tlatlauhqui azcatl (FCbk11f94v)

tlatlauhqui azcatl (FCbk11f94v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring red ants (tlatlauhqui azcatl), 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 a bird’s eye view of an ant hill with lots of red ants coming and going, four of them carrying little sticks the size of toothpicks. Each ant has a segmented red body, six legs, and two antennae that curve inward. The landscape setting shows European artistic influence, given that ants usually would be shown as a lone individual with no grounding.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The Codex Mendoza does put a red ant (azcatl) in the middle of an ant hill, surrounded by sand and small stones, but this is a place name, Azcapotzalco. Ants eggs were eaten by humans, which may be why they appear quite regularly in this collection. Interestingly, Azcatl was a common personal name for men. Red ants are especially known for biting and causing pain, but their bite is not deadly.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

tlatlauhqui azcatl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Insects & Bugs

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bird's eye view

circle, circular or rounded

Keywords:

hormigas, muerdan, morder, pican, picar

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlatlauhqui, red, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlatlauhqui
azca(tl), ant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/azcatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la hormiga roja

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 94v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/94v/images/0 Accessed 16 October 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: