bodleianlibs:not-bridget:bodleianlibs:The books of ancient Mexico record the cultures of its people
bodleianlibs:not-bridget:bodleianlibs:The books of ancient Mexico record the cultures of its people in pictorial language of great beauty and complexity.Across a roll of bark-paper, a continuous narrative may seem simultaneously a chronicle, liturgy, and map. To the European conquerors of the 16th century, these books seemed threatening. Most were destroyed, but a few were sent to Europe and later saved for study by men such as Thomas Bodley, William Laud, and John Selden.These five manuscripts, all preserved in Oxford since the 17th century, are the largest single group to survive together in one place. You can see them for free in Blackwell Hall until 3 July!This sounds like a fascinating exhibit but the notes are a bit misleading. The Maya were the only pre-Columbian civilization to become literate; the translation of the Mayan inscriptions is one of the great stories of 20th century scholarship. Most of the Mayan written literature was, indeed, burned by Spaniards, although some objected, even then. None of the exceedingly rare Mayan pre-Columbian codices may be found at the Bodlien. The Aztecs/Mexica & the Mixtecs created quite sophisticated & complex pictographic documents. Some pre-Columbian works are apparently part of this exhibit. But writing can be seen on at least one of these images. These could be scholarly notes added to pre-Columbian drawings, but most Aztec codices were created in the Colonial era, collaborations between native artists and Spanish priest scholars. The colonial era codices not only contain Aztec pictograms, but also Classical Nahuatl (in the Latin alphabet), Spanish, and occasionally Latin. Some are entirely in Nahuatl without pictorial content.Although there are very few surviving pre-conquest codices, the tlacuilo (codex painter) tradition endured the transition to colonial culture; scholars now have access to a body of around 500 colonial-era codices. Colonial-era Nahuatl language documentation is the foundational texts of the New Philology, which utilizes these texts to create scholarly works from the indigenous viewpoint.The Wikipedia article summarizes many of these valuable documents. More than a million Mexicans still speak various Nahuatl languages. Thanks for your notes, @not-bridget! There are indeed very few pre-Columbian or early Colonial pictorial manuscripts left in the world, and you’re right to bring attention to the fact that one has writing on it. The annotated book is the Codex Mendoza. It was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, first Viceroy of Mexico 1535-1550, for presentation to the Emperor Charles V of Spain. It contains, firstly, a copy of a lost chronicle of the Aztec lords of Tenochtitlan; secondly, a copy of the ancient Tribute Roll, listing 400 towns paying annual dues to the last Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma II; and thirdly, an account of Aztec life ‘from year to year’. The pictographs, by an Aztec artist, were annotated in Spanish by a Nahuatl-speaking Spanish priest who questioned native speakers as to their meaning.The text is essentially a record of the civilization the Spanish conquered, compiled for the court to consult in Europe. You can view it in more detail on our catalogue! -- source link
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