Tepotzoa

[Caroline Dodds]

Dear colleagues,

As a very occasional contributor but frequent lurker, I was hoping that someone on the list might be able to help me with the term 'tepotzoa'. I am writing an article about the decapitation of women in sacrificial practice, and have become increasingly interested in the word. It is used in the Florentine Codex (The Ceremonies, p.105) to describe the practice by which the ixiptla of Xilonen is sacrificed (by beheading) upon the back of a priest at the festival of Uey tecuilhuitl. The text reads: "auh yn icujtlapan mjcoaia, motocaiotia tepotzoa:". And the translation by Dibble and Anderson is given as "And when there was dying upon his back, it was called "it has a back". This makes it sound as if this is an official 'term' for this form of sacrifice, and so it seems quite surprising that it does not appear in relation to similar festivals (at Ochpaniztli for example). 

I was wondering if anyone had come across the term in other descriptions of sacrificial ritual and also about the translation as 'it has a back'. Are there other possible interpretations which might be placed on the term? And does the sense which comes across in the term that perhaps it might be almost a unifying of the priest and victim at the moment of sacrifice seem a fair one? 

I would also be delighted to hear of any articles etc which deal with the subject of female decapitation (particularly in ritual, rather than image, although the latter is also welcome). I have obviously seen quite a few, but any suggestions would be very gratefully received. 

Best wishes and thank you for your help. 
Caroline
-----
Dr. Caroline Dodds
Junior Research Fellow
Sidney Sussex College 
Cambridge 
CB2 3HU

Tel: 01223 (3)30867
ced44 at cam.ac.uk
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