Petlacalcatl (Mdz70r)
This iconographic example is provided here as a comparison for the place name Petlacalco. It shows a man in profile, facing toward the viewer's right, sitting on a woven mat (petlatl)] with a woven back, which comprises a throne (what would be called an icpalli). He is also wearing a cape with a multi-colored pattern along the edge, and he is speaking, with turquoise-blue volutes emerging from his mouth. His hair comes to just below his ears, and he has bangs. Behind him is a house (calli) or other type of building.
Stephanie Wood
The word petlacalcatl is a title, held by a governor or a treasurer. While we are including this as an example of iconography, the scene comprises elements that are glyphic, such as the turquoise-blue volutes or speech scrolls, the petlatl and icpalli standing for governance, the decorated cape (probably a tilmatli) standing for elite status, and the seated position with the knees up under the chin, which is standard for elite men. If this were a glyph, one might consider it fully logographic (if meant literally as a place for storing woven mats) or fully phonographic (if referring to the treasurer).
Stephanie Wood
mayordo
mo
petlacalcatl
mayordomo petlacalcatl
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
oficios, señores, tilmas, petates, casas, edificios, autoridad, gobierno indígena
petacalcatl
el tesorero, el mayordomo que tiene cargo de los tributos
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 70 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 150 of 188.
Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0)
