… how long, you ignoramuses, will you love ignorance?..
(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 trivial. Past publications again caused 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 there is Google in it, and before you write something, you could look into them, and at least get a little grounded in this issue. Finally, you can turn to books, which, by the way, are also available on the Internet in a public form. Among them, two can be considered the easiest to learn and interesting from all points of view: the first - "The Fall of Tenochtitlan" (Detgiz, 1956), Kinzhalova R. and "The Secret of the Mayan Priests" (Eureka, 1975) Kuzmischeva V. These are popular science publications of a very high level, which do honor to our Soviet historical science, and performed, despite all their "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, and are there not secondary, but primary sources of our knowledge about those distant times, which would not have been written by "lying Spaniards" who only tried to slander the poor Indians and thereby justify their conquests?
It turns out that there are such sources and they were written by the Indians themselves, who, it turns out, possessed 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, it makes sense in our story to make a "small detour" and … get acquainted with these ancient sources of information about the life and culture of the peoples of Mesoamerica.
This is how the famous "Madrid Code" looks like.
Let's start with the fact that the Mesoamerican codes are written documents of its indigenous inhabitants - Indians, belonging to both the pre-Hispanic and early colonial periods, in which, mainly in pictographic form, various historical and mythological events are described, their religious rituals and everyday life are described (for example, it discusses in detail the collection of taxes and litigation). In addition, they also contain astronomical and special divination tables and much more.
A reproduction of the "Madrid Code" on display at a museum in Copan, Honduras.
These distinctive books are the most valuable monument of Mesoamerican history and culture. They are usually called by the names of the researchers, owners, or by the place where they are kept today (for example, the "Florentine Codex" is kept in Florence). Many museums display facsimile copies of these codes. Well, the first such Mesoamerican code that was translated into Russian is the Telleriano-Remensis Code (2010).
The Feyervary-Mayer Code. Peace Museum, Liverpool.
What is the reason for the name of these "books"? The word "code" (lat. Codex) means "a piece of wood", in the beginning they were written on wooden tablets. In the Indian codes, paper was used from the bark of various types of ficus, called amatl in the Aztec language, which in Spanish became amate. In the classical Maya language, it sounded like huun (or hun) - "book", "bark" or "clothes made of bark."
A copy of the book "Chilam Balam" At the National Museum of History and Anthropology in Mexico City.
As you know, you can make paper in different ways. The Indians, for example, tore off long strips of bark from the trees and cleaned them of the thick outer layer. Then these strips were soaked in water, dried and beaten off on stones or wooden boards. In this way, sheets were obtained that reached several meters in length, and so that they were smooth, they were polished with stones and primed with plaster. In addition, since the same Yucatan Peninsula was called in the Mayan language "the country of turkeys and deer", that is, deer were found there, some of these codes were written on deerskin.
Drawings from the Codex Borgia depicting the heavenly patrons of one of the 20 days of the month. It is one of the oldest Mesoamerican religious and prophetic manuscripts. It is believed that it was created before the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish conquistadors in the state of Pueblo. It is the most significant book of the Borgia group of manuscripts, and it was in his honor that all these manuscripts got their name. The codex contains 39 sheets, which are made from tanned animal skins. The sheets are in the shape of a square 27X27 cm, and its entire length is almost 11 meters. Pictures cover both sides of the page. In total, they filled 76 pages. You need to read the Code from right to left. It was owned by the famous Italian Cardinal Stefano Borgia, after which it was acquired by the Vatican Library.
The writing brushes were made of rabbit fur, and the paints were mineral.
"Vatican Code B (3773)"
The peculiarity of the codes was that they were folded like an accordion, with a "cover" made of wood or leather, with jewelry made of gold and precious stones. They read them by laying out the accordion sheet by sheet, or by immediately expanding such a book to its full length.
This is all that concerns the codes themselves as specific information objects. Now let's see when and where they appeared and how they got into the hands of the Europeans. To begin with, where exactly the Indian manuscripts written on paper appeared is unknown.
