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Codex Ríos

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Codex Ríos
Vatican Library
Folio 20r,[a] which depicts the deity Tláloc (central left) surrounded by calendrical symbols
Also known as
  • Indorum cultus, idolatria, et mores (transl. Worship, Idolatry, and Customs of the Indians)[3]: 108 
  • Codex Vaticanus A[4]: 272 
  • Codex Vaticanus 3738[4]: 272 
  • Copia vaticana[4]: 272 
Date16th century
Language(s)Italian
MaterialEuropean paper
Size46 cm × 29 cm (18 in × 11 in)
FormatFolio[3]: 108 
Contents

Codex Ríos, originally titled Indorum cultus, idolatria, et mores[b] and also known as Codex Vaticanus A, is a 16th-century Italian translation and augmentation of an Aztec codex, the precise identity of which remains uncertain. Its source may have been either Codex Telleriano-Remensis or Codex Huitzilopochtli, a hypothesised lost manuscript. The Italian annotations in Codex Ríos are attributed to Pedro de los Ríos, a Dominican friar working in New Spain between 1547 and 1562. The manuscript comprises seven subject-based sections, covering Aztec religion, cosmology, ethnography, a divinatory almanac, and history. Although based on earlier material compiled in New Spain, the manuscript was likely illustrated by an Italian artist in Rome before entering the Vatican Library, where it is still preserved.

Contents

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The manuscript, written on European paper, comprises 101 folios, each approximately 46 by 29 centimetres (18 in × 11 in) in size.[4]: 272  It is divided into seven sections, organised by subject, each separated by one or more blank folios.[5]: 138 

The first section addresses cosmological and religious traditions, which include the skies, prehispanic giants known as tzocuillixeque, and the previous four eras or cosmogonic suns (1v–7r), and the narratives of Aztec deities such as Quetzalcōātl (7v–11v).[5]: 138 [6]: 31 [7]: 36–37  The second is the tōnalpōhualli, a 260-day divinatory almanac that depicts ornately dressed deities and other supernatural beings thought to govern the destinies associated with each day (12v–33r).[5]: 138 [8]: 234  The third section presents the Aztec calendar tables covering the years 1558 to 1619, without any pictorial entries (34v–36r). The fourth is an 18-month festival calendar, accompanied by drawings of the deities as well as nēmontēmi symbols associated with each period (42v–51r). The fifth is a largely ethnographic section, which describes sacrificial as well as mortuary customs (54v–57r) and features portraits of Indigenous individuals (57v–61r).[5]: 138  The sixth section comprises pictorial chronicles dated from 1195 to 1549, beginning with the migration from Chicomoztoc—the mythical origin place of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of Mesoamerica—and continuing with events in the Valley of Mexico.[4]: 272  It includes representations of rulers, military campaigns, celestial phenomena, and other historical events (66v–94r).[5]: 138 [8]: 234  The seventh and final section contains glyphs for the years 1562 to 1566, without accompanying textual or pictorial entries (95r–96v).[4]: 272 

Source and authorship

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Cropped image from Codex Ríos (f. 87r), depicting a scene from the early years of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire[9]: 70 

The exact publication date of Codex Ríos is unclear.[4]: 272  It is one of the two Aztec pictorial manuscripts known to have been in the Vatican in the 16th century.[5]: 137–138 [c] Produced in Rome by a presumably Italian artist, the codex was based on an earlier Aztec source text, the precise identity of which remains uncertain. One hypothesis suggests that Codex Telleriano-Remensis was its model; however, the pages concerning the early years of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire are missing from Codex Telleriano-Remensis, whilst Codex Ríos preserves material depicting that period.[9]: 69–70  A view common in the 19th century held that Codex Ríos had been copied from Codex Telleriano-Remensis before those pages were lost. The opposite scenario—that Codex Telleriano-Remensis was copied from Codex Ríos—is implausible, as the former appears to be the work of multiple Indigenous artists, whereas the latter displays the uniform style of a single individual.[5]: 136 

