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MIXTEC CODICES
A. Mixtec Codices
1. Screenfold books on animal skins or bark paper with a thin
coat of fine lime plaster
a) could be stretched out to form a long mural
b) according to 17th century Dominican chronicler, the
screenfolds were hung as wall ornaments around the houses of
lords
2. Ancestral to Aztec documents
a) portrayal of gods is similar
b) geneological conventions also similar
3. Pictures painted in colors with black outlines
4. Pages read in boustrouphedon fashion
a) red lines indicate the sequence of reading
5. No portraits - persons identified by written names
6. Enlargement of head and breaking up of body into symbolic
units are important characteristics
7. Genealogical-historical codices (8)
a) Caso (1949) was the first to demonstrate that they all came
from the region of Oaxaca, and that they were genealogical
and historical in content
1) proved that rulers came from towns of Mixtec speakers in
Oaxaca
2) demonstrated that the history dated back to AD 692
a> pre-Dynastic (600-855)
b> 1st Dynasty (855-992)
c> 2nd Dynasty (992-1289) - Toltec
d> 3rd Dynasty (1289-1375) - Chichimec
e> 4th Dynasty (1375-1580) - Aztec and Conquest
3) give the geneologies of Tilantongo
b) Nuttall (Museum of Mankind, London)
1) initially owned by Englishman known as Lord Zouche
a> may have been sent by Cortes, who mentions two
(the other may be the Codex Vienna)
b> had once been in the Monastery of San Marco in Florence
c> sent to Rome, where it was interpreted as amusement for
children
d> sent to England during the second half of the 19th century
2) 47 pages on each side of screenfold, for a total of 94
a> 86 have painted images
3) brought to the attention of scholars by Zelia Nuttall
4) copied and published in full color in 1902
5) obverse gives genealogical information about Mixtec lords
from AD 838 to AD 1330
6) reverse is best source for life of 8 Deer
a> depicts story from first marriage of 8 Deer's father in AD
992 to sacrifice in AD 1050 of two individuals who had
sacrificed 8 Deer's half-brother
c) Bodley (Bodleian Library, Oxford)
1) facsimile published by Kingsborough
2) principally deals with dynastic genealogies
a> chronological account of several dynasties from mythological
origin in 692 up to about 1520 (eve of the Spanish Conquest
in Oaxaca)
d) Selden (Bodleian Library, Oxford)
1) facsimile published in 1831 in Kingsborough's "Antiquities
of Mexico"
2) presents "very single-minded" narrative of the rulers of one
town (place-name given as "Belching Mountain"), "omitting
information that is not important to these rulers and
excluding events that would not show them in the most
favorable light".
3) latest date in codex is AD 1556, and at least the last two
pages of the manuscript deal with persons alive at the time
of the Spanish Conquest
a> no indication of Spanish or cultural upheaval
e) Colombino (National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City)
1) deals in detail with part of the life of 8 Deer
2) Caso believes it is the earliest known, and suggests it
dates to the 13th century
f) Becker I and II (Museum fur Volkerkunde, Vienna)
1) Becker I
a> relates additional parts of 8 Deer's life as well as story
of 4 Wind "Fire Serpent"
b> Caso and Troike believe this is one with the Codex Colombino
2) Becker II
a> fragment with series of married couples
g) Vienna or "Vindobonensis" (Nationalbibliothek, Vienna)
1) obverse contains ritual or mythological information
2) reverse sets for genealogies which terminate by 1357
h) Sánchez Sol°s (British Museum, London)
1) genealogical manuscript
2) Mixtec manuscript, but shows more Valley of Mexico traits
than other manuscripts
a> may be from transitional region
i) Chronology
1) Nuttall, Colombino-Becker I, and Vienna obverse may date to
before 1350
a> Nuttall probably painted ca. 1330
2) Bodley, Selden, and Vienna reverse may date after 1350
a> Bodley painted ca. 1520
b> Selden painted in 1556
3) Becker II and SÝnchez Sol°s may date to ca. 1450-1550
8. Ritual codices (Borgia Group)
a) total of six
1) Borgia (Vatican Library, Rome)
2) Laud (Bodleian Library, Oxford)
3) FejÇrvÝry-Mayer (Liverpool Free Public Museum)
4) Cospi (University Library, Bologna)
5) Vaticanus B (Vatican Library, Rome)
6) Mexican Manuscript No. 20 (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris)
b) pertain to cosmology and ritual beliefs and practices based
on 260-day calendar
1) include dates in 52-year Calendar Round
c) debate as to origin
1) Puebla-Tlaxcala area suggested
2) Mixtec area also a good possibility
9. Writing system
a) Dates
1) "A-O" sign indicates year date
a> may signify sun-ray tied with a rope
