Cihuacoatl (FCbk4f59r)

Cihuacoatl (FCbk4f59r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This colorful painting shows an anthropomorphic female standing in a ¾ view, facing toward the viewer’s right. In her left hand she raises what looks like a gray woven staff, pointed at both ends. On her head is a white feathered headdress. Her face is red above the mouth and black on the lower half. She wears a triangular quechquemitl that is largely red with white and gray borders down to the point. A rectangular piece of fabric reinforces the V-neck. There is also a light -blue tunic over a light-blue skirt. Both have borders with slanting lines on the lower edges. A shield appears in front of her left hip. It is circular with a white outer border. The top half is white with a red horizontal band across the diameter, and the lower half is red with a tripartite design with three horizontal bars; the top two are white and the bottom one is black. She wears sandals/shoes that are white with red ties. Her skin tone is yellowish.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

We include this figure of Cihuacoatl for the iconography that it contains, which might be helpful for comparing with glyphs or glyphic elements. See other examples of CIhuacoatl, below. While the figure in this painting is female, Cihuacoatl was also the title of a high political office held by men.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Cioacoatl.

Gloss Normalization: 

Cihuacoatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

religión indígena, deidades, deities, fuerzas divinas, diosas, títulos políticos, serpientes, víboras, cohuatl, textiles, plumas, falda, quechquemitl

Museum/Rare Book Notes: 

Here’s an image of a Cihuacoatl pre-contact statue in the Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cihuac%C5%8D%C4%81tl#/media/File:Cihuacoat...(Museo_Nacional_Antropologia).JPG.

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

Cihuacoatl, literally "female serpent," an earth goddess; also he second highest political office, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cihuacoatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

literalmente, Mujer-Serpiente, pero es nombre de una fuerza divina y un título político

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 1: The Gods", fol. xivv, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/1/folio/xivv/images/b62fa415-2... Accessed 19 June 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: