Mexican warriors, eagles and jaguar warriors against the Spanish conquistadors. Who wrote us about them? (part three)
(Proverbs 1: 22)
Today we will deviate somewhat from the topic of studying the military affairs of the indigenous population of Central America during the years of the Spanish conquest. The reason is commonplace. Past publications again provoked a number of comments, well, let's say, containing statements that are very far from reality. Moreover, their authors did not even bother to remember that there is the Internet, and Google in it, and before you write something, you could look into them, and at least a little “get familiar” with this issue. Finally, one can turn to books, which, by the way, are also on the Internet in a generally accessible form. Among them, the simplest to learn and interesting from all points of view can be considered two: the first is “The Fall of Tenochtitlan” (Detgiz, 1956), Kinzhalova R. and “The Secret of Mayan Priests” (Evrika, 1975) Kuzmishcheva V. These are popular science publications very high level, honoring our Soviet historical science, and performed, despite all its "popularity", at a very high academic level. All this may well give an answer to the main question - “how do you know all this?”
But books are books, but are there not secondary, but primary sources of our knowledge about those distant times that would not have been written by “deceitful Spaniards”, who only tried to fool the poor Indians and justify their own conquests?
It turns out that such sources exist and they were written by the Indians themselves, who, it turns out, had a peculiar script and were able to convey to us a lot of interesting information about their past. These are the so-called "codes". And since this is a very interesting and informative source, there is a sense in our narrative to make a “little hook” and ... get acquainted with these ancient sources of information about the life and culture of the peoples of Mesoamerica.
This is what the famous Madrid Codex looks like.
Let us begin with the fact that the Mesoamerican codes are written documents of its indigenous inhabitants - Indians, belonging both to the pre-Hispanic and early colonial periods, in which they mainly describe various historical and mythological events, describe their religious rituals, and everyday life ( For example, toll collection and litigation are considered in detail. In addition, they also contain astronomical and special fortune-telling tables and much more.
Reproduction of the “Madrid Code” at an exhibition in the museum in Copan, in Honduras.
These peculiar books are a valuable monument of Mesoamerican history and culture. They are usually called by the names of researchers, owners, or by the place where they are stored today (for example, the "Florence Codex" is stored in Florence). Many museums exhibit facsimile copies of these codes. Well, the first such Mesoamerican codex that has been translated into Russian is the “Codex Teleleriano Remensis” (2010).
Codex Feyervari-Meier. World Museum, Liverpool.
What is the reason for the name of these “books”? The word "code" (lat. Codex) means "piece of wood", in the beginning they were written on wooden tablets. In Indian codes was used paper from the bark of different types of ficus, in the Aztec language called amatl, which in Spanish turned into amath. In the classical Mayan language, it sounded like huun (or hun) - “book,” “bark,” or “clothes made from bark.”
A copy of the book “Chilam Balam” in the National Museum of History and Anthropology in Mexico City.
Make paper, as you know, can be different. The Indians, for example, tore off long bark strips from the trees and cleaned them of a thick outer layer. Then these strips were soaked in water, dried and fought off on stones or wooden boards. This is how sheets that were several meters long were obtained, and to make them smooth, they were polished with stones and grounded in gypsum. In addition, since the same Yucatan peninsula was called in Maya “the land of turkeys and deer”, that is, there were deer, some of these codes were written on reindeer skin.
Figures from the Borgia Codex depicting the heavenly patrons of one of the 20 days of the month. This is one of the oldest Mesoamerican religious and prophetic manuscripts. It is believed that it was created before the conquest of Mexico in Pueblo State before the conquest of Mexico. It is the most significant book of the Borgia manuscript group — it was in his honor that all these manuscripts got their name. In the code of 39 sheets, which are made from dressed animal skins. Sheets are in the form of a square cm 27X27 cm, and its entire length is almost 11 meters. Drawings cover pages on both sides. They filled out their 76 pages. Read the Code should be right to left. The famous Italian cardinal Stefano Borgia owned it, after which it was acquired by the Vatican library.
Brushes for writing were made of rabbit fur, and mineral colors were used.
“Vatican Codex B (3773)”
The peculiarity of the codes was that they were folded with an accordion, with a "cover" of wood or tanned leather, with ornaments made of gold and precious stones. They read them laying out an accordion sheet by sheet, or immediately expanding such a book in its entire length.
This is all that concerns the codes themselves as certain information objects. Now let's see when and where they appeared and how they fell into the hands of the Europeans. To begin with, it is not known where exactly the manuscripts of the Indians appeared on paper.
