Tenochtitlan founding legend
E15258
The Tenochtitlan founding legend tells how the Mexica people established their capital on an island in Lake Texcoco after seeing a prophesied eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent, a scene now central to Mexican national symbolism.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Aztec migration narratives | 1 |
| Mexica migration period | 1 |
| Tenochtitlan founding legend canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T133212 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Tenochtitlan founding legend Context triple: [Mexican flag, symbolizes, Tenochtitlan founding legend]
-
A.
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was the early 16th-century military and political campaign led by Hernán Cortés that toppled the powerful Aztec civilization and brought central Mexico under Spanish colonial rule.
-
B.
Coyoacán
Coyoacán is a historic and culturally rich borough in southern Mexico City, known for its colonial architecture, cobblestone streets, and artistic heritage.
-
C.
Iztacalco
Iztacalco is one of the boroughs of Mexico City, known for its dense urban character, historic canals, and traditional neighborhoods.
-
D.
Historic Centre of Mexico City
The Historic Centre of Mexico City is a UNESCO-listed urban core renowned for its rich colonial architecture, pre-Hispanic and Spanish heritage, and role as the political and cultural heart of Mexico.
-
E.
Azcapotzalco
Azcapotzalco is a borough in the northwest of Mexico City known for its industrial zones, historic center, and pre-Hispanic heritage.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Tenochtitlan founding legend Target entity description: The Tenochtitlan founding legend tells how the Mexica people established their capital on an island in Lake Texcoco after seeing a prophesied eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent, a scene now central to Mexican national symbolism.
-
A.
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was the early 16th-century military and political campaign led by Hernán Cortés that toppled the powerful Aztec civilization and brought central Mexico under Spanish colonial rule.
-
B.
Coyoacán
Coyoacán is a historic and culturally rich borough in southern Mexico City, known for its colonial architecture, cobblestone streets, and artistic heritage.
-
C.
Iztacalco
Iztacalco is one of the boroughs of Mexico City, known for its dense urban character, historic canals, and traditional neighborhoods.
-
D.
Historic Centre of Mexico City
The Historic Centre of Mexico City is a UNESCO-listed urban core renowned for its rich colonial architecture, pre-Hispanic and Spanish heritage, and role as the political and cultural heart of Mexico.
-
E.
Azcapotzalco
Azcapotzalco is a borough in the northwest of Mexico City known for its industrial zones, historic center, and pre-Hispanic heritage.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Mesoamerican myth
ⓘ
Mexica legend ⓘ founding legend ⓘ origin narrative ⓘ |
| associatedWithDeity | Huitzilopochtli ⓘ |
| associatedWithPeople |
Mexica
ⓘ
surface form:
Aztecs
Mexica ⓘ |
| centralMotif | eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent ⓘ |
| culturalSignificance |
central to Mexican national identity
ⓘ
important in post-Conquest chronicles ⓘ |
| describesEvent |
Mexica migration ending at Lake Texcoco
ⓘ
recognition of a prophesied sign ⓘ |
| describesFoundingOf | Tenochtitlan ⓘ |
| geographicContext | Central Mexico ⓘ |
| hasVariant |
versions emphasizing a nopal cactus on a rock
ⓘ
versions without the serpent element ⓘ |
| includesAnimal |
eagle
ⓘ
serpent ⓘ |
| includesPlant | cactus ⓘ |
| influencedSymbol |
Mexican national coat of arms
ⓘ
surface form:
Mexican national emblem
Mexican national coat of arms ⓘ
surface form:
coat of arms of Mexico
flag of Mexico ⓘ |
| languageContext | Nahuatl oral tradition ⓘ |
| motivatesAction |
Mexica settlement on an island
ⓘ
founding of the Mexica capital ⓘ |
| narrativeTheme |
chosen people
ⓘ
divine guidance ⓘ search for a promised land ⓘ |
| prophecyLocation | island in Lake Texcoco ⓘ |
| recordedIn |
Codex Boturini
ⓘ
surface form:
Codex Aubin
Codex Boturini ⓘ Codex Mendoza ⓘ writings of Bernardino de Sahagún ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Aztlan origin myth
ⓘ
Mexica migration from Aztlan ⓘ |
| resultedInFoundingOf | Tenochtitlan ⓘ |
| setIn |
Lake Texcoco
ⓘ
Valley of Mexico ⓘ |
| symbolicMeaning |
legitimization of Mexica rule
ⓘ
triumph and resilience of the Mexica people ⓘ union of earth, water, and sky ⓘ |
| symbolizedBy | eagle on cactus with serpent ⓘ |
| timeOfCodification | post-Conquest period ⓘ |
| usedAs | foundational charter myth for Tenochtitlan ⓘ |
| usedIn |
Mexican civic iconography
ⓘ
Mexican patriotic discourse ⓘ Mexican school textbooks ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Tenochtitlan founding legend Description of subject: The Tenochtitlan founding legend tells how the Mexica people established their capital on an island in Lake Texcoco after seeing a prophesied eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent, a scene now central to Mexican national symbolism.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Aztec migration narratives
this entity surface form:
Mexica migration period