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The Newberry Library in Chicago contains the single most important piece of Mesoamerican literature called Popol Vuh. The significance of the Popol Vuh is immense since it is one of a small number of early Mesoamerican mythological texts. It is a book created in the Classical Quiché language containing mythological narratives and a genealogy of the rulers of the old the Quiché kingdom of highland Guatemala. The original manuscript of the Popol Vuh written about 1550 has been lost to us. Luckily, a Spanish monk kept a handwritten copy in the early 18th century which survived and reached us.

The Popol Vuh is based on an original Maya codex written in the Mayan hieroglyphic script. It contains a creation myth followed by mythological stories of two Hero Twins:  Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The second part of the book deals with details of the foundation and history of the Quiché kingdom, tying in the royal family with the legendary gods in order to assert rule by divine right.

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