Codex Borgia
The Codex Borgia is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican screenfold manuscript, consisting of 39 folded sheets made from tanned deer skin coated with gesso, measuring approximately 10.3 meters in length when fully unfolded and featuring 76 painted pages of about 26.5 by 27 centimeters each.[1] Created around 1400–1500 CE in the Mixteca-Puebla style during the late Postclassic period (c. 1250–1521), it depicts vivid polychrome illustrations using precise contour lines and washes of red, yellow, blue, and green pigments, portraying deities, animals, plants, astronomical symbols, and glyphs associated with religious rituals and divination.[2] As one of only about 12 surviving pre-Hispanic codices from central Mexico, it escaped widespread destruction during the Spanish conquest and offers rare insights into indigenous cosmological and ceremonial practices.[3] The codex originated in the central Mexican highlands, likely in the region of southern Puebla or northern Oaxaca, areas influenced by both Mixtec and Aztec (Mexica) cultures, though its exact provenance remains uncertain due to the lack of accompanying text or colophons.[1] It belongs to the renowned "Borgia Group" of four related manuscripts—the Codex Borgia, Codex Cospi, Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, and Codex Vaticanus B 3773—all characterized by their shared stylistic elements, such as stylized figures of gods and ritual scenes, and their focus on esoteric knowledge rather than historical narratives.[4] Scholarly analysis attributes its creation to anonymous scribes or priests trained in pictographic traditions, possibly for use in temple ceremonies among Nahuatl-speaking communities vassal to the Aztec Empire.[3] The manuscript's survival is attributed to its transport to Europe before the conquest's full impact, with early European ownership undocumented until the 18th century. Structurally, the Codex Borgia unfolds like an accordion in a single continuous strip, functioning as a tonalámatl, or divinatory almanac based on the 260-day Mesoamerican ritual calendar (tonalpohualli), with contents organized into various almanacs and ritual sections.[2] Its contents emphasize religious and cosmological themes: the first half details the 20 day-signs paired with 13 numbers for fate predictions, accompanied by images of gods like Tlaloc (rain deity) and Quetzalcoatl, alongside rituals involving offerings, pilgrimages, and human sacrifice; the latter sections cover Venus cycles over 584 days, possibly linked to warfare and agriculture, as well as depictions of sacred bundles, temple dedications, and botanical elements like maize pollination.[1] Unlike narrative codices such as the Codex Mendoza, it prioritizes symbolic and almanac functions, serving as a priestly tool for interpreting omens, timing ceremonies, and mapping cosmic order rather than recording events or genealogies.[3] Named after Cardinal Stefano Borgia (1731–1804), an Italian collector and ethnographer who acquired it in the late 18th century, the codex entered the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) around 1800, where it remains cataloged as Borgianus Mexicanus 1.[1] Its scholarly study began in the 1790s with Spanish priest José Lino Fábrega's tracings and intensified in the early 20th century through Eduard Seler's iconographic interpretations, which connected its motifs to broader Nahua mythology.[2] Modern research, including quantitative stylistic analyses, continues to explore its materials (e.g., mineral-based pigments) and cultural role, affirming its status as a masterpiece of indigenous artistry and intellectual tradition.[3]Overview
Description
The Codex Borgia is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican pictorial manuscript painted on deerskin in a folded screen-fold format, consisting of 39 leaves comprising 76 pages and measuring approximately 27 cm in height.[5][3] When fully unfolded, the manuscript extends to roughly 10 meters in length, forming a continuous strip accordion-folded into nearly square panels painted on both sides.[1] The codex is adorned with vibrant colors derived from mineral and vegetable pigments, depicting gods, humans, animals, and symbolic motifs characteristic of the Mixteca-Puebla style prevalent in Central Mexico during the late Postclassic period.[6][4] Its artistic execution features precise contour lines filled with flat polychrome washes, creating dense, layered imagery that minimizes written text in favor of symbolic representation over linear narrative.[1] The content focuses primarily on ritual, divinatory, and calendrical themes rooted in Aztec or related Central Mexican cosmology, with the Tonalpohualli—the 260-day ritual calendar—serving as its core structural element.[6]Cultural Significance
