Dante's heritage: questioning the multi-layered model of the Mesoamerican universe

Abstract Ancient Mesoamericans are generally thought to have imagined the universe stacked in vertical layers, not unlike the cosmic layers of Dante's Comedy. Dismantling this model, our authors show it to be based upon a post-conquest European-Aztec hybrid. This penetrating critique tracks the history of the hybrid cosmos from its first appearance through its resilient repetition until today.