History and Mythology of the Aztecs: The Codex Chimalpopoca

248 Pages·1998·6.017 MB·English

by  John Bierhorst

History and Mythology of the Aztecs
THE CODEX C H IM ALPO PO CA

History and Mythology
of the Aztecs
THE CODEX CHIMALPOPOCA
Translated from the Nahuad
by JOHN BIERHORST
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA PRESS
Tucson
Second printing 1998
The University ofA rizona Press
Copyright © 1992
John Bierhorst
All Rights Reserved
© This book is printed on add-free, archival-quality paper.
Manufactured in the United States ofA merica.
03 02 01 00 99 98 6 s 4 3 2
Library ofC ongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Codex Chimalpopoca. English.
History and mythology of the Aztecs : the Codex Chimalpopoca /
translated from the Nahuatl by John Bierhorst.
Companion volume to: Codex Chimalpopoca.
Indudes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-8165-1886-6 (pbk.: u!k. paper). ISBN 0-816S-1126-8 (doth: alk. paper)
1. Codex Chimalpopoca. 2. Aztecs—History.
3. Aztecs—Religion and mythology. 4. Manuscripts, Aztec—
Facsimiles, s- Mexico—History—Tb IS19.
6. Colhuacdn—History. I. Bierhorst, John. U. Title.
F1219.S9C62 1992 972'.018—dc20 91-42267 CUP
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record fir this book is available from the British Library.
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction i
Annals ofCuauhtitlan 17
Table of Contents 19
The Text in English 2 3
Legend of the Suns 13 9
Table of Contents 141
The Text in English 14 2
Concordance to Proper Nouns and Titles 163
Subject Guide 219
Source Abbreviations 231
References 233
v

Preface
Using terminology found in the codex itself, a more precise tide for this
volume would be Tear Count [.xiuhpohualli] and Wisdom Tales [tlamachiliz-
tlatolzazanüli] of the Aztecs—meaning the Annals of Cuauhtidan and Leg­
end of the Suns, the two Nahuad works contained in Codex Chimalpo-
poca. There is, however, a point at which so much precision becomes
unclear. I hope most readers will agree that the rough English equivalent,
History and Mythology of the Aztecs, does not misrepresent the work at hand.
To make the translation more widely available, its linguistic apparatus is
being published separately in a companion volume entitled Codex Chimal-
popoca: The Text in Nahuatl with a Glossary and Grammatical Notes. Readers
unacquainted with the Aztec language need not consult it. Those who do
may use the two volumes side by side as a bilingual edition.
The entire project, so far as my own labor is concerned, has been
supported by a grant from the Translations Program of the National En­
dowment for the Humanities—to whom I owe my first debt of thanks.
In particular I have benefited from the good humor and encouragement
of Susan Mango, founder of the Translations Program, and Martha
Bohachevsky-Chomiak, its present director.
I am grateful to Elsa Ziehm of the Free University of Berlin for her
expert consultation in all matters pertaining to Aztec language and history.
It was she who read over my shoulder, as it were, saving me from missteps
at crucial moments. Errors that remain, need it be said, are my own,
not hers.
In addition, I have had two silent consultants, whose works, posthu­
mously, have been constant guides. Indeed, these works have made the
present edition possible. I refer to Walter Lehmann’s German-Nahuatl
Geschichte der Königreiche von Colhuacan und Mexico, which broke ground
with its careful deciphering of the manuscript’s crabbed hand; and Primo
Feliciano Velázquez’s annotated Spanish version. Códice Chimalpopoca,
with its photographic facsimile of the now-missing original.
A third silent consultant has been the late Thelma Sullivan, whose un­
published transcription and English translation of the first seven sides of
the manuscript were kindly made available to me by Elizabeth Boone,
director of precolumbian studies, Dumbarton Oaks.
To Peter Tschohl of the University of Cologne goes credit for having
Preface
rediscovered the ending of the Codex in the León y Gama copy at the
Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. As a result, the edition in hand is the first
in any language to present the Legend of the Suns in its entirety. I am
grateful to Professor Tschohl for an offprint of the 1989 paper that
announces his find; and I thank Monique Cohen of the Bibliothèque
Nationale for permission to transcribe and translate from the León y
Gama manuscript.
Along the way, numerous individuals and institutions have answered
calls for help. I thank them all, especially R. Joe Campbell, John Ceely,
Mary Clayton, Marc Eisinger, Willard Gingerich, and Michael E. Smith,
all of whom shared unpublished research.
History and Mythology of the Aztecs
TH E CODEX C H IM ALPO PO C A