Tenoch (Mdz2r)

See the contextualizing image for a portrait of the man of this name. He sits in a profile pose looking to the viewer's right. He wears a cape and sits on a small petate that elevates him somewhat from the ground. His hair is tied in a ponytail called a tzontli. Turquoise-colored speech scrolls emerge from his mouth.

The red and white spines on the cactus may have had an association with bloodletting (self-sacrifice), given that other sharp instruments also had this color combination. See below, right, for some additional examples, such as the tecpatl. The huitztli has a turquoise blue and red combination. The cactus fruit, when red, has a juice reminiscent of blood and a shape reminiscent of a heart. Blood-letting was a common method of auto-sacrifice, which may provide a religious significance to the personal name and the place name of the empire's capital city.