In the context of
creation myths, the term
Five Suns describes the doctrine of the
Aztec and other
Nahua peoples in which the present world was preceded by four other cycles of creation and destruction. It is primarily derived from the mythological, cosmological and
eschatological beliefs and traditions of earlier cultures from central Mexico and the
Mesoamerican region in general. The
Late Postclassic Aztec society inherited many traditions concerning
Mesoamerican creation accounts, while modifying some aspects and supplying novel interpretations of their own.