tzompantli (FCbk12f68r)

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of skull rack (tzompantli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the keywording near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows eight Spaniards’ heads and four horses’ heads on a skull rack on top of a stone platform. The pre-contact skull rack only had human skulls, from what remains of the evidence. This one appeared in 1521, near the end of the battles for power between central Mexicans and the Spanish invaders (and their Indigenous allies). It was probably an offering to the divine forces of the Mexica. It caused a fright among the invaders. Behind the rack there is a horizontal band of dark gray, perhaps a sky band.