mictia (FCbk10f124r)

This iconographic example, featuring three Chichimec men killing (mictia) another man who fell ill and was not recovering, is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the Nahuatl text on the folio previous to this image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows the deceased lying horizontally on the ground. He wears a cape, and he has long hair. The point of a vertical arrow is in his throat. Three Chichimec men sit on the ground around him, and one has his left hand grasping the arrow. The text explains that the deceased was an older man who had been ill and was not recovering, and so he was killed by his companions. The text also says that illness is rare in Chichimecs, and they tend to live long lives. The capes the men wear are knotted at the chest, and the artist has given them a three-dimensional shading, which shows European artistic influence. One of the capes is clearly an animal hide, which is typical of Chichimecs. The landscape for this event is also full of wild animals and plants. The tlacuilo was emphasizing how Chichimecs live in the wild, not in cities. The text notes, however, that the Chichimecs spoke Nahuatl, though not as well as the Mexica.