The cursive Italian annotations in Codex Ríos are attributed to Pedro de los Ríos, a Dominican friar active in New Spain between 1547 and 1562. He is known to have been present in Oaxaca during the Zapotec uprising of 1547, a millenarian rebellion influenced by indigenous prophecies. Maarten Jansen, a Dutch scholar of Mesoamerican history, has hypothesised that Codex Ríos had been copied from Codex Telleriano-Remensis shortly before Ríos's death (before 1565) and was sent to Italy, entering the Vatican Library before 1600, where it is still preserved.[10]

An alternative theory proposes that both manuscripts derived from a hypothesised lost Aztec codex.[4]: 272  R. H. Barlow, an American scholar of Mesoamerican cultures, coined the name Codex Huitzilopochtli for this putative source manuscript, referencing Huītzilōpōchtli, the solar deity who features at the outset of the migration narratives in both Codex Ríos and Codex Telleriano-Remensis.[5]: 137  However, although both codices document the Aztec calendar, Codex Ríos includes a more extensive range of religious content, whilst Codex Telleriano-Remensis is characterised by its unique treatment of the calendrical systems and historical material. According to Juan José Batalla Rosado, a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, this indicates that at least some parts of the two manuscripts may have been derived from distinct sources.[6]: 31 

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ In manuscript terminology, recto refers to the front side of a folio (the right-hand page when a book is open), and verso to the back side (the left-hand page).[1] Folios are typically cited using the folio number followed by r (recto) or v (verso), e.g., 7r, 7v.[2] For further details, see Recto and verso.
  2. ^ Latin for 'Worship, Idolatry, and Customs of the Indians'[3]: 108 
  3. ^ The identity of the other manuscript remains unknown.[5]: 137–138 

References

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  1. ^ "Recto". ABAA Glossary of Terms. Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  2. ^ "Citation of a Manuscript: Advice". School of English and Drama. Queen Mary University of London. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Díaz, Ana (2020). "Dissecting the Sky: Discursive Translations in Mexican Colonial Cosmographies". In Díaz, Ana (ed.). Reshaping the World: Debates on Mesoamerican Cosmologies. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 9781607329534 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel (2007). "Nahuatl Literature". Handbook to Life in the Aztec World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195330830 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glass, John B.; Robertson, Donald (2015). "A Census of Native Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts". In Wauchope, Robert; Gibson, Charles; Nicholson, H. B.; Cline, Howard F. (eds.). Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volumes 14 and 15: Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, Parts Three and Four. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9781477306888 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ a b Batalla Rosado, Juan José (2017). "The Historical Sources: Codices and Chronicles". In Nichols, Deborah L.; Rodríguez-Alegría, Enrique (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199341962 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Marcocci, Giuseppe (2020) [2016]. "Genealogical Histories: Forging Antiquities from New Spain to China". The Globe on Paper: Writing Histories of the World in Renaissance Europe and the Americas. Translated by Bates, Richard. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192589569 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ a b Quiñones Keber, Eloise (1995). "Collecting Cultures: A Mexican Manuscript in the Vatican Library". In Farago, Claire J. (ed.). Reframing the Renaissance: Visual Culture in Europe and Latin America, 1450–1650. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300062953 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ a b Rabasa, José (2008). "Thinking Europe in Indian Categories, or, "Tell Me the Story of How I Conquered You"". In Moraña, Mabel; Dussel, Enrique D.; Jáuregui, Carlos A. (eds.). Coloniality at Large: Latin America and the Postcolonial Debate. Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822341697 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Jansen, Maarten E.R.G.N. (June 1984). "El Codice Ríos y Fray Pedro de Los Ríos" [The Codex Ríos and Fray Pedro de los Ríos]. Boletín de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe (in Spanish) (36): 69–82. JSTOR 25675214. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
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