The Codices Azoyú I & II are two
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...
n pictorial
codices
The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
, painted in
Tlapa
Tlapa de Comonfort, often shortened to Tlapa and known as Tinda'i in Mixtec, is a city in the mountain region of the Mexican state of Guerrero. It also serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name.
"Tlapa" is a ...
around 1565. They were accidentally discovered in 1940 in the town of
Azoyú, after which they are named. Both codices depict and offer supporting evidence for the Mesoamerican belief of
nahualism.
Content
Codex Azoyú I
The larger of the two codices, where the most powerful ruler of the Tlachinollan Kingdom in
Guerrero
Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...
is depicted as a jaguar devouring a man and transforming into a god. The ruler, Quiyahuital Tecuhtli, satisfied conditions as a nahual, being a noble and born on the first day of the "Rain" calendar. Two regions of the Tlachniollan Kingdom were Tlapa and Tlachniollan until 1421 when a single ruler, likely being the god depicted, combined them into the one kingdom. This codex along with Codex Azoyú II and supplemental pictorial manuscripts known as the Humboldt Fragment 1 and the Lienzo de Tlapa show the reign of Lord Rain during approximately 1421 to 1564, and are thought to have been created for resolving issues of royal succession.
Codex Azoyú II
A compliment to Codex Azoyú I, pictures depict the jaguar sacrificing a man. Along with the other manuscripts mentioned above, a broader history of present-day Guerrero is depicted through the Tlapa-Tlachniollan development under the Rain God and eventual Spanish conquest.
Material Analysis
Present day material analysis conducted on the two codices supports the timeline depicted in the manuscripts. Researchers in
archaeological science detected gypsum and indigo fluorescence that corresponds with the types of dyes used in Mesoamerica, yet later portions of the codices also contained inorganic pigments commonly used in Europe during the second half of the sixteenth century.
These results are consistent with the idea that native Mesoamerican methods and European methods of dye creation and history recording were prevalent during the period of the codices birth. It is likely that Mesoamerican traditions in Tlapa-Tlachniollan existed during and succeeding Spanish conquest.
References
Azoyu
16th-century illuminated manuscripts
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