matlacpohualli (Osu2v)

matlacpohualli (Osu2v)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This notation from the Codex Osuna, folio 2 verso (Image 7), shows 10 (matlactli) upright flags or banners flying toward the viewer’s right. The ten are broken down into two groups of five, united with a black line connecting each group of five at their bases. The posts for the flags are painted a red or pink color. Each flag has a value of 20, so five of these flags would have a value of 100 and ten would have a total value of 200.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This number could be taught as a simple math equation, such as 5 + 5 = 10, and 10 x 20 = 200.This number was included as part of a reference to lands distributed to people of the macehualli (commoner) class by the judge, Doctor Ceynos, who visited the town of Atlixxocan. A flag (pamitl) used to be held up by a labor boss who was in charge of gathering and supervising 20 men (or groups of 20). When the centecpanpixqui was to supervise 100 men, he would apparently hold up five flags, as shown below. This may be how the flag came to be equated with the number twenty.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Osuna, Codex (Osu)
Date of Manuscript: 

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
numbers
Syntax: 
line connecting elements
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Flags, banners
Numbers, Math
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
tan
Shapes and Perspectives: 
horizontal
Keywords: 

números, doscientos, banderas, notación

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

matlac(tli), ten, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matlactli
-pohual(li), twenty, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pohualli
cempohual(li), twenty, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cempohualli
cen, the combining form for the number one, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cen-0
pam(itl), flag or banner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pamitl
tecpan(tli), preceded by a number, means that many twenties of people, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpantli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

doscientos

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

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.

Image Source, Rights: 

"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." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

matlacpohualli pesos (Chav1)