The Hero Twins

The story of the Hero Twins is one of the most famous myths in Maya mythology and is featured in the Popol Vuh, a sacred text of the Quiché Maya that was created in the mid-1500s.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque were the names of the second set of hero twins, the first having been defeated in a ballgame in the underworld, where they were summarily sacrificed.

Their offspring had much better luck playing ball with the lords of the underworld, or Xibalba, and outsmarted the Xibalba lords and went on to progress from Hero Twins to becoming the sun and the moon.