known as a patron and helper of the ruling elite,
much like the Mexican Votan. The Proto Germanic word from
which Wodin originates is Wadaws, which means prophet. One of
(11:26):
Odin's other names in the North Sagas is Valtam, which
means the warrior. Perhaps the most curious coincidence which even
links the Votan Woden story to the modern age is
that the Mayan Votan was associated with the third day
(11:46):
on the Mayan calendar, our third day of the week, Wednesday.
In Old English, Woden's day was named for the Old
European god. Woden is our modern head humpte named for
the same person as this mysterious Maya god. Or is
this all just a coincidence? When serious scholarly researchers attached
(12:11):
to universities began exploring the connections between the Old World
and the New, the various theories and apparent connections between
the two areas of the world were slowly discounted, overturned,
ignored by the establishment, or dismissed as racism. The racist
shut down of much of the scholarly interest in the
(12:34):
Old and New World connections picked up intensity in the
nineteen sixties and almost became a kind of dogma by
the nineteen seventies. The view was that it was racist
to assume that the civilizations of the Americas were ceded
or even influenced by outside forces, because it negated native
(12:56):
genius and assumed that the ancient Americas could not have
pospis sssibly given rise to complex civilizations independently. It was
in the late nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies when
alternative or fringe theories began to emerge, and the pulp
press was full of books on explanations for the ancient
(13:18):
civilizations of the Americas as products of Old World contact,
the Lost Continent of Atlantis, or even extraterrestrials. The prolific
British writer Graham Hancock, who has written on a variety
of topics, including the mysteries of the Great Sphinx, the
(13:40):
connection of Mars to primitive Earth, and the Lost Continent
of Atlantis, mentions Voton in his nineteen ninety five book
The Fingerprints of the Gods. According to Hancock, Votan came
to Mexico from the East on a ship with an entourage.
(14:01):
Votan is described as a bearded, Nordic looking man dressed
in flowing robes, remarkably resembling the Viking god Odin. Many
people have discredited this work and the dozen or so
other books by Hancock, as pseudo archaeology and severely lacking
in any sort of scientific merit, even though his books
(14:25):
have sold well into the millions. As the pendulum swings
more academic publications are opening up to more scholarly research
about Old World and New World contact. Where this topic
was completely off limits a mere twenty years ago, investigators
are making some headway in the major journals and other
(14:48):
publications of merit. Perhaps one day we will be able
to come to conclusions about whether Votan was a real
Viking who made his way to ancient Man Mexico, or
if this story will be relegated to the heap of
pulp paperbacks touting pseudoscience and wishful thinking. Thank you once
(15:12):
again for listening to another episode of Mexico Unexplained. Remember
to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and
check out our YouTube channel, Mexico Unexplained. Please check out
our website for transcripts of past shows and to leave
a comment about what you just heard. We appreciate your
(15:33):
kind attention. Until next time, Thank you and gracias.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Thank you for listening to another episode of Mexico Unexplained
with host Robert Bitto. For show summary, relevant links, and commentary.
Please check out our website at Mexicouanexplained dot com. Like
us on Facebook and be a part of the conversation.
Addie on sant haste la vista
Welcome to Mexico Unexplained, where we will explore the magic,
the mysteries and the miracles of Mexico. This series presents
information based partly on theory and conjecture. The podcaster's purpose
is to suggest some possible explanation, but not necessarily the
only ones to the subjects we will examine. Here is
your host, Robert Bitto.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Welcome in Moui bian beneathos to episode number thirty two
of Mexico Unexplained, where we examined the magic, the mysteries
and the Miracles of Mexico. I'm your host, Robert Biddow.
Ancient contact between the Old World and the New World
Eurasia and Africa with the Americas has always been a
(01:17):
difficult road to go down. As soon as Europeans made
contact with the peoples in the Western Hemisphere, questions arose
not only about the nature of the people the Europeans encountered,
as in whether or not they had a soul or
were really completely human. Questions arose as to the origins
(01:39):
of these people, as ruins were uncovered of civilizations more
ancient than the ones initially contacted. The questions about Native
American origins intensified, people began looking for similarities between the
Old world and the New. Theories arose, and confirmation bias
(01:59):
set out in According to Wikipedia, confirmation bias is defined
as quote the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and
recall information in a way that confirms one's pre existing
beliefs or hypotheses while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities.