b> accompanied by one of four day signs which function as
"year-bearers"
1> House, Rabbit, Reed, and Flint
2> combine with 13 numerals in a 52-year cycle
3> any given date may occur once every 52 years
2) correlation first done by Wigberto JimÇnez
a> differs from Aztec calendar by 12 years
b) Signs
1) persons
a> calendrical name
1> day on which they were born
2> 20 day signs combined with number from 1 to 13
b> personal name
1> given to child by priest at the age of seven
2> usually consist of two motifs
a: animals, birds, serpents, jewels, flowers, blood, flames,
ballcourts, sun disks, sky bands
b: rain deity ("Dzavui") appears most frequently
1: Mixtec call themselves "people of the rain deity"
c: fire-serpent
d: "earth man"
2) places
a> hill sign with other motifs
b> of several hundred place names, only about 20 have been
identified
1> Tilantongo ("black town", "house of the sky"
a: frieze with black-and-white geometric decorations
b: building with sky (eye = star) signs on the roof
2> Teozacoalco ("large platform")
a: frieze bent by small human figure
b: frieze with trefoil flower
3> Tututepec ("hill of the bird")
a: hill or stone with eagle whose beak contains a human chin
b: name in Mixtec is "yucu dzaa"
1: chin (dzaa) indicates that eagle head should be read as
"bird" rather than "eagle"
3) other signs
a> chevron band - enemy or warpath
4) construction
a> primary signs - straightforward depiction of word
b> associative signs - motif suggests other word
c> phonetic transfer - tone puns
d> phonetic indicators - clarify word represented by other sign
c) Symbols
1) speech scrolls
2) straw thrones and mats
3) footprints
d) Pictorial conventions
1) places
a> "place where something exists" = rectangular frieze with
multicolored geometrical patterns
b> hill = conventionalized picture of a hill
1> may have shape of slope or cave
c> plain or valley is rectangular mat of multicolored feathers
bound together by vertical bands (tone pun - "yodzo" means
plain or valley, also "large feather")
d> river = conventionalized cross-section of a river
e> buildings
2) portrayals of scene or event with little reference to
language
a> hill with arrow stuck in it
1> "to conquer" expressed by "to put an arrow into the lands of
another"
3) birth shown immediately or soon after marriage scene
a> Bodley and Selden show umbilical cords
4) death shown by mummy bundles or persons with closed eyes
5) capture represented by people held by hair
10. Known rulers
a) 8 Deer "Tiger Claw"
1) life story compiled by James Cooper Clark in 1912
2) most frequently depicted ruler
a> described in
1> Colombino-Becker I
a: almost entirely devoted to his life
2> Nuttall
a: one side devoted to his life
3> Bodley
a: only four pages
4> Selden
a: appears once as an "in-law"
1: three of his daughters marry members of main ruling line
depicted
3) ruler of Tilantongo and Tututepec-- most powerful towns in
the Mixteca Alta and coastal Mixteca region
a> second ruler of second dynasty of Tilantongo
b> born in 1011 and died in 1063
1> by the end of this time, Mixtecs were clearly under Toltec
influence
c> made journey to Tula in 1045
1> given Toltec nose button by Toltec king, man named 4 Jaguar,
or by chief priest 8 Death
2> may represent accession to throne under foreign auspices
d> marries five wives, all princesses of other towns
1> some were towns he had vanquished (and made sacrifices)
2> married 13 Serpent "Serpent of Flowers" in AD 1051 at the
age of 40
a: fathered 4 Dog "Tame Coyote" in 1058 and 4 Crocodile
"Serpent Ball of Fire" in 1060
e> visited place called "Hill of the Sun" in southern Puebla to
pay homage to an unknown king
f> attacks native town of last of his wives at age 52
1> captured and sacrificed
b) 6 Monkey "Serpent or Warband Quechquemitl"
1) life story compiled by Herbert Spinden
2) "quechquemitl" means garment
3) warband is chevron band
c) 4 Wind "Fire Serpent"
1) life summarized by Caso
a> son-in-law of 8 Deer
b> biography given more space in Bodley than anyone else
c> also mentioned in last few pages of Colombino-Becker I
d) 5 Flower
1) lived before AD 1269
2) identified with man buried in Tomb 1 at Zaachila
11. Interpretations
a) Chadwick feels that Toltec history was copied from the
Mixtec codices
1) story of Quetzalcoatl and Huemac in Tollan in the C¢dice
Chimalpopoca is actually the history of the First and Second
Dynasties of Tilantongo
a> related in Bodley, Selden, Vindobonensis, Nuttall, Becker,
and Colombino
2) Jimenez Moreno believes that Mixcoatl (may be Quetzalcoatl's
father) was 8 Deer Tiger Claw
b) Spinden suggested that the "stone men" in the Mixtec codices
may be Toltecs who conquered Mixtec region
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