Centuries-old Aztec texts detail history of their capital, conquests and fall to the Spanish (www.livescience.com)
from throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to archaeology@mander.xyz on 26 Mar 2024 01:37
https://lemmy.nz/post/8454069

#archaeology

threaded - newest

workerONE@lemmy.world on 26 Mar 2024 06:07 next collapse

The Spanish sure did rob and murder a lot of people

MisterNeon@lemmy.world on 26 Mar 2024 12:04 next collapse

Yep they got Altepetl(s) and Xiuhpohualli day signs as year markers drawn on to them, they are codices.

Hope I can get some high quality scans of them.

Minarble@aussie.zone on 26 Mar 2024 12:06 next collapse

Amazing that this survived in private hands.

The Spanish burnt all they could find for quite a while for “Christian” reasons. So much knowledge lost forever.

wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee on 02 Apr 2024 23:12 collapse

Don’t blame religion. They burned them to control the population and wipe out the culture. Religion was just an excuse.

Coelacanth@feddit.nu on 26 Mar 2024 12:16 next collapse

Any day we uncover more texts that somehow escaped the Spanish book burnings is a good day.

Always makes me sad to think about all the literature lost with the Maya codices.

MisterNeon@lemmy.world on 26 Mar 2024 13:18 collapse

I couldn’t agree more. Mayan, Mixtec, Tlaxcallan, and dozens of other cultures had the majority of their history obliterated. Knowledge built through millennia burned in a couple centuries.

Coelacanth@feddit.nu on 26 Mar 2024 13:46 collapse

Not just history either but art. Barely any poetry survives, and I’m sure there were other works of fiction lost, like stories of myths and legends.

MisterNeon@lemmy.world on 26 Mar 2024 13:57 collapse

I’ve got a couple books translated from Nahuatl into English that have some of the flowery words of the tlamatinime, “Scattering of Jades” and “Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World”. They are very precious because like you said barely anything survives. It’s incredibly sad.

werefreeatlast@lemmy.world on 26 Mar 2024 12:41 collapse

LOL! He misspelled Huitzilopoztlic! It’s a really easy mistake! Clearly it has one less trumpet 🎺!

MisterNeon@lemmy.world on 26 Mar 2024 13:28 collapse

I can’t find that word in the article. Do you mean the Spanish translator for Nahuatl from the 1600’s wrote the wrong name for Huitzilopochtli on the amatl? That happened a lot.

werefreeatlast@lemmy.world on 26 Mar 2024 14:25 collapse

OMG! I was just kidding! From northopetl to southchtl, there’s always one! It’s all part of Godls Grandptotlalpan’s plan.

MisterNeon@lemmy.world on 26 Mar 2024 14:56 collapse

I’m absolutely confused about what you are trying to communicate.