teopantli (Mdz52r)

teopantli (Mdz52r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the element teopantli (temple) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Cihuateopan. It is a low, stepped pyramid, shown in profile, facing toward the viewer's right.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

As this collection grows, enough material is coming in to be able to compare visual differences in types of temples. Teopantli), teopancalli, and teocalli have all been defined in vocabularies and glossaries as the same thing: temple or church. They all had a stepped structure, but their glyphs can show additional structures on top, especially the teocalli. Other types of what we now call "pyramids" are also worth tracking, such as tetelli and tzacualli.

In this collection, the teopantli and the teopancalli differ somewhat visually, even as their translations are about the same. The teopancalli typically has a structure like a calli (house, building) on top.

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:

locative (visual not silent)

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Landscape Features

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood, Xitlali Torres

Colors:

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

stepped

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

teopan, temple, church, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teopan
teopan(tli), temple, church, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teopantli
teocalli, temple, church, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teocalli
teopancalli, temple, church, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teopancalli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

temple

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 52 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 114 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).