The Codex Borgia stands as one of the best-preserved pre-Columbian Mesoamerican manuscripts, providing invaluable insights into the religious and cosmological worldview of Central Mexican cultures, likely Aztec or Tlaxcalan, through its depictions of deities, rituals, and sacred narratives.[1][7] As a ritual and divinatory document from the late Post-Classic period (circa 1400–1500 CE), it captures the spiritual practices of indigenous elites, emphasizing the interconnectedness of time, space, and divine forces in guiding community life.[8] Its imagery of gods such as Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl, alongside ceremonial scenes, reveals a theology centered on fertility, agriculture, and celestial cycles, bridging pre-conquest indigenous beliefs with post-conquest understandings of native spirituality.[1] Central to its cultural role is its function as a tool for post-Classic Mesoamerican divination, employed by priests to prognosticate outcomes and conduct ceremonies based on the tonalpohualli, a 260-day ritual calendar divided into trecenas (thirteen-day periods).[7][1] This non-narrative, image-based format served as a pictorial guide for interpreting omens tied to Venus movements, solar cycles, and seasonal festivals, reflecting the codex's practical use in religious and political decision-making among noble and priestly classes.[8] Unlike historical codices such as the Codex Mendoza, which emphasize conquest and tribute, the Borgia prioritizes esoteric knowledge, highlighting Mesoamerican priests' reliance on visual symbolism for ritual efficacy.[8] In modern scholarship, the Codex Borgia profoundly influences studies of Mesoamerican iconography, calendar systems, and gender dynamics in rituals, offering a primary source for decoding the complexities of indigenous cosmology and social structures.[7] For instance, interpretations of its plates reveal parallels between female fertility and male access to power, underscoring gendered roles in religious practices and contributing to broader discussions on women's spiritual agency in pre-Hispanic societies.[9] As one of only about twelve surviving pre-conquest manuscripts, it enables researchers to reconstruct lost aspects of Central Mexican thought, from astronomical observations to mythological narratives, thereby enriching understandings of Aztec and neighboring communities' cultural heritage.[1][8]Historical Provenance
Origins and Pre-Columbian Context
The Codex Borgia is dated to ca. 1400–1500 CE, placing its creation within the Late Postclassic period (ca. 1250–1521 CE) of Mesoamerican history, prior to Spanish contact.[6][10] Scholars attribute its production to the southern central highlands of Mexico, likely in a Nahuatl-speaking region such as the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley or the Tehuacán Valley, areas influenced by the expanding Aztec empire.[10][11] This temporal and geographic context aligns with the height of Central Mexican cultural and political integration, where ritual manuscripts served elite and priestly functions in divinatory and ceremonial practices.[8] The manuscript was crafted by trained indigenous scribes known as tlacuiloque in Nahuatl, who specialized in pictorial writing for religious purposes.[12] These artisans, operating within elite or temple settings, produced the codex as a tool for ritual guidance, reflecting the sophisticated scribal traditions of pre-Columbian Central Mexico.[10] No direct textual or colophon evidence specifies its exact origin, leading researchers to rely on stylistic and iconographic analysis to infer its provenance.[13] Stylistically, the Codex Borgia exemplifies the Mixteca-Puebla artistic tradition, characterized by vibrant colors, symbolic motifs, and shared iconography across Late Postclassic manuscripts from central Mexico.[11][8] However, costume and figural analyses indicate a non-Mixtec authorship, distinguishing it from Oaxaca Valley manuscripts through the absence of Mixtec-specific ritual attire and the prominence of Eastern Nahua (Aztec-influenced) elements.[14] This blend of local Central Mexican styles with broader Mesoamerican motifs underscores its role in the cultural synthesis of the period, particularly in regions like Tlaxcala-Puebla where Nahuatl-speaking communities interacted with Aztec imperial networks.[10][12]European Acquisition and Preservation