(02:23):
It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic
error of inductive reasoning. People display this bias when they
gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it
in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally
charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. People also tend
(02:47):
to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. Cognitive
bias plays an important role in the topic of today's episode,
the mysterious and oft maligned character from ancient Mexican myths
and legends called Votan. He has been plugged into many
(03:08):
different researchers, theories, and speculations about what happened in the
New World during times before the European conquest. On this
episode of Mexico Unexplained, we will ask the question who
was Votan and will explore some of the major theories
out there and how they relate to original sources. Within
(03:31):
the first decade of the Spanish conquest of the New World,
members of the clergy and royal officials began the task
of writing down everything they could about the newly conquered populations.
This served several purposes. The main reason why there was
such a push to document everything native, especially ruling structures
(03:55):
in religion, was so that the Spanish could better understand
how to summon pubjugate completely their newly conquered populations. Many
of the early Spanish chroniclers had a very poor understanding
of local languages and customs, and some interpretations of local
histories and local belief systems are off as a result.
(04:20):
The Spanish, who encountered living civilizations, some of which had
formal written languages and complex social structures, are often the
best sources from which to base further research. However, since
the conquest, these often fragmented and incomplete writings have been
(04:41):
augmented by modern scientific research, with specific emphasis on the
science of archaeology, to help piece together an accurate picture
of life in the Americas before the Europeans we will
look at first had chronicles of the Votan story, examine
any art, archaeological, or scientific evidence for Votan, and look
(05:04):
at some modern interpretations. The first documented account of the
Votan legend comes from the bishop of Chiappas, a man
named Fernando Nunias de la Vega. Bishop Nunius's seventeen o
two work titled Constituciones the ose Sanas de lobispaalo de
(05:25):
Chiapa Votan, was based on information taken from original indigenous
written texts and calendars from the area of the modern
Mexican state of Chiappas. We find that the person of
Votan lived in a great stone structure which he had
been ordered to build by his uncle. The building was
(05:48):
near the banks of the Usimacinta River in the kingdom
of Nachan, which was founded by Votan. The kingdom's territory
eventually extended across the mountains and jungles of Chiappas and
to the Pacific Ocean. The gods commanded Votant to divide
up the lands among the people. Votana is also noted
(06:11):
in the seventeen o two Nunias work as to have
been the one to give the ancient civilizations of Mexico
written language. Further, Nunia states that Votan, as the founder
of the royal house of cham or Snake, had many
descendants in Chiappas, and some still living at the time
of his writing. Votan here also sounds more like a
(06:35):
real historical person instead of a supernatural being. The bishop
also made mention that the current Chiappans were now all
faithful Christians, and, after having studied the Gospels for many years,
had claimed to be the sons of Noah of the
biblical flood story. The Nunias chronicle does not mention any
(06:58):
physical characteristics of Votan or where he supposedly came from.
Those and other pieces of information would be fleshed out
by future researchers and those putting forth alternative hypotheses. Voton
next makes his appearance in the Spanish written record in
(07:19):
a seventeen eighty six publication by a man named Antonio
del Rio. He took Bishop Nunius's writings and added to them,
throwing in his own speculations and theories. Del Rio wrote
about Votan's travels in the New World and his possible
connection to the ancient Middle East. He speculated that Votan
(07:41):
had come to Mexico after the destruction of the Tower
of Babel and had also connected Votant to Noah, much
as the native Chioppins themselves did eighty years before. Del
Rio's speculations may have come from hazy reports from local
Indians who had by then been many generations removed from
(08:03):
the conquest and out of touch with their own pre
Hispanic legends and histories, or they may have been part
of a fanciful embellishment on the part of del Rio.
During del Rio's time, a few decades before Mexican independence,
the ancient cultures of Mexico still had been poorly understood,
(08:24):
and there were many theories of the origins of the
native cultures at that time. During del Rio's era, similar
information about Votan was coming from a Spanish priest named
Ramon de Ordonne Siaguilar, who was assigned to the Maya
villages around the ruins of Plenke and Chiappus near the
(08:45):
border with Guatemala. He wrote a book titled Proban Save
Botan based on accounts of the locals, with some information
supposedly coming from actual descendants of Votan. In the book,
it details Votan's four voyages back and forth between the
Old world and the New World. In modern archaeology, Votan
(09:09):
has been associated with the Maya godd also known as
itsam Nah reptile house among certain Maya groups. He looks
like an old man with sunken cheeks and flowing robes
as a scribe would wear. He is tall. Sometimes he
is associated with wings on his head, along with a
(09:29):
flat obsidian disk in the middle of his forehead. The
ancient Maya prayed to him as a grantor of kuhul,
a sacred life force energy used for healing. Votan is
seen as a god of kings and a patron of
noble houses, and is associated with the third day of
(09:50):
the week on the Maya calendar. In the Maya creation story,
he also placed the third stone on the cosmic hearth,
from whence all warmth generates. In newly translated classical Maya writings,
this hearthstone is also called the water lily throne stone.
