  This paper concerns rigidity of the mapping class groups. We show that any
homomorphism $\phi:{\rm Mod}_g\to {\rm Mod}_h$ between mapping class groups of
closed orientable surfaces with distinct genera $g>h$ is trivial if $g\geq 3$
and has finite image for all $g\geq 1$. Some implications are drawn for more
general homomorphs of these groups.
