caltechtli (Osu12v)
This painting from the Codex Osuna, folio 12 verso (or Image 27), shows a wall (caltechtli). It is an iconographic example from a painted scene, included here for the purpose of making comparisons with Nahuatl hieroglyphs. This wall appears in a bird’s eye view with a slight elevation perspective, too. The wall is in an L-shape. Three layers of what are probably gray adobe bricks appear to comprise the wall, although there may have been additional layers that are not shown. Within the L-shape of the wall, against which they had been whipped, are two men lying on the ground. They both have white cotton capes that are tied at the shoulder. They both carry a staff of office, suggesting that they are members of the Indigenous town council. Their posture is not the usual dignified one, but rather shows how they had fallen after their whipping at the hands of the Spaniard, Dr. Vasco de Puga, who appears in the contextualizing image. Puga is attacking the topile (constable), Miguel Chichimecatl, probably after having whipped the two men that are lying on the ground.
Stephanie Wood
Esta pintura del reverso del folio 12 (imagen 27) del Códice Osuna nos muestra un muro (caltechtli) y es un ejemplo iconográfico de una escena pintada que incluimos en nuestra colección para poder compararlo con otros jeroglíficos nahuas. El muro se aprecia a vista de pájaro, tiene forma de ele mayúscula y parece estar compuesto de tres hileras de lo que probablemente sean ladrillos de adobe gris, aunque quizá haya habido hileras adicionales que no se plasmaron. Se aprecian dos hombres yacentes dentro del espacio delimitado por el muro, contra el cual recibieron una serie de azotes. Ambos visten con capas de algodón blanco atadas por los hombros y portan bastones de mando en las manos, lo cual nos indica que son miembros del cabildo indígena de la localidad. Su postura no muestra la dignidad que esperaríamos de ellos, sino que aparecen caídos después de su azotamiento a manos del Dr. Vasco de Puga, el español que aparece en la imagen contextual atacando al topile (alguacil, según Alonso de Molina: véase https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/topile) Miguel Chichimecatl.
Conflict, crimes, and punishments are not common in the Nahuatl hieroglyphic repertoire, but they do appear in pictorial scenes such as this one. See a few examples below, both hieroglyphic and iconographic. Some other examples of walls also appear below.
Stephanie Wood
Los conflictos, los delitos y los castigos no son temas habituales en el repertorio de los jeroglíficos nahuas, pero sí que aparecen en escenas ilustradas como esta. Véanse los ejemplos jeroglíficos e iconográficos más abajo, así como otros ejemplares de muros.
1551–1565
Jeff Haskett-Wood
paredes, construcción, arquitectura, conflictos, crimen, mal trato, españoles, topiles, crimen, castigo
caltech(tli), wall, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/caltechtli
la pared
Stephanie Wood
Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico (Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de México), https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
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