The Codex Borgia arrived in Europe during the early colonial period in the 16th century, transported by missionaries or colonial collectors who acquired Mesoamerican artifacts during the early colonial period. An Italian gloss on page 68 suggests handling by Europeans, possibly Spanish or Italian, soon after arrival.[15][10] Its earliest documented European appearance occurs in inventories of the Italian Giustiniani family around 1600, suggesting it entered private noble collections via ecclesiastical or diplomatic channels from Spain.[16] By the late 18th century, the manuscript had passed to Cardinal Stefano Borgia (1731–1804), an avid collector of antiquities who obtained it from the Giustiniani family, possibly through family connections or exchanges among Roman elites.[15][6] Named after Borgia, the codex remained in his private museum in Velletri until his death in 1804, after which his collection, including the manuscript, was transferred to the Collegio de Propaganda Fide in Rome around 1807.[17] It stayed there until 1902, when the Propaganda Fide's ethnographic holdings were acquired by the Vatican Library, where it is now cataloged as MS Borg. mess. 1.[18] The first scholarly publication came in 1904, when German archaeologist Eduard Seler issued a facsimile edition with detailed commentary, making the codex accessible to researchers and establishing it as a key source for Mesoamerican studies.[19] Throughout the 20th century, the Vatican Library undertook conservation efforts on the Codex Borgia to stabilize its deerskin pages and pigments, ensuring its survival amid environmental challenges in storage.[20] These measures reflect broader Vatican initiatives to preserve pre-Columbian manuscripts in its collection. In 2020, the Mexican government, led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, formally requested the temporary repatriation of the codex for cultural exhibition, underscoring ongoing international debates about the return of colonial-era artifacts to their regions of origin.[21] This appeal highlights the codex's enduring role in Mexican heritage discussions, though it remains housed in the Vatican Apostolic Library.[22]Physical Characteristics
Materials and Construction
The Codex Borgia is composed of tanned deerskin, a material prepared by tanning animal hides, which was cut into strips and coated with a layer of lime-based gesso, typically a mixture of calcium carbonate and an organic binder, to provide a smooth surface for painting and enhance durability.[2][23] This preparation reflects techniques common in the Mixteca-Puebla artistic tradition influencing the codex's production.[24] The manuscript's pigments were derived from natural sources, with red hues obtained from cochineal insects (Dactylopius coccus), processed into a lake pigment by precipitating the carminic acid with a metal salt; blue from Maya blue, a stable synthetic pigment combining indigo and palygorskite clay; and yellow from iron-rich ochre (goethite or limonite).[24][25] Black outlines, forming the foundational structure of the illustrations, were created using carbon-based inks, likely from charred organic matter, applied with fine brushes for varying line thicknesses.[2] These colors were laid down in translucent washes over the black contours, building depth through layering while adhering to symbolic conventions such as black for nocturnal or underworld elements and red for sacrificial motifs.[24] Construction involved assembling 14 strips of deerskin end-to-end using natural adhesives to form a continuous strip, which was then folded in accordion style into 39 square sheets, with agave fiber reinforcements at seams for added strength, ensuring flexibility for repeated use in ritual contexts, resulting in a total unfolded length of approximately 10.3 meters.[26][2] Artistic execution employed hierarchical scaling, where figures' sizes varied according to their narrative importance rather than realistic proportions, enhancing the codex's visual hierarchy and readability in a pictorial script system.[2]Format, Dimensions, and Condition