In Teotihuacan, archaeologists have found stones that were dated to the 6th century AD. e., similar to those used to make paper. Among the Mayans, books written on paper spread around the end of the 9th century. In addition, peoples such as the Zapotecs and Toltecs, already in the III century BC. NS. had manuscripts on paper, and books already in about 660.
The Aztecs put the production of paper on an "industrial basis", and amatl was supplied to them as a tribute to the tribes they conquered, and paper was used for writing and … the most routine clerical work. It is also known that in the city of Teshkoko there was a library with a large collection of Maya, 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, p. 21.
When the Spaniards began to conquer America, the codes, like many other monuments of Indian culture, were destroyed without counting. Many manuscripts were lost during the siege of Tenochtitlan in 1521. But since there were a lot of "books", some of them survived 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 peoples, 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 how the pages of the Bodley Code look like. Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
But there were also codes that were written during the colonial period, and at the direct instigation of European missionaries, who believed that they would help them more effectively convert Indians to Christianity. These codes were made as follows: local artists, under the supervision of the Spaniards, made drawings, after which signatures and explanations were added to them in Spanish or in local Indian languages, written in Latin letters, or in Latin. Thus, the monks, especially the Franciscans, tried to fix Indian customs and even beliefs. That is, “illustrated encyclopedias” of local life were created, which helped the Spaniards who came to New America to quickly get acquainted with the local culture and … learn to “understand the Indians”.
Selden Code. Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
There is a point of view that “the colonial codes were meant to rebuild the minds and memory of native Mesoamericans. These codes, even those created by the Aztecs themselves, constituted a historical narrative from the dominant Spanish point of view. " Most likely this is exactly 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 undoubtedly true, two things are obvious. First, this approach contributed to the preservation of the Indian pictographic writing. And second, that the pre-Hispanic codes have also survived, that is, there is a basis for comparing and contrasting their texts. It should also be noted that many of the later manuscripts were based on earlier, pre-Hispanic, or even copied entirely from them. Well, how much does modern science know about the codes of the colonial period? About five hundred! Not a small number, isn't it, and there is a hope that as the study of ancient collections of documents, their number will grow. The fact is that until now many private libraries and even … attics in the castles of Spain and France, where there is so much else, have not been completely dismantled, but the owners themselves do not want to do this, and researchers are not allowed to visit.
Codex Becker.
How is the modern classification of Indian manuscripts carried out? All codes are divided into two large groups: colonial and, accordingly, pre-colonial. The second classification is codes of known and unknown origin.
The largest group of codes, of course, are those that were written after colonization. Hundreds of Aztec codes have survived to this day, of which the most famous are the following: "Codex Askatitlan", "Codex Boturini", "Bourbon Codex", "Vatican Codex A (3738)", "Codex Veitia", "Codex Koskatzin", " Codex Maliabeciano, Codex Tudela, Codex Ixtlilxochitl, Codex Mendoza, Codex Ramirez, Codex Auben, Codex Osuna, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Annals Tlatelolco, Codex Huescino, "The Florentine Codex" and many others, for a listing of which there is simply not enough space.
"Codex Rios"
The Maya codes, as well as other nationalities, are much smaller and they are named after the libraries in which they are stored. These are: "Mishtek Code", "Grolier Code", "Dresden Code", "Madrid Code", "Paris Code". Here are some of the historical mixtec codes: Becker Codes I and II, Bodley Code, Zush Nuttall Code, Colombino Code.
There are so-called "Borgia Codes", but there is no information about their origin or who they were created by. Moreover, the most surprising thing is that these codes are devoted to religious topics. These are: "Codex Borgia", "Codex Laud", "Vatican Codex B (3773)", "Codex Cospi", "Codex Rios", "Codex Porfirio Diaz" and a number of others.
Zush Nuttall Code p. 89. Ritual duel. Modern rendering. The prisoner, tied to a sacrificial stone for his belt, fights with two jaguar warriors at once. Tears flow from the prisoner's eyes. Interestingly, he is armed with two sticks (or are they stone pestles for flour?), But his opponents have shields and strange weapons in the form of gloves with jaguar claws.
Now let's at least selectively take a closer look at some of these codes in more detail to have an idea of their content …
