macuilpohualli pesos (CST44)

macuilpohualli pesos (CST44)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painting of the simplex glyph plus notation for the term macuilpohualli (one hundred) shows a frontal view of five peso coins, each one with a large cross on it. Atop each coin is an upright flag flying toward the viewer’s right. Each flag represents the number twenty. So, five times twenty is one hundred (5 x 20 = 100).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

For more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Source Manuscript:

Sierra/Texupan, Codex (CST)

Date of Manuscript:

1550–1564

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

Semantic Categories:

numbers

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flags, banners

Money, Coins, Prices

Numbers, Math

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

cross (+)

frontal view

Other Cultural Influences:

Mixtec

Spanish/European

Keywords:

monedas, pesos, números, notación, cinco por veinte, cien, dinero, monedas, cruces

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

macuil(li), five, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/macuilli
-pohual(li), twenty, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pohualli
macuilpohual(li), one hundred, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/macuilpohualli
peso, a coin, a unit of money, a piece of eight (a Spanish term taken into Nahuatl), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/peso

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

cien pesos

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 44, page dated 1561. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=search

Image Source, Rights:

The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Historical Contextualizing Image: