Codex Ríos, originally titled and also known as Codex Vaticanus A, is a 16th-century Italian translation and augmentation of an

Aztec codex Aztec codices ( , sing. ''codex'') are Mesoamerican Codices, Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztecs, Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the New Spain, colonial period in Mexico. Most of their content is ...

, the precise identity of which remains uncertain. Its source may have been either

Codex Telleriano-Remensis The ''Codex Telleriano-Remensis'', produced in sixteenth-century New Spain, Mexico on European paper, is one of the finest surviving examples of Aztec manuscript painting. It holds the earliest written evidence of earthquakes in Americas, the Ame ...

or the hypothesised Codex Huitzilopochtli. The annotations, written in cursive Italian, are attributed to

Pedro de los Ríos Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meani ...

, a

Dominican friar The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius ...

working in

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

between 1547 and 1562. The codex is organised into seven sections by subject, encompassing

Aztec religion The Aztec religion is a polytheistic and monistic pantheism in which the Nahua concept of '' teotl'' was construed as the supreme god Ometeotl, as well as a diverse pantheon of lesser gods and manifestations of nature. The popular religion te ...

, cosmology,

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

, a divinatory almanac, and pictorial chronicles. Although based on earlier material compiled in New Spain, the manuscript was likely illustrated by an Italian artist in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

before entering the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

, where it is still preserved.

The codex is written on European paper and comprises 101

folio The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...

s, approximately in size. It is divided into seven sections, organised by subject, with each section separated by one or more blank folios. The first section addresses cosmological and religious traditions, including depictions of the heavens, pre-Hispanic giants known as ''tzocuillixeque'', and the previous four eras or cosmogonic suns (1v–7r), as well as narratives concerning Aztec deities such as Quetzalcōātl (7v–11v). The second is the ''

tōnalpōhualli The (), meaning "count of days" in Nahuatl, is a Aztec, Mexica version of the 260-day calendar in use in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. This calendar is solar and consists of 20 13-day () periods. Each is ruled by a different deity. Graphic repr ...

'', a 260-day divinatory almanac that portrays ornately dressed deities and other supernatural entities thought to influence the fate linked to each day (12v–33r). The third section presents the

Aztec calendar The Aztec or Mexica calendar is the calendar, calendrical system used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian era, Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of Mexico, peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the bas ...

tables covering the years 1558 to 1619, without any pictorial content (34v–36r). The fourth is an 18-month festival calendar, accompanied by illustrations of deities and ''

nēmontēmi In the Aztec (Mexica) culture, the Nahuatl word refers to a period of five intercalary days inserted between the 360 days labeled with numbers and day-names in the main part of the Aztec seasonal calendar. Their location was roughly around ...

'' symbols associated with each period (42v–51r). The fifth is a primarily

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

section, describing sacrificial and funerary practices (54v–57r), and concludes with portraits of Indigenous individuals (57v–61r). The sixth section comprises pictorial chronicles spanning the years 1195 to 1549, beginning with the migration from Chicomoztoc—the mythical place of origin of the

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

-speaking peoples—and continuing with events in the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico (; ), sometimes also called Basin of Mexico, is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations including Teotihuacan, ...

. It includes representations of rulers, military campaigns, celestial phenomena, and other historical events (66v–94r). The seventh and final section consists of year glyphs for the period 1562 to 1566, without accompanying text or imagery (95r–96v).

Source and authorship

The exact date of Codex Ríos's production is unclear. It is one of the two

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

pictorial manuscripts known to have been held in the

in the 16thcentury. Produced in

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

was its model; however, the pages concerning the early years of the

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...

are missing from Codex Telleriano-Remensis, whilst Codex Ríos preserves material depicting that period. A view common in the 19thcentury 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. The cursive Italian annotations in Codex Ríos are attributed to

, a

active in New Spain between 1547 and 1562. He is known to have been present in

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

during the Zapotec uprising of 1547, a

millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism () is the belief by a religious organization, religious, social, or political party, political group or Social movement, movement in a coming fundamental Social transformation, transformation of society, after which ...

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

before 1600, where it is still preserved. An alternative theory proposes that both manuscripts derived from a now-lost

. R. H. Barlow, an American scholar of Mesoamerican cultures, coined the name ''Codex Huitzilopochtli'' for this hypothetical source, referencing

Huītzilōpōchtli Huitzilopochtli (, ) is the Solar deity, solar and war deity of sacrifice in Aztec religion. He was also the patron god of the Aztecs and their capital city, Tenochtitlan. He wielded Xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent, as a weapon, thus also associatin ...

, the solar deity who appears at the beginning of the migration narratives in both Codex Ríos and Codex Telleriano-Remensis. Although both codices document the

, Codex Ríos includes a broader 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 The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

, this indicates that at least some parts of the two manuscripts may have been derived from distinct sources.

Notes

References

External links

Manuscript Vat.lat.3738 (Codex Ríos) digitised at the Vatican Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Codex Rios 16th-century manuscripts Astrological texts Rios, Codex Italian-language manuscripts Manuscripts in the Vatican Library

Contents

Source and authorship

See also

Notes

References

External links