amalacatl (FCbk6f23v)

amalacatl (FCbk6f23v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example of a whirlpool (probably an amalacatl, although not glossed as such) is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with other whirlpools and swirls of various kinds. The Digital Florentine Codex team keyworded this image as representing amalacayoh, which is close enough to what we are calling it.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Things that swirled caught the attention of Nahuas. The curling shape found in conch shells in a cross section was highly valued, as was the curling tail of a scorpion. Children born with two cowlicks received special attention (see Book 2 of the Florentine Codex). Twisted grasses were significant, and many serpents were painted with a coil in the middle. Nahuas perceived speech and other sounds (and smoke) to roll out in a volute. Perhaps these examples all link to a type of movement–such as that explored by James Maffie (Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion, 2014). See below for a few relevant examples of swirls.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Movement

Water

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

bird's eye view

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Keywords:

remolinos, torbelinos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

amalaca(tl), a whirlpool, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/amalacatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el remolino, o el torbelino

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 6: Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy", fol. 23v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/6/folio/23v/images/0 Accessed 3 July 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: