Tlaloc (Mdz13v)
This element is the name of the divine force or deity associated with rain (Tlaloc), and it has been carved from the compound sign for the place name Iztac Tlalocan. The figure is shown as a head only, in profile, facing toward the viewer's left. The swirling line around the face is reminiscent of the swirling turquoise-blue clouds of the mixtli glyph. The ear plug is also reminiscent of rain [quiyahuitl) drops.
Stephanie Wood
The compound glyph of the place name which includes this element alludes to a white place associated with the rain deity. The turquoise coloring of this image recalls water. Book VI of the Florentine Codex, which includes prayers to Tlaloc, is worth pursuing for a deeper understanding of this deity.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
deities, divinities, divinidades, fuerzas divinas, rain, lluvia, turqouise blue, water, heavenly waters, quiyahuitl
Tlaloc. Museo del Templo Mayor. Photograph by Robert Haskett, 15 February 2023.
Tlaloc, the name of the rain deity, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/Tlaloc
rain (deity name)
Tlaloc, la deidad de la lluvia
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 13 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 37 of 188.
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).
