topilli (Osu9v)
This detail of a staff of office (referred to as a topilli in the Nahuatl text) is included in this collection as an example that could provide comparisons with Nahuatl hieroglyphs. The scene that captures this topilli includes the viceroy of New Spain handing the staff to a Nahua alcalde (member of the Indigenous town council, the cabildo, introduced through colonization) of Mexico City. Probably made of wood, this staff is taller than the viceroy (who can be seen in the contextualizing image).
Stephanie Wood
See some glyphs, below, that include topiles (as they were called when the term became Hispanized). Interestingly, some Nahua people’s names included a reference to a staff such as this.
Stephanie Wood
1551–1565
Jeff Haskett-Wood
topiles, oficios, alcaldes indígenas, autoridad colonial, cabildos indígenas
topil(li), staff of office, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/topilli
alcalde, a magistrate on the Indigenous town council, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/alcalde
la vara de justicia
Stephanie Wood
Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico (Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de México), https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
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