tamalli (FCbk6f28r)

tamalli (FCbk6f28r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a basket full of tamales (tamalli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss. This example shows a basket with horizontal lines and sideways V-shapes, which may suggest a petlatl type of weaving. Seven round tamales show above the top of the basket. The basket of tamales appears to be a religious offering. The contextualizing image shows a Nahua priest with a censer raised up and pointing toward a standing tlacatecolotl figure. The tamales are on the ground between them. Other offerings include a tripod bowl with meat.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See some Nahuatl hieroglyphs for tamales below. The usual iconography is a round ball that appears to have ties around it. If these tamales are anything like contemporary ones, they were likely wrapped with broad corn husks and then smaller strips that served as ties.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Corn, Maize

Food, Eating, Cooking

Religion (Christian)

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

tied, bound, or bundled

V-shapes, or wedge

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

maíz, tamal, tamales, tamalli, comida, atado, atados

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tamal(li), tamale, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tamalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el tamal, o los tamales

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 6: Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy", fol. 28r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/6/folio/28r/images/0 Accessed 3 July 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “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.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: