teopantli (Mdz19r)

teopantli (Mdz19r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing with added paint is an iconographic example for the noun teopantli (temple and, eventually, church). It is shown in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. The steps (on the right) are articulated. A horizontal, thick, red, wooden beam appears over the entrance, and above that is a black rectangle with many small white circles, which may represent stars. The vertical beam at the doorway has multicolored stripes. The perspective of the lintel and the roof designs are what one would see if looking at the front of the building, not the side, so the perspective shifts.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Like the tecpan (governing palace), which typically lacks an absolutive, the teopantli was often just called teopan. When one compares all the teopantli and teocalli glyphs in this database, it is more often the teocalli glyphs that have a structure on the top, such as we see here.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Grammar & Linguistics: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Celestial Phenomena
Religion (Indigenous)
Colors: 
black
blue (turquoise)
green (light)
red
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
pyramidal
stepped
Keywords: 

stars, estrellas, architecture, building, buildings, temple, temples

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

teopan(tli), temple or church, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teopantli

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 19r recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 48 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)