Mexico Codex Exhibit Rethinks Moctezuma's Death Agence France-Presse
go to original November 3, 2014

The Chimalpahin codex (XVII Century) made in European paper is seen at the "Codices of Mexico, memories and knowledge" exhibition at the National Anthropology museum. (AFP)

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s largest exhibit of Mesoamerican manuscripts features a codex made of fig tree bark suggesting that Aztec emperor Moctezuma was slain by a Spanish conquistador with a sword. The piece is among 44 codices made by several pre-Columbian populations — including the Mayas, Purepechas and Zapotecos — on display at the National Museum of Anthropology.

Some of the pieces in the temporary exhibit, titled “Codices of Mexico: Memories and Wisdom,” are as large as 10 square meters (108 square feet). One cost the government $1 million to buy from the Bible Society in Britain.

“It’s the biggest codex exhibit (in Mexico),” curator Baltazar Brito, director of the National Anthropology and History Library, said. The codices were written by tlacuilos, which in Mayan means a person who carves stones.

The ancient manuscripts present a vision of history from the point of view of “the people who were subdued after the conquest,” Brito said. “They are a very important demonstration of the knowledge acquired by Mesoamerican peoples throughout their history.”

Read the rest at Saudi Gazette

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!