citlalcoatl (FCbk11f85v)

citlalcoatl (FCbk11f85v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a type of rattlesnake (citlalcoatl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a fully spiraled snake with European-type pointed stars on its skin, a protruding bifurcated tongue, and a detailed rattler. The landscape setting for this serpent also shows European artistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The citlalaxolotl has the round white stars with no points, but the tlacuilo who painted this snake gave it pointed stars. Both types of stars appear in this digital collection, but the round white stars appear in older manuscripts, such as the Codex Mendoza. The Matrícula de Huexotzinco has primarily pointed stars, and the Florentine Codex has both pointed and not pointed stars.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

citlalcooatl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

citlalcoatl

Gloss/Text 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:

Animals: Reptiles

Celestial Phenomena

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bifurcated

facing right

profile view

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

serpientes, snakes, rattlers, stars, estrella, estrellas, cielo, víbora, víboras, culebra, culebras

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

citlalcoa(tl), a type of rattlesnake, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

un tipo de serpiente de cascabel

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 11: Earthly Things", fol. 85v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/85v/images/0 Accessed 16 October 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: