Quetzalcoatl Codex Borgia

The codex borgia was brought to europe likely italy some time in the early spanish colonial period.

Quetzalcoatl codex borgia. The codex borgia is the most famous of four pre colombian codices that make up the borgia group painted in the mixteca puebla style by scribes who are thought to have lived in the area the modern mexican states of puebla and tlaxcala. It consists of 39 double sided pages each of which contains pictures and drawings. Part of the mesoamerican mexica or aztec myth of the origin of people where quetzalcoatl the plumed serpent descends into the land of the dead mictlan to rescue the bones of humanity and bring them back to life. The borgia codex is an ancient book created in mexico in the age before the arrival of the spanish.

Quetzalcoatl as depicted in the borgia codex the aztec mythology is intimately connected to cannibalism. It has been studied for centuries and scholars continue to study this complex manuscript in order to better understand its original meaning and use. Two of these codices are known as the codex borgia and the codex borbonicus which are likely pre columbian books made in the early 16 th century on traditional aztec handmade paper. He was a creator deity having contributed essentially to the creation of mankind.

It was most likely used by native priests to predict cycles of time and fate. The codex borgia is presently housed in the apostolic library the vatican and has been digitally scanned and made available to the public. Mictlantecuhtli back to back with quetzalcoatl based on the codex borgia detail. One of them is the codex borgia an aztec manuscript made during the late post classic period which stretched from about 1250 until about 1521.

It was discovered in 1805 by alexander von humboldt among the effects of cardinal stefano borgia. The screenfold manuscript is painted on deerskin prepared with a gesso like coating. To the aztecs quetzalcoatl was as his name indicates a feathered serpent a flying reptile much like a dragon who was a boundary maker and transgressor between earth and sky. The images reproduced in this exhibit consist of deities and scenes from three famous aztec codices.

Considered by many scholars the finest extant mexican codex and one of the most important original sources for the study of pre columbian religion the codex borgia is a work of profound beauty filled with strange and evocative images related to calendrical cosmological ritual and divinatory matters. Once again they looked to quetzalcoatl who is said to have journeyed to the underworld at.