Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of
Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were
Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other
Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the
Anahuac valley around
Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern
Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. There are different accounts of their origin. In the myth the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called
Aztlan, the last of seven
nahuatlacas (Nahuatl-speaking tribes, from
tlaca, "man") to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca." Other accounts cite their origin in
Chicomoztoc, "the place of the seven caves," or at
Tamoanchan (the legendary origin of all civilizations).