The Codex Borgia is structured as a screen-fold codex, comprising 39 leaves folded in an accordion style for ease of use and portability, with each leaf measuring approximately 27 cm in height and width, yielding a total of 76 painted sides when fully unfolded.[6] This format allows the manuscript to be read from both sides, facilitating consultation during rituals, and modern scholars have assigned sequential numbering to the pages for reference.[1] The material is tanned deerskin, and early European descriptions correctly identified it as such.[2] Despite its antiquity, the codex remains well-preserved overall, with vibrant pigments intact across most surfaces, though it shows signs of age including some fading, minor cracks, and historical repairs to stabilize fragile areas.[6] There are no major losses of content, but the edges exhibit wear from repeated handling over centuries.[1] Currently, the Codex Borgia is stored flat in the Vatican Apostolic Library under strictly controlled environmental conditions to prevent further deterioration, including stable temperature, humidity, and light exposure.[22] It has been digitized since the 2010s as part of the library's broader manuscript preservation initiative, enabling high-resolution online access for researchers while minimizing physical handling.[27]Background Concepts
Mesoamerican Codices and Pictorial Writing
Mesoamerican codices were pre-Columbian manuscripts crafted as screenfold books from materials like amate bark paper or deerskin, utilizing a pictorial system of glyphs and images to record diverse forms of knowledge. These documents were produced by specialized artist-scribes, known as tlacuiloque, who underwent rigorous training in calmecac schools to serve elite patrons such as priests, rulers, and nobles, ensuring the preservation and transmission of sacred and administrative information. The Spanish conquest in the 16th century led to the systematic destruction of most codices, with missionaries like Bishop Diego de Landa ordering mass burnings in an effort to eradicate indigenous religious practices, resulting in the loss of thousands of these irreplaceable artifacts. The codices varied in purpose and content, including historical narratives that documented genealogies, migrations, and conquests—such as those in Mixtec manuscripts detailing royal lineages—ritual-divinatory texts employed for prophecy, ceremonies, and tonalpohualli calendrical interpretations, and astronomical records that tracked planetary movements and eclipses to guide agricultural and ritual timing. Composed in languages like Nahuatl and Mixtec, they relied on a visual syntax where pictographs represented objects and ideographs conveyed abstract concepts, supplemented by occasional phonetic elements to denote names or places. The Borgia Group of codices, including ritual-divinatory examples from Central Mexico, illustrates this tradition's endurance beyond the Maya sphere. Today, only approximately 20 pre-1521 codices are known to survive, with four from the Maya area and the rest primarily from Central Mexico, highlighting the precarious legacy of this manuscript culture. The Codex Borgia exemplifies the non-Maya Central Mexican style, characterized by its vibrant, convention-based imagery distinct from the more phonetic Maya script. Mesoamerican pictorial writing emphasized symbolic conventions over phonetic transcription, enabling the depiction of intricate ideas such as cyclical time through layered day-sign sequences and deity attributes via standardized iconographic motifs like serpents for Quetzalcoatl or mirrors for Tezcatlipoca.Aztec Calendar Systems
The Aztec calendar system comprised two interlocking cycles: the sacred tonalpohualli and the civil xiuhpohualli (also known as xihuitl), which together formed the basis for time reckoning, agriculture, and ritual in Mesoamerican societies including the Aztecs. This dual structure reflected a worldview where time was cyclical and infused with divine agency, influencing daily prognostications and long-term societal planning. The tonalpohualli, or "counting of the days," was a 260-day ritual cycle central to divination, while the xiuhpohualli tracked the solar year of approximately 365 days.[28] Their synchronization produced a 52-year cycle known as the xiuhmolpilli, or "bundle of years," marking major renewals such as the New Fire Ceremony to avert cosmic catastrophe.[29] The tonalpohualli combined 20 day signs with numerals from 1 to 13, generating 260 unique combinations since the least common multiple of 20 and 13 is 260.[30] The day signs, symbolic glyphs representing natural and supernatural forces, included examples such as Cipactli (crocodile, symbolizing primordial chaos) and Ehecatl (wind, associated with the feathered serpent deity).