Embedded Glottograms in the Images of the Gods in Ancient Central Mexico

Bibliographic Data

ID6034211
AuthorsD Dehouve (0000-0001-5696-3314, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-University of Paris-Nanterre, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume36
Issue2
Pages1-22
Publication date2025-10-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAncient Mesoamerica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0956-5361 • E-ISSN: 1469-1787
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0956536125100758
OpenAlexW4414947494
LanguageEN
References cited15

It has often been considered that the representations of the gods in Ancient Central Mexico were purely symbolic and that we should not look for the presence of glottograms, i.e. signs that encode linguistic units pronounced in the Nahuatl language. This article intends to demonstrate that we should reject the image/writing dichotomy in this context. In order to understand the identity of the Nahua gods, it is necessary to combine symbolic deciphering with a reading of the names embedded in their bodies and ornaments. This article takes the example of several representations of gods in codices of the Aztec tradition. It shows that this embedded script used the main scriptural techniques known in Nahuatl writing: logograms, phonograms, and indicators. In this way, the identity of the god, and therefore its ritual effectiveness, was expressed simultaneously visually and phonically

Close reading · Nahuatl · The Symbolic · Ancient Near East History · Latin American history and culture · Linguistics and language evolution

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