The Essential Codex Mendoza

by Frances F. Berdan, Patricia Rieff Anawalt

At last, this paperback adaptation of The Codex Mendoza places the most comprehensive, most extensively illustrated document of Aztec civilization within reach of a broad audience. Compiled in Mexico City around 1541 under the supervision of Spanish clerics, the codex was intended to inform King Charles V about his newly conquered subjects. The manuscript contains pictorial accounts of Aztec emperors' conquests and tribute paid by the conquered, as well as an ethnographic record of Aztec daily life from cradle to grave. This publication is an unsurpassed source of information about Aztec history, geography, economy, social and political organization, glyphic writing, costumes, textiles, military attire, and indigenous art styles.The Essential Codex Mendoza combines volumes 2 and 4 of the four-volume edition of The Codex Mendoza published by the University of California Press in 1992. That publication includes a collection of interpretations and appendices (volume 1), page-by-page d

Genres: History, Art

415 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1534

About the author

Frances F. Berdan is an American archaeologist specializing in the Aztecs and professor emerita of anthropology at California State University, San Bernardino. Berdan has authored many influential books about the Aztec civilization.

Reviews

[David Olmsted · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Codex Mendoza is a treasure in the Oxford Library in England. Shortly after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs the first Viceroy commissioned this book for King Charles V in order for him to become familiar with the people of this new land. It was painted by an Aztec book artist to which a Spanish priest familiar with the Aztec language added notes. This book reproduces all its pages and provides explanations in English. It is a rare insight into the Aztec world.

[Lulu]

1541