In Teotihuacan, archaeologists found stones that were dated to the 6th century AD. e., similar to those used for making paper. Mayan books written on paper spread around the end of the 9th century. In addition, such peoples as Zapotec and Toltec, already in the III c. N. er had manuscripts on paper, and books were already around 660.
The Aztecs put the production of paper on an "industrial basis", and amatl was supplied to them and the tribes conquered as a tribute, and paper was used for writing and ... the very usual clerical work. It is also known that in the city of Teshkoko there was a library with a large collection of Mayan, Zapotec and Toltec manuscripts. That is, in this regard, the Indians of Mesoamerica differed little from the same Greeks and Romans in the early stages of their development.
“Codes Bodley,” pp. 21.
When the Spaniards began to conquer America, the codes, like many other monuments of Indian culture, were destroyed without an account. Many manuscripts perished during the siege of Tenochtitlan in 1521. But since there were a lot of “books”, some of them were preserved and were sent to Spain as souvenirs and trophies. And this is not surprising. Among the Spanish nobles there were not so few literate and even educated people who were interested in the history of other nations, not to mention the fact that the codes were unusual and beautiful. And if so, then ... why not bring them to your home in Spain?
And this is what the Bodley Codepages look like. Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
But there were also such codes that were written during the colonial period, moreover, at the direct instigation of European missionaries, who believed that they would help them to convert the Indians to Christianity more effectively. These codes were made as follows: local artists, under the supervision of the Spaniards, made drawings, after which signatures and explanations were added already in Spanish or in local Indian languages, written in Latin letters, or in Latin. Thus, the monks, and especially Franciscans were different, tried to fix Indian customs and even beliefs. That is, the “illustrated encyclopedias” of local life were created, which helped the Spaniards coming to New America to get acquainted with the local culture faster and ... learn to “understand the Indians.”
"Code Selden". Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
There is a view that “the colonial codes were intended to rebuild the minds and memory of the indigenous Mesoamericans. These codes, even those created by the Aztecs themselves, represented a historical narrative from the dominant Spanish point of view. ” Most likely this is the case. That is, they could "sign" the horrors of human sacrifice in order to show - "that's what we saved you from." But ... although this is no doubt so, two things are obvious. First: this approach contributed to the preservation of Indian pictographic writing. And second, that pre-Hispanic codes have survived, that is, there is a basis for comparing and comparing their texts. It should be noted that many of the later manuscripts were based on earlier, pre-Hispanic, or even completely copied from them. Well, how much modern science knows the codes of the colonial period? About five hundred! Not a small number, is it, and there is hope that as they study the old collections of documents, their number will grow. The fact is that so far many private libraries have not been completely disassembled and even ... attics in the castles of Spain and France, where there is nothing, but the owners themselves don’t want to do this, and they don’t allow themselves researchers.
"Code Becker".
How is the modern classification of Indian manuscripts? All codes are divided into two large groups: colonial and, respectively, pre-colonial. The second classification is codes of known and unknown origin.
The most numerous group of codes, of course, are those that were written after colonization. Hundreds of Aztec codes have reached our days, the most famous of which are the following: "Askatitlan Codex", "Boturini Code", "Bourbon Codex", "Vatican Codex A (3738)", "Weitius Codex", "Koskattsin Codex", " The Codex Malabacciano, Codex Tudela, Codex Ixtlilchochitl, Codex Mendoza, Codex Ramirez, Codex Aubin, Codex Osuna, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Annals Tlatelolko, Code Ueshotsinko , “The Florence Codex” and many others, for the listing of which there is simply not enough space.
Codex Rios
Maya codes, as well as other nations, are much smaller and they are named for the libraries in which they are stored. These are: “Mishtek Codex”, “Codex Grolier”, “Dresden Codex”, “Madrid Codex”, “Paris Codex”. Here are some codes of historical content: “Becker Codes I and II”, “Bodley’s Code”, “Zush-Nuttall Code”, “Colombino Code”.
There are so-called “Codes of the Borgia,” but there is no information about their origin or who they were created by. And, most surprisingly, these codes are devoted to religious topics. These are: “Borgia Code”, “Code Laud”, “Vatican Code B (3773)”, “Code of Kospi”, “Code of Rios”, “Code of Porfirio Dias” and a number of others.
Zush Code Nuttall Pg. 89. Ritual duel. Modern drawing. The prisoner, tied to the sacrificial stone for the belt, fights simultaneously with two jaguar warriors. Tears flow from the captive's eyes. Interestingly, he is armed with two sticks (or is it stone pestles for flour?), But his opponents have shields and strange weapon in the form of gloves with jaguar claws.
Now let's at least selectively get acquainted with some of these codes in more detail, in order to have an idea about their content ...
To be continued ...
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