teocalli (Mdz23r)

teocalli (Mdz23r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Teocaltzinco. It shows a pre-contact temple in profile, facing right, but with the exception that the crest of the building is shown frontally.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The way the framing of the steps goes straight downward and then angles forward is something like the construction of these temples at the archaeological site of Quiahuiztlan, Veracruz. Just imagine looking at those Quiahuiztlan temples in a profile view.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

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
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
checked, cross-hatched, or mesh
facing right
profile view
stepped
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

templos con crestería, pirámides, arquitectura, escalas, casa encima

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes: 

This teocalli (which is the name the INAH staff use for it) is in the archaeological site at Santa Cecilia Acatitlan (jurisdiction of Tlalnepantla, Mexico City). When it was reconstucted, the building at the top was added, possibly drawing from glyphs. Photo by Rebecca Horn, 13 August 2023.

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

teocal(li), a temple, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teocalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el templo (con crestería)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 23 recto, https://codicemendoza.inah.gob.mx/inicio.php?lang=english

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: 

Teocaltzinco (Mdz23r)

Teocal (MH793r)

Teocal (MH786v)

teocalli (Mdz5v)

teocalli (Mdz10r)

teocalli (T2782:15:17r)

teocalli (TR41v)

Teocaltitlan (MH622r)