mapilhuia (FCbk8f26r)

This iconographic example, featuring the gesture of pointing something out (mapilhuia, or mahpilhuia, with the glottal stop) 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 profile (facing left) of a seated ruler gesturing with his right hand, although not exactly pointing just one finger. He is indicating what is in front of him (see the contextualizing image). Such gestures were significant in Nahua culture, and they did often involve pointing one finger. But in the context, two men in this scene are gesturing with their hands (maitl), which is the term behind the start of this verb (ma-) and the start of the term for finger (mapilli). This ruler (tlatoani, or tlahtoani with the glottal stop) sits on a woven yellow throne. His skin is terracotta colored. Two yellow speech scrolls emerge from his mouth, which are suggestive of his socio-economic and political importance, too. He wears a cape tied at the back or side of his neck. The cape has a border of eyes (tenixyo, or tenixyoh in the DFC keyword list) and the main area is decorated with red and black flowers with a quincunx shape. The belt of his white loincloth can be seen on his back. Above this man’s head is a diadem, which is often employed by artists to indicate that the person is a lord (tecuhtli, or teuctli).