tenamitl (Mdz7v)

tenamitl (Mdz7v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for wall or rampart (tenamitl) also stands for the place name Tenanco. This structure is painted turquoise. It has a horizontal row with three circles (each one containing concentric circles). Above that are three rectangular, stepped designs. The steps are on the left, whereas in some other examples of tenamitl (see below, right), the steps can be on the right side. The colors of these ramparts can also vary, such as we see in the tenamitl from folio 34 recto of the Codex Mendoza (also below, right).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The presence of circles suggest that this structure was at the top of a building, for the concentric circles often run horizontally at the top of a building, such as a tecpan (palace). Crenellated ramparts still exist on surviving buildings from the Classic Period at Teotihuacan, such as on the Butterfly Palace.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
frontal view
rectangular
stepped
Keywords: 

walls, ramparts, murallas, tenantli, merlons, almenas

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

tenam(itl), wall or ramparts, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tenamitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

la muralla

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 07 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 25, of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

See Also: 

tecpan (Mdz5v)

tenamitl (Mdz34r)