[31] Each day in the cycle carried inherent qualities for interpretation, with the numbering restarting after 13 to create interlocking sequences.[32] Within this framework, the trecena—13-day periods akin to "weeks"—provided a subunit for ritual organization, each presided over by a specific deity that imbued the period with thematic attributes, such as fertility or conflict.[30] The xiuhpohualli consisted of 18 twenty-day "months" (veintenas) totaling 360 days, plus an intercalary period of five nemontemi ("empty" or "useless") days at year's end, which were considered inauspicious and dedicated to reflection rather than activity.[33] Year bearers—four specific day signs (Calli house, Tochtli rabbit, Acatl reed, Tecpatl flint knife) paired with numbers 1 through 13—named each solar year, cycling through 52 possibilities to align with the tonalpohualli. Adding complexity, the nine Lords of the Night (yohualteuctin), deities like Tezcatlipoca and Mictlantecuhtli, cycled every nine days across the 260-day tonalpohualli, overlaying nocturnal influences that layered prognostications for personal and communal fate.[30] These elements collectively enabled priests to forecast outcomes, though detailed applications appear in ritual contexts.[30]Divinatory and Ritual Practices
In Mesoamerican societies, particularly among the Aztecs, priests known as tonalpouhque consulted pictorial almanacs like those in the Codex Borgia group to divine omens for significant life events, including births, marriages, and travels. These almanacs, structured around the 260-day tonalpohualli cycle, allowed diviners to interpret auspicious or inauspicious timings by analyzing the interplay of day signs with numerical coefficients and associated deities, thereby guiding individuals on potential fortunes or misfortunes.[34][26] For instance, a newborn's fate might be prognosticated based on the ruling deity of their birth day sign, influencing decisions on naming, education, or even sacrifice.[34] Ritual practices intertwined with these divinations often involved sacrifices and offerings calibrated to the 13-day trecenas periods within the almanac, where each trecena was presided over by a specific deity demanding propitiation to maintain cosmic balance. Directions played a crucial role, with gods like Tlaloc, the rain deity associated with fertility rites and the cardinal directions, receiving water offerings and child sacrifices during drought-related ceremonies, while Tezcatlipoca, associated with the north and fate, was honored through nocturnal rituals involving mirrors and jaguar motifs to avert sorcery or war ill omens.[35] These acts ensured communal harmony, as directional alignments in almanacs dictated the spatial orientation of ceremonies.[26] Aztec cosmology framed these practices within a universe divided into four quarters—east (red), north (black), west (white), and south (blue)—plus a central axis mundi, each quarter governed by a Tezcatlipoca aspect and influencing directional almanacs for rituals tied to seasonal or celestial events. The planet Venus, manifesting as the morning star (Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, an aspect of Quetzalcoatl), featured in specialized rites involving warfare and renewal, where its 584-day cycle synchronized with merchant gods like Yacatecuhtli for processions and bloodletting to invoke prosperous trade journeys.[35][34] Prognostications in almanacs often differentiated by gender, with male and female fates interpreted through sex-specific attributes of day signs, such as martial prowess for boys or domestic roles for girls, reflecting societal expectations. The cihuateteo, deified spirits of women who died in childbirth—equated to fallen warriors—were invoked in warrior cults during certain trecenas, where their spectral presence at crossroads demanded offerings to protect against malevolence and honor maternal sacrifice as a parallel to battlefield valor.[34][26]Contents
Tonalpohualli in Extenso (pages 1–8)
