Chicuei Cipactli (FCbk4f7r)

Chicuei Cipactli (FCbk4f7r)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This colorful painting of a simplex glyph-plus-notation has as its focus the date Chicuei Cipactli ("Eight Crocodile," or 8-Crocodile), in the religious divinatory calendar called the tonalpohualli. The glyph is the head of an animal, apparently meant to be a crocodilian monster (cipactli). It is shown in profile, facing the viewer's right. Its large, somewhat starry eye is open. Its mouth shows a lot of teeth and a protruding red tongue. Its nose is long but pointed up at a right angle from its mouth, and just below the point is a red ring. Additionally, four arrow points come up from the animal's head, two behind the eye, one on the eye, and one in front of the eye. Connecting to the tongue is the notation for the number eight (chicuei), represented as a horizontal row of five small circles and a row of three, all connected by lines. The small circles are painted a dark blue or purple color. This is one of four dates that appear together in a box. Typically a single date would be boxed.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

While the head of this cipactli is unusual, somewhat reminiscent of the ehecatl day name in this same manuscript (below), the arrows do have a parallel in some other glyphs from the Matrícula de Huexotzinco of 1560 that are full of pointed protrusions (see below).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

day sign, calendarios, días, fechas, tonalpohualli, animales, caimanes, cipac

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Ocho Caimán, 8-Caimán

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source, Rights: 

The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse. Researchers are encouraged to review the source information attached to each item. If you do publish anything from this database, please cite the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Historical Contextualizing Image: