Aztec Codices Picture Writing We have found out a great deal about the Aztecs from studying painted...
22
Aztec Codices Picture Writing We have found out a great deal about the Aztecs from studying painted manuscripts called codices. They were made up of a single sheet of paper, made from the bark of the wild fig tree or from animal parchment. The images could be painted on flat sheets which could be rolled up or on long strips which were folded like a screen. The Aztecs wrote in pictures. There were rules for drawing people. The proportions were not normal. The head
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Transcript of Aztec Codices Picture Writing We have found out a great deal about the Aztecs from studying painted...
Aztec Codices
Picture Writing
We have found out a great deal about the Aztecs from studying painted manuscripts
called codices. They were made up of a single sheet of paper, made from the bark of the wild fig tree or from animal parchment. The images could be painted on flat sheets which could be rolled up or on long strips which were folded
like a screen. The Aztecs wrote in pictures. There were
rules for drawing people. The proportions were not normal. The head and feet were shown
from the side, while the body was shown from the front.
Codex Borbonicus
A scene from the Codex Borbonicus, which shows the gods Tlachitonátiuh and Xolotl, while on the right are the 8 to 13
days of the sixteenth series of the ritual series.
An excerpt from a scene depicting the 11th "week" of 13 days and nights ruled by the deity Patecatl, who was associated with
pulque, a fermented maguey beverage.
Florentine Codex
Page I, F, 6r. Human sacrifice
Page I, S, F. Yacatecuhtli,
god of the pochtecas
Page III, F, 3v Warfare
Page III, F, 3v, depicts the birth
of Huitzilopochtli
Page VIII, F, 4f. Moctezuma II
Page III, F, 34r. Warfare
Page IX, S, F. Pochtecas
Page IX, F, 5v
Page IX, F, 6r. Pochtecas
Page IX, F, 18v
Page X, F, 15r. Warfare
Page X, F, 25v.
Codex Mendoza
Spies and warriors Founding Tenochtitlan
Tribute
Tribute
Raising children within the family
Priest performing ritual
Codex Borbonicus was written by the Aztecs prior to the arrival of the Spanish
explorers.
Codex Florentino and Codex Mendoza were written by the Aztecs after the arrival of the
Spanish explorers. Looking carefully at them, you will notice commentary written in Spanish by the Spanish priest who came on
the expedition.