The Tonalpohualli in Extenso, occupying pages 1 through 8 of the Codex Borgia, constitutes a complete tabular representation of the 260-day ritual calendar central to Mesoamerican divination and cosmology. This section enumerates all 260 days in a structured grid format, serving as a foundational reference for priests and diviners to interpret the sacred qualities of time and its divine associations. The layout underscores the cyclical nature of the tonalpohualli, integrating day signs, numerical coefficients, and presiding deities to facilitate prognostications on fate, rituals, and human affairs.[6] The pages are arranged in five horizontal rows spanning two pages each for the 20 trecenas (13-day periods), with a total of 52 day signs per row, read from right to left and bottom to top, beginning with the Alligator day sign in the lower right of page 1 and concluding with the Flower sign in the bottom left of page 8. Each day combines one of the 20 glyphs—such as Jaguar, Deer, or Reed—with numbers 1 through 13, while taller images above and below the rows (52 pairs in total) qualify groups of five days with symbolic deities and attributes. These illustrations feature regents like Tonacatecuhtli for the first trecena, Quetzalcoatl for the second, Tlazolteotl for the thirteenth, Chalchiuhtlicue for the fourth, and Tlaloc for the fifth, depicted alongside elements denoting fertility, danger, or ritual potency, such as serpents, scorpions, suns, and sacrificial figures. Colors including blue, green, red, and black emphasize directional correspondences and the days' inherent energies, with glyphs and minor figures providing nuanced indicators of each day's character.[6] This expansive depiction of the tonalpohualli, rare among extant Mesoamerican codices, highlights its sacred structure as a comprehensive divinatory tool that links temporal cycles to cosmic and divine order. The regents' presence reinforces the calendar's role in guiding rituals, with the overlay of the nine Lords of the Night adding layers to the divinatory framework. Interpretations by scholars such as Eduard Seler emphasize the section's function in encoding the qualities of days for practical prognostication, while Karl A. Nowotny notes its stylistic integration within the Borgia Group's pictorial tradition.[19]Day Signs and Their Regents (pages 9–13)
Pages 9 through 13 of the Codex Borgia present an isolated depiction of the 20 primary day signs of the Mesoamerican 260-day ritual calendar, known as the tonalpohualli, each accompanied by its ruling regent deity. These pages serve to highlight the individual attributes and divine patrons of the day signs, emphasizing their distinct powers and influences within the calendrical system, separate from the integrated 260-day sequence shown earlier in the codex.[6] Each regent is portrayed as a major deity in a ritualistic pose, underscoring the hierarchical oversight of cosmic forces over daily affairs, with the signs linked to natural phenomena, such as earthquakes for the sign Ollin (Movement).[6] The five pages are structured into four quarters each, forming a unified visual cycle read from right to left and top to bottom, beginning with Cipactli (Alligator) in the lower right of page 9 and concluding with Xochitl (Flower) in the upper right of the same page when considering the full arrangement.[6] This layout allows for contemplation of each sign's unique essence, differing from the comprehensive tonalpohualli on pages 1–8 by focusing solely on the day signs and their patrons without the numerical coefficients or sequential progression.[6] Illustrations feature elaborately rendered day glyphs—often anthropomorphized or symbolic—positioned alongside the central regent figure, who is adorned in elaborate attire reflecting their domain, such as feathered headdresses or animal attributes.[6] Accompanying elements include offerings like bundled incense or sacrificial items, and symbolic motifs such as stars, water, or vegetation, which evoke the sign's qualities and the deity's ritual role.[6] Scholars such as Eduard Seler identified these regents through iconographic analysis, linking them to known Aztec and related pantheons, while Karl A. Nowotny later refined these associations by examining stylistic and contextual clues in the Borgia Group codices.[19] For instance, the sign Ehecatl (Wind) is governed by Quetzalcoatl in his wind aspect (Ehécatl), depicted with a conch shell and swirling motifs symbolizing breath and change, highlighting the deity's role in initiating movement and transformation.[6] Similarly, Tezcatlipoca, as the Smoking Mirror, rules over Acatl (Reed), shown with obsidian mirrors and warrior regalia to denote sorcery and destiny's unpredictability.[6] These portrayals emphasize the deities' authoritative presence, often in dynamic poses with arms raised or holding implements, reinforcing the sacred governance of time.[6] The following table summarizes the 20 day signs and their regent deities as depicted across pages 9–13, based on iconographic identifications:| Day Sign (Nahuatl/English) | Regent Deity | Page/Quarter Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cipactli (Alligator) | Xochipilli/Tonacatecuhtli | Page 9, lower right: Youthful god with floral elements, alligator glyph with jaws open. |
