matlacpohualli (Osu2v)
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.
Stephanie Wood
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.
Stephanie Wood
1551–1565
Jeff Haskett-Wood
números, doscientos, banderas, notación
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/matlacpohualliOsu2vNotation.png?itok=wTrMsDz6)
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
doscientos
Stephanie Wood
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.
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![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/matlacpohualliOsu2vContext.png)