Huitzilopochtli (FCbk9f29v)

Huitzilopochtli (FCbk9f29v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph of the divine force, Huitziloppochtli, shows an unusual view of him, covered in a black cloth. It may well be that the painters of the scene in which this figure appears (which might not really be a glyph but a portrait in a landscape setting) obscured the deity out of self-censorship or a desire not to offend the Christian clergy, such as Bernadino de Sahagún, who was supervising this project of gathering information about all things Nahua.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Images of Huitzilopochtli tend to have an anthropomorphic figure peeking out through the beak of a hummingbird. Also, the ixiptlatl of the divine forces can be found being carried in a shawl (rebozo in Spanish), much like a baby, on migrations.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

Vitzilobuchtli

Gloss Normalization:

Huitzilopochtli

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

deity name/theonym

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Religion (Indigenous)

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

deidades, fuerzas sagradas, fuerzas divinas, religión indígena

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Huitzilopochtli, a divine force associated with war, the sun, and rain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/Huitzilopochtli
ixiptlatl, a stand-in for a divine force, virtually becoming that being, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ixiptlatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Huitzilopochtli

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 9: The Merchants", fol. 29v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/9/folio/29v/images/0 Accessed 29 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.”

Orthography:

"b" for p or f

"u" for o

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: