Chimalpopoca (Mdz4v)

Shields and smoke have war associations. Down feather balls are associated with death. The ihuiteteyo shield design has an association with Tenochtitlan. Chimalpopoca was the third emperor of the Aztec empire that was based at Tenochtitlan. The historical context for this name glyph shows that Chimalpopoca's eyes are closed, an indicator that he is deceased. This is also confirmed by the gloss, "difunto" (which is deceased in Spanish). The context also shows him sitting on a woven stool, wearing a tilmatli (cape), and wearing a native crown (xiuhhuitzolli)--all indicators of his status and authority as a ruler.

This seems to be a war shield of the ihuiteteyo design, discussed by Frances Berdan and Patricia Anawalt (The Codex Mendoza, 1992, vol. 1, Appendix G). It can come in different colors. Sometimes the symbols on this design are taken for shells. An article by Ian Mursell in Mexicolore and citing the same authors, reminds us that they are down balls, which have associations with death. He also paraphrases John Pohl, saying that the war shield was very personal, it "represented the warrior’s soul, and would generally be burned at the funeral of a dead man." We also learn from The Codex Mendoza: New Insights (2022, 24), that "the tlacuiloque drew and painted a total of eleven ihuiteteyo, one for each one of the rulers of the city."

Another example of a compound glyph for the name Chimalpopoca can be seen below. It includes arrows and has a different color scheme. It is from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis.