Codex Chimalpopoca

<h2 id="physical-characteristics">Physical characteristics</h2>
<p>According to <a href="/facts/Walter_Lehmann_(ethnologist)/9fC7ATum">Walter Lehmann</a>, who studied the Codex in 1909 and 1926 when it was housed at the Museo Nacional de México, the manuscript was about 22 cm high and 15 cm long. The paper was thin and yellowed with worn edges.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="name">Name</h2>
<p>The title page <i>Codice Chimalpopoca</i> is accompanied by the date 1849 and a note explaining that the name was given it by <a href="/facts/Charles_%25C3%2589tienne_Brasseur_de_Bourbourg/56psnfGP">Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg</a>, in honor of a Mexican scholar of the early nineteenth century, Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca.
</p>
<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p>The original of the manuscript is unknown and the original is probably a copy of an even older work. The handwriting of the three parts of the copied manuscript in Mexico's National Institute are all in one hand. The script is provided with cover pages bearing the genealogy of Mexican historian <a href="/facts/Fernando_de_Alva_Cort%25C3%25A9s_Ixtlilxochitl/sB6Fu68I">Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> Although Ixtlilxochitl himself does not make mention anywhere in his works of this manuscript, it is tempting to speculate that he is the copyist.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> In the mid-eighteenth century, the well known collector <a href="/facts/Lorenzo_Boturini_Benaduci/1Bg6fGxs">Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci</a> describes a manuscript that closely resembles the Codex Chimalpopoca, and specifies that it was copied by Ixtlilxochitl. What is known is that at the end of the eighteenth century, Mexican scholar <a href="/facts/Antonio_de_Le%25C3%25B3n_y_Gama/eRljBP98">Antonio de León y Gama</a> made a copy of the manuscript, which is preserved at the <a href="/facts/Biblioth%25C3%25A8que_nationale_de_France/4TNyWsxG">Bibliothèque nationale de France</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> Following the disappearance of the original manuscript, probably in 1949, the best source for its study is the photograph of the original that was taken by <a href="/facts/Primo_Feliciano_Vel%25C3%25A1zquez/8H3FkJnd">Primo Feliciano Velázquez</a> in 1945.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="contents">Contents</h2>
<p><i>Codex Chimalpopoca</i> is composed of three parts unrelated to each other. The first part, called <i>Anales de Cuauhtitlan</i> (Annals of Cuautitlán), is an alphabetic text in <a href="/facts/Nahuatl/MTVHtb8U">Nahuatl</a>, which takes its name from the city of <a href="/facts/Cuautitl%25C3%25A1n/TsQKp9eU">Cuautitlán</a>. The content is primarily historical. It nevertheless contains a brief version of the <i>Leyenda de los Soles</i> (Legend of the Suns). This part occupies pages 1–68 of the codex. The second part, with the title <i>Breve relación de los dioses y ritos de la gentilidad</i>, consists of a short book written in Spanish (pages 69–74 of the manuscript) by a certain Indian cleric of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Pedro Ponce de León,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> which deals with Aztec deities and rites. The third part, called <i>Leyenda de los Soles</i> is another work in Nahuatl that develops versions of the most frequently cited sun legends (pages 75–84). The codex's name was given by Mexican scholar <a href="/facts/Francisco_del_Paso_y_Troncoso/GUkALC5w">Francisco del Paso y Troncoso</a> in 1903.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> The second section, the <i>Breve relación</i>, is not included in the 1945 copy.
</p>

<h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2>

<ul><li>Bierhorst, John (1992). <i></i>History and mythology of the Aztecs: the Codex Chimalpopoca<i></i>. <a href="/facts/Tucson/26QPvEaG">Tucson</a>, <a href="/facts/Arizona/6ayM3swJ">AZ</a>: <a href="/facts/University_of_Arizona_Press/gkGd3099">University of Arizona Press</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-8165-1886-9.</li>
<li>Graulich, Michel (1987). <i></i>Mythes et rituels du Mexique ancien préhispanique<i></i> (in French). <a href="/facts/Brussels/tNzHrQYP">Brussels</a>, <a href="/facts/Belgium/YKuMXP5j">Belgium</a>: <a href="/facts/Acad%25C3%25A9mie_Royale_de_Belgique/vX3kWRul">Académie Royale de Belgique</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-2-8031-0170-2.</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/000/codice_chimalpopoca.html"><i>Códice Chimalpopoca</i>, Primo Feliciano Velázquez, edition, Spanish translation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jsa_0037-9174_1906_num_3_2_3465">Original text and Latin translation (by Walter Lehmann, 1906)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.memoriapoliticademexico.org/Textos/1Independencia/1570ADC.html">1570 Códice Chimalpopoca. Anales de Cuautitlán. Leyenda de los Soles (Fragmento)  </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/000/000_04_03_LeyendaSoles.pdf">“Leyenda de los Soles” p. 119-128, Códice Chimalpopoca: Anales de Cuauhtitlán y Leyenda de los Soles, Primo Feliciano Velázquez (traducción) y Miguel León Portilla (prefacio). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas Editorial. 1992. XXII + 167 + [LXXXIV</a>. Facsímiles <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 968-36-2747-1]</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Gibson, Charles and John B. Glass. "Prose sources in the Native Historical Tradition", article 27B. "A Census of Middle American Prose Manuscripts in the Native Historical Tradition". Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources Part 4; Handbook of Middle American Indians. University of Texas Press 1975, census #1028 pp. 333. <a href="/wiki/Charles_Gibson_(historian)" target="_blank">/wiki/Charles_Gibson_(historian)</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Bierhorst, John. In Davíd Carrasco (ed). "Chimalpopoca, Codex." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 9780195188431 <a href="/wiki/David_Carrasco" target="_blank">/wiki/David_Carrasco</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Bierhorst 1992, p. 10. - Bierhorst, John (1992). History and mythology of the Aztecs: the Codex Chimalpopoca. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1886-9. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Bierhorst 1992, p. 11. - Bierhorst, John (1992). History and mythology of the Aztecs: the Codex Chimalpopoca. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1886-9. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Bierhorst 1992, p. 12. - Bierhorst, John (1992). History and mythology of the Aztecs: the Codex Chimalpopoca. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1886-9. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Graulich 1987, p. 32. - Graulich, Michel (1987). Mythes et rituels du Mexique ancien préhispanique (in French). Brussels, Belgium: Académie Royale de Belgique. ISBN 978-2-8031-0170-2. <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>Bierhorst 1992, p. 11. - Bierhorst, John (1992). History and mythology of the Aztecs: the Codex Chimalpopoca. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1886-9. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>Bierhorst 1992, p. 11. - Bierhorst, John (1992). History and mythology of the Aztecs: the Codex Chimalpopoca. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1886-9. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:9"><p>Bierhorst 1992, p. 11. - Bierhorst, John (1992). History and mythology of the Aztecs: the Codex Chimalpopoca. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1886-9. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:10"><p>Bierhorst 1992, p. 13. - Bierhorst, John (1992). History and mythology of the Aztecs: the Codex Chimalpopoca. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1886-9. <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Codex Chimalpopoca open-in-new

Codex Chimalpopoca