tecoacualli (FCbk11f80v)

This iconographic example, featuring a man trying to cure another of a snakebite (tecoacualli), 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 one man lying down on a woven mat (petlatl) and another one that elevates his head. He wears only a loincloth. His body is in a ¾ view, but his head is in profile, looking upward. Another man, wearing a cloak (tilmatli, or tilmahtli) tied over his chest, holds a knife or scissor for cutting into the snakebite, which is apparently located on the ailing man’s left shoulder. The text explains how the bite mark is cut open so that the venom can be extracted. It was a rattlesnake of a type called the chiyahuitl that had bitten the victim. Both the victim and the healer are speaking, with volutes emerging from their mouths. The ailing man speaks in red, yellow, and dark gray speech scrolls. The healer emits one dark gray scroll.