chimalli (FCbk8f33v)

chimalli (FCbk8f33v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring two war shields (chimalli) each with a different design, is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss. The shields are multicolored, both with a red rim around the circular component. The one on the left is blue with small white circular spots. It has a fringe (perhaps of yellow and red feathers) hanging down from the lower half of the circle. The other one has a white background with a blue triangle and two pairs of horizontal blue lines. Its hanging fringe is blue, gold, and red. A third shield with yet a different design appears in the contextualizing image.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

In the shields provided for comparison (below), one has a similar design (cuexyo, or cuexyoh with the glottal stop), even if the colors are not the same. There are other various cuexyo/cuexyoh shields in this collection, along with the xicalcoliuhqui stepped-fret design, among many more.

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:

Feathers

Gender (male)

War or Conflict

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

border (red, plain, or patterned)

circle, circular or rounded

fringed

Keywords:

escudos, rodela, rodelas, guerra, guerreros, plumas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chimal(li), a war shield, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chimalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el escudo

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 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 33v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/33v/images/0 Accessed 17 August 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: