Miguel León-Portilla

Mexican anthropologist and historian, and a major authority on Aztec thought and literature in the prehispanic and colonial eras. Many of his works have been translated to English and are widely read. The U.S. Library of Congress bestowed on him the Living Legend Award in 2013.

León-Portilla spearheaded a movement to understand and re-evaluate Nahuatl literature and religion, not only from the pre-Columbian era, but also that of the present day, especially since Nahuatl is still spoken by 1.5 million people. His works in English on literature include Pre-Columbian Literatures of Mexico (1986), Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World (2000), and with Earl Shorris, In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature, Pre-Columbian to the Present (2002). He also compared the literature of the Nahuas with that of the Inca. Another area of research was on indigenous religion and spirituality.

León-Portilla died in Mexico City on 1 October 2019, aged 93.