Source citation ledger
Florentine Codex
Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators
book · c. 1577
Bernardino de Sahagún, General History of the Things of New Spain (Florentine Codex).
These are separate Atlas meetings that cite this source. Citation is not proof.
Nahua tradition
Quetzalcoatl belongs to Nahua tradition.
Sahagún’s Nahua collaborators describe Quetzalcoatl among the gods and in legendary history. The name is Nahuatl, not a pan-Mesoamerican essence.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
belongs to · sourced · culturally specific
Quetzalcoatl is associated with Serpent.
The name Quetzalcoatl joins the quetzal and the serpent. This is a Nahua naming, not the Greek Asklepios snake and not Apep.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Quetzalcoatl is associated with Knowledge.
Sahagún’s materials attach priesthood, calendar knowledge, and a civilizing legend to Quetzalcoatl. That is a colonial-era compilation of Nahua memory, not a Greek Hermes.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Quetzalcoatl is associated with Transformation.
Later episodes in the Florentine Codex tell of Quetzalcoatl’s departure and promised return. The transformation is a historical-legendary one inside Nahua tradition, not alchemical transmutation.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Mirror is associated with Obsidian.
Nahua materials include smoking mirrors of obsidian. The reflection is a worked volcanic glass, not a European looking-glass.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Death is associated with Obsidian.
Nahua ritual used obsidian blades. Blood and cutting belong to that material history, not to a mood of “darkness.”
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Death is associated with Offerings.
Sahagún records offerings, including costly ones, in Mexica religion. The gift economy of the gods is Nahua as his collaborators told it.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Offerings is used in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex describes Mexica offerings in detail. They are not Vedic fire and not Greek libation.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Offerings is associated with Gold.
Precious materials, including gold, appear among gifts in Sahagún’s record. Gold here is a costly gift, not the alchemical sun-metal.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Red appears in Nahua tradition.
Sahagún’s books attend to ritual color, including red, in Mexica practice. Color here is a specified offering and direction language, not a European luck-red.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Obsidian is used in Nahua tradition.
Obsidian (itztli) is a named material in Nahua ritual and craft as the Florentine Codex records it.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Obsidian is used in Offerings.
Blades of obsidian belong to the technology of offering in that record. The stone is an instrument, not a symbol of mood.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Obsidian is associated with Death.
Obsidian blades in Nahua offering are instruments that open bodies. Death here is a ritual fact of cutting, not a mood.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Calendar is associated with Quetzalcoatl.
Sahagún’s materials attach calendar knowledge and priesthood to Quetzalcoatl. The calendar is a Nahua intellectual technology, not Ptolemy’s.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Blood is used in Nahua tradition.
Sahagún’s record treats blood as a costly offering in Mexica religion. The gift is local as his collaborators told it.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Air is associated with Quetzalcoatl.
Sahagún’s materials attach wind to Quetzalcoatl. Wind here is a Nahua office of the feathered serpent, not a Greek elemental air.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Black is associated with Obsidian.
Obsidian is dark enough to take a reflection. The color is a property of the glass, not a mood imported onto Mexica rite.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Jade is connected to Obsidian.
Mesoamerican working of hard green stone and of volcanic glass are neighboring crafts. They are not one “sacred stone” of later shops.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577; Karl A. Taube · The Symbolism of Jade in Classic Maya Religion, 2005
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Maize appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex treats maize as food and as a being of origin stories among Nahua collaborators. Not a European cereal.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Maize can be a gift and a meal. Sahagún’s project records such uses as colonial ethnography, not as a cookbook of “Aztec magic.”
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Cacao is used in Nahua tradition.
Nahua sources in the Florentine Codex know cacao as drink and tribute. Same plant, a different archive than Maya vase-texts.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Maize is associated with Seed.
Maize is a grain from a seed. Origin stories in the Florentine Codex are about that plant, not wheat.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Prepared cacao can be tribute and drink. A Mesoamerican elite fact, not a later chocolate sacrament.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
used in · sourced · documented
Nahua materials in the Florentine Codex treat smoking mirrors as worked obsidian: volcanic glass crafted into a reflective surface (tezcatl). A Mesoamerican material use in mirror-making, not European looking-glass silvering and not a license to merge every scrying practice.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Macuahuitl appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex describes the mācuahuitl, the obsidian-edged wooden sword of Mexica warriors. A named Nahua weapon in that colonial ethnography, not mere, not generic sword, and not the obsidian-mirror meeting.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Smoking mirror appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex names tezcatl, the obsidian smoking-mirror of Nahua rite and of Tezcatlipoca’s epithet. A named Mesoamerican scrying-surface in that colonial ethnography, not the generic mirror node and not the obsidian-to-mirror craft sentence.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Teponaztli appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex describes the teponaztli, the Nahua slit-drum of rite and festival. A named sounding-log in that ethnography, not a generic drum and not the mācuahuitl from the same book.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Huehuetl appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex describes the huehuetl, the upright hide drum of Nahua rite. A named standing-drum in that ethnography, not the teponaztli slit-drum and not a generic drum.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Chimalli appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex describes chimalli, the Nahua war-shield of reed, hide, and featherwork. A named Mexica shield in that ethnography, not aegis, not ancile, and not a generic shield.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Xiuhcoatl appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex names Xiuhcoatl, the turquoise fire-serpent weapon of Huitzilopochtli’s image. A named Mexica weapon-object in that ethnography, not a being and not the mācuahuitl.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Tepoztopilli appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex describes the tepoztopilli, a Nahua thrusting spear edged with obsidian. A named Mexica spear in that ethnography, not a macuahuitl, and not a generic spear.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Tlapitzalli appears in Nahua tradition.
The Florentine Codex describes the tlapitzalli, a Nahua duct flute of festival and rite. A named Mexica flute in that ethnography, not the teponaztli slit-drum, and not the huehuetl standing-drum.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
appears in · sourced · culturally specific