Mesoamerican literature
Encyclopedia
The traditions of indigenous
Mesoamerican literature extend back to the oldest-attested forms of early writing
in the Mesoamerica
n region, which date from around the mid-1st millennium BCE
. Many of the pre-Columbian
cultures of Mesoamerica are known to have been literate
societies, who produced a number of Mesoamerican writing systems
of varying degrees of complexity and completeness. Mesoamerican writing systems arose independently from other writing systems in the world, and their development represents one of the very few such origins in the history of writing
.
The literature and texts created by indigenous Mesoamericans are the earliest-known from the Americas for primarily two reasons: Firstly the fact that the native populations of Mesoamerica were the first to enter into intensive contact with Europeans, assuring that many samples of Mesoamerican literature have been documented in surviving and intelligible forms. Secondly, the long tradition of Mesoamerican writing which undoubtedly contributed to the native Mesoamericans readily embracing the Latin alphabet
of the Spaniards and creating many literary works written in it during the first centuries after the Spanish conquest of Mexico
. This article summarizes current knowledge about indigenous Mesoamerican literatures in its broadest sense and describe it categorized by its literary contents and social functions.
The answer to this question is complex and is the topic of the rest of this article that will try to describe and resume what is known about the genres and functions of indigenous Mesoamerican literatures.
Three major subjects of Mesoamerican literatures can be identified:
and Aztec languages there is one word for writing and drawing ((tlàcuiloa in Nahuatl and tz'iib' in Classic Maya
)) Pictures are sometimes read phonetically and texts meant to be read are sometimes very pictorial in nature. This makes it difficult for modern day scholars to distinguish between whether an inscription in a Mesoamerican script
represents spoken language or is to be interpreted as a descriptive drawing. The only Mesoamerican people known without doubt to have developed a completely glottographic or phonetic script is the Maya, and even the Mayan script is largely pictorial and often shows fuzzy boundaries between images and text. Scholars disagree on the phoneticity of other Mesoamerican scripts and iconographic
styles, but many