Encounter with the Plumed Serpent: Drama and Power in the Heart of MesoamericaThe Mixtec, or the people of Ñuu Savi ('Nation of the Rain God'), one of the major civilizations of ancient Mesoamerica, made their home in the highlands of Oaxaca, where they resisted both Aztec military expansion and the Spanish conquest. In Encounter with the Plumed Serpent, two leading scholars present and interpret the sacred histories narrated in the Mixtec codices, the largest surviving collection of pre-Columbian manuscripts in existence. In these screenfold books, ancient painter-historians chronicled the politics of the Mixtec from approximately a.d. 900 to 1521, portraying the royal families, rituals, wars, alliances, and ideology of the times. By analyzing and cross-referencing the codices, which have been fragmented and dispersed in far-flung archives, the authors attempt to reconstruct Mixtec history. Their synthesis here builds on long examination of the ancient manuscripts. Adding useful interpretation and commentary, Jansen and Pérez Jiménez synthesize the large body of surviving documents into the first unified narrative of Mixtec sacred history. Archaeologists and other scholars as well as readers with an interest in Mesoamerican cultures will find this lavishly illustrated volume a compelling and fascinating history and a major step forward in knowledge of the Mixtec. |
Contents
The Mat and the Throne | 1 |
Storytelling and Ritual | 33 |
Descent of the Plumed Serpent | 65 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
12 Wind alliance ancient Arrow Blood calendar name cave ceremonial center Chiyo Yuhu Cholula Cihuacoatl Codex Añute Codex Iya Nacuaa Codex Ñuu Tnoo-Ndisi Codex Tonindeye Codex Yoalli Ehecatl Codex Yuta Tnoho codices cultural Death Deer's deity divine Dzaha Dzaui Ehecatl Fire Serpent Flower given name Heaven House Huahi Cahi Jade Jaguar Jansen Lady 13 Lady 3 Flint Lady 6 Eagle Lady 6 Monkey Lienzo Lord 12 Movement Lord 2 Rain Lord 4 Jaguar Lord 5 Alligator Lord 8 Deer Lord 9 Wind marriage married Mesoamerican Mexico Mixteca Alta Mixteca Baja Monte Albán Mountain Nahuatl Ñuhu Ñuu Dzaui Ñuu Ndaya Ñuu Tnoo Ñuu Tnoo-Ndisi Nuu Oaxaca Plumed Serpent Postclassic primordial quetzal feathers Rabbit reference ritual Sacred Bundle Sahagún scene Stone symbolic Temple Teotihuacan Tezcatlipoca Tilantongo Tollan Toltec Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl toponym Town Tree Valley village-state Wind Quetzalcoatl Xipe Bundle yahui Yodzo Yucu Dzaa Yucuñudahui Zaachila