tonatiuh cualo (Azca15)

While the serpent is involved in the action, it could also be a phonetic indicator for cualo. The ancient concept of a sun that is “eaten” during an eclipse helps with the identification of what is happening in this iconographic example. The actor usually doing the eating is somewhat vague in some codices. One study [David Bowles, “Aztecs and the Solar Eclipse,” a blog from 6 April 2024, https://davidbowles.medium.com/aztecs-and-the-solar-eclipse-dc1b8bac4e15)] suggests it was the tzitzimimeh (“fierces stellar deities”) who attacked and tried to eat the sun. A study of Mexican and Central America mythology says that when an eclipse of the sun happened, a certain snake was killed and eaten on earth. [Hartley Burr Alexander, Latin-American Mythology, v. 11 (1920, 135).] This iconographic example appears near a sign for an earthquake, which is another common feature of annals. Such events add to the drama of this moment in the historic migration that would eventually found Mexico-Tenochtitlan. In making comparisons between this iconographic example of what may be an eclipse and the eclipses so identified in other codices, notice that the part being eaten is oven a wedge, like a slice from a pie.