| Ehecatl (Wind) | Quetzalcoatl/Ehécatl | Page 9, lower left: Wind god with shell, swirling winds around wind symbol. |
| Calli (House) | Tepeyóllotl | Page 9, upper left: Jaguar-earth lord, house glyph with hearth symbols. |
| Cuetzpallin (Lizard) | Huehuecóyotl | Page 9, upper right: Old coyote trickster, lizard with scaled body. |
| Coatl (Serpent) | Chalchiuhtlicue | Page 10, lower right: Jade skirt goddess, serpent with turquoise accents. |
| Miquiztli (Death) | Tecciztécatl | Page 10, lower left: Moon snail god, skull motifs on death sign. |
| Mazatl (Deer) | Tláloc | Page 10, upper left: Rain god with goggle eyes, deer with antlers. |
| Tochtli (Rabbit) | Mayahuel | Page 10, upper right: Pulque goddess, rabbit with maguey symbols. |
| Atl (Water) | Xiuhtecuhtli | Page 11, lower right: Fire-old god, water waves and turquoise beads. |
| Itzcuintli (Dog) | Mictlantecuhtli | Page 11, lower left: Underworld lord, dog guide with bones. |
| Ozomatli (Monkey) | Xochipilli | Page 11, upper left: Flower prince, monkey with marigold crown. |
| Malinalli (Grass) | Patecatl | Page 11, upper right: Pulque healer, grass tufts and medicinal herbs. |
| Acatl (Reed) | Tezcatlipoca-Ixquimilli | Page 12, lower right: Black mirror warrior, reed arrows and shields. |
| Ocelotl (Jaguar) | Tlazolteotl | Page 12, lower left: Filth goddess, jaguar spots and broom. |
| Cuauhtli (Eagle) | Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca | Page 12, upper left: Red mirror smoking god, eagle with solar disk. |
| Cozcacuauhtli (Vulture) | Itzpapalotl | Page 12, upper right: Obsidian butterfly, vulture with flayed skin. |
| Ollin (Movement) | Xolotl | Page 13, lower right: Dog twin of Quetzalcoatl, earthquake symbols on movement eye. |
| Tecpatl (Flint) | Chalchiuhtotolin | Page 13, lower left: Jade turkey, flint knife with blood. |
| Quiahuitl (Rain) | Tonatiuh | Page 13, upper left: Sun god, rain drops and lightning. |
| Xochitl (Flower) | Xochiquetzal | Page 13, upper right: Flower goddess, blooming petals and jewels. |
Lords of the Night (page 14)
Page 14 of the Codex Borgia presents the Nine Lords of the Night, a series of deities that rule over successive nights in the 260-day tonalpohualli, modulating the influences of the day signs to layer additional prognostic significance onto each day. These nine figures occupy the entire page, arranged in three rows of three, with a reading order following a serpentine path from the bottom right to the top left, reflecting Mesoamerican pictorial conventions. The dark, blackish background underscores the nocturnal domain of these rulers, distinguishing this almanac from the brighter depictions of daytime regents elsewhere in the codex. Each lord is illustrated as a full-figure deity, embodying attributes of rulership tied to cosmic forces such as fire, death, or water, and positioned to align with the first nine day signs of the 20-sign cycle. In their hands, the figures uniformly grasp a tied bundle of sticks alongside a rubber ball and a quetzal feather, evoking a ritual burnt offering that symbolizes sacrifice and invocation during nighttime ceremonies. This iconography highlights the lords' role in facilitating divinations, where their presence infuses the tonalpohualli with deeper temporal and fateful dimensions beyond the primary day-sign regents. The cycle of the Nine Lords repeats every nine days throughout the 260-day count, creating a modulating overlay that repeats approximately 28 full times within one tonalpohualli, thereby enriching predictions with recurring nocturnal influences. As complements to the day signs, these deities enable diviners to discern more nuanced omens, such as propitious or adverse conditions for rituals tied to specific nights.| Position | Lord of the Night | Associated Day Sign |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xiuhtecuhtli | Cipactli (Alligator) |
| 2 | Tezcatlipoca (Itztli) | Ehecatl (Wind) |
| 3 | Piltzintecuhtli | Calli (House) |
| 4 | Cinteotl | Cuetzpalin (Lizard) |
| 5 | Mictlantecuhtli | Coatl (Serpent) |
| 6 | Chalchiuhtlicue | Miquiztli (Death) |
| 7 | Tlazolteotl | Mazatl (Deer) |
| 8 | Tepeyollotl | Tochtli (Rabbit) |
| 9 | Tláloc | Atl (Water) |