(10:13):
It was the Berlin born Alexander von Humboldt who first
made the connection between Votan and the Northern European myths
and legends. In the early nineteenth century, Von Homboldt was
first struck by the similarities between the name Votan and Woden,
the Anglo Saxon Germanic version of the Viking god Odin name.
(10:37):
Coincidences happened throughout the world and across many languages, but
looking at the Oden Woden connection to Votan, we see
some similarities that may go beyond coincidence. Votan is credited
with giving writing to the Mesoamericans, Odin gave Runic writing
to the Norse. Odin is pictured with wings on his
(11:01):
head and wearing robes. Wodin or Odin, as one of
the main gods of the ancient European legends, was also
known as a patron and helper of the ruling elite,
much like the Mexican Votan. The Proto Germanic word from
which Wodin originates is Wadaws, which means prophet. One of
(11:26):
Odin's other names in the North Sagas is Valtam, which
means the warrior. Perhaps the most curious coincidence which even
links the Votan Woden story to the modern age is
that the Mayan Votan was associated with the third day
(11:46):
on the Mayan calendar, our third day of the week, Wednesday.
In Old English, Woden's day was named for the Old
European god. Woden is our modern head humpte named for
the same person as this mysterious Maya god. Or is
this all just a coincidence? When serious scholarly researchers attached
(12:11):
to universities began exploring the connections between the Old World
and the New, the various theories and apparent connections between
the two areas of the world were slowly discounted, overturned,
ignored by the establishment, or dismissed as racism. The racist
shut down of much of the scholarly interest in the
(12:34):
Old and New World connections picked up intensity in the
nineteen sixties and almost became a kind of dogma by
the nineteen seventies. The view was that it was racist
to assume that the civilizations of the Americas were ceded
or even influenced by outside forces, because it negated native
(12:56):
genius and assumed that the ancient Americas could not have
pospis sssibly given rise to complex civilizations independently. It was
in the late nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies when
alternative or fringe theories began to emerge, and the pulp
press was full of books on explanations for the ancient
(13:18):
civilizations of the Americas as products of Old World contact,
the Lost Continent of Atlantis, or even extraterrestrials. The prolific
British writer Graham Hancock, who has written on a variety
of topics, including the mysteries of the Great Sphinx, the
(13:40):
connection of Mars to primitive Earth, and the Lost Continent
of Atlantis, mentions Voton in his nineteen ninety five book
The Fingerprints of the Gods. According to Hancock, Votan came
to Mexico from the East on a ship with an entourage.
(14:01):
Votan is described as a bearded, Nordic looking man dressed
in flowing robes, remarkably resembling the Viking god Odin. Many
people have discredited this work and the dozen or so
other books by Hancock, as pseudo archaeology and severely lacking
in any sort of scientific merit, even though his books
(14:25):
have sold well into the millions. As the pendulum swings
more academic publications are opening up to more scholarly research
about Old World and New World contact. Where this topic
was completely off limits a mere twenty years ago, investigators
are making some headway in the major journals and other
(14:48):
publications of merit. Perhaps one day we will be able
to come to conclusions about whether Votan was a real
Viking who made his way to ancient Man Mexico, or
if this story will be relegated to the heap of
pulp paperbacks touting pseudoscience and wishful thinking. Thank you once
(15:12):
again for listening to another episode of Mexico Unexplained. Remember
to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and
check out our YouTube channel, Mexico Unexplained. Please check out
our website for transcripts of past shows and to leave
a comment about what you just heard. We appreciate your
(15:33):
kind attention. Until next time, Thank you and gracias.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Thank you for listening to another episode of Mexico Unexplained
with host Robert Bitto. For show summary, relevant links, and commentary.
Please check out our website at Mexicouanexplained dot com. Like
us on Facebook and be a part of the conversation.
Addie on sant haste la vista
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