teponaztli (FCbk8f30r)

teponaztli (FCbk8f30r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example, featuring a horizontal slit drum (teponaztli) 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 dark brown hollowed log with some slits on the top. Underneath the drum is a round red yahualli that would support a log drum placed on the ground for playing. Nevertheless, the drum is also supported by what appears to be an X-shaped wooden stand.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The hollowed, horizontal, log drum with slits on the top was usually struck with a drumstick with a tip that was padded with rubber (keyworded as olmaitl in the DFC). It could rest on a stand or on a circular support put on the ground. For another example of a scene of music with the teponaztli and huehuetl being played, see FCbk8f41r.

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: 
Music, Song, Dance
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
brown
orange/terracotta
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
horizontal
X-shapes
Keywords: 

tambores

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

teponaz(tli), a horizontal wooden drum with slits in the top, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teponaztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

un tambor de tronco ahuecado

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 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 30r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/30r/images/0 Accessed 10 August 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: 
See Also: 

teponaztli (FCbk8f19v)