Stones of Tizocic and Motecuhzoma I / Axayacatl -- Location

David Wright dcwright at prodigy.net.mx
Sat Aug 8 16:35:33 UTC 2009


Estimado Gordon:

The book by Matos and Solís has complete, fairly large scale, high
resolution, roll-out color photos of both stones, the Piedra de Tízoc and
the Piedra del ex Arzobispado. The earlier, more recently discovered
sculpture is usually called the Piedra del ex Arzobispado after the place it
was found, since it's not clear which Mexica lord commissioned it (actually
most people write "Piedra del Ex-Arzobispado" or, as in the case of the
Matos/Solís book, "Piedra del exArzobispado", but in Spanish ex is more
properly written separate from the following word and without the hyphen).
The last time I saw the latter piece it was in the Sala Mexica of the Museo
Nacional de Antropología. That was a few years ago; I suppose it's still
there.

The latter sculpture helps us to interpret te former. A comparison of the
toponymical signs in the conquest sign clusters shows that both sculptures
register the same sequence of conquests, beginning with Colhuacan (as in the
Codex Mendoza); the Piedra del ex Arzobispado has 11 conquests and the
Piedra de Tízoc has the same 11 plus four more, for a total of 15. So the
old interpretation of the 15 conquests on the latter sculpture being Tízoc's
has been discarded; it now looks like just the last four were accomplished
under this lord, and that the idea is to show a sequence of key Mexica
conquests. Some of the water-mountains registered were conquered more than
one time, according to other sources (like the Codex Mendoza), which opens
up alternative possibilities for their place in the sequence. Of the four
water-mountains that appear on the piedra de Tízoc but not on the Piedra del
ex Arzobispado, only the first, Matlatzinco (represented by a relief of a
triangular net, in position number 12, counting from Culhuacan) is
registered among the conquests of Tízoc in the Codex Mendoza.

I just did a quick search to see if I could find if the Piedra del ex
Arzobispado is still in the Sala Mexica. I didn't find the answer, but I
found an article from 2006 by López Austin that I had missed. Here's the
link; it's freely available on REDALYC:

http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/pdf/369/36908907.pdf

Saludos,

David

-----Mensaje original-----
De: nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
En nombre de Gordon Whittaker
Enviado el: sábado, 08 de agosto de 2009 02:21 a.m.
Para: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
Asunto: [Nahuat-l] Stones of Tizocic and Motecuhzoma I / Axayacatl --
Location

Dear colleagues,

Many thanks to David Wright and Michel Oudijk for these valuable book
tips. I presume most photos so far only depict Tizocic's famous
temalacatl, or do these books / catalogues also show the more recently
discovered stone that Michel Graulich identifies as commissioned by
Axayacatl (rather than Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina)?

I could curse myself for not doing a thorough study of Tizocic's monument
while in Mexico last year. I'm not sure where the other monument is
located at present and whether it is on public display. Does anyone happen
to know where it's housed today?

Best wishes and thanks,
Gordon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gordon Whittaker
Professor
Linguistische Anthropologie und Altamerikanistik
Seminar fuer Romanische Philologie
Universitaet Goettingen
Humboldtallee 19
37073 Goettingen
Germany
tel./fax (priv.): ++49-5594-89333
tel. (office): ++49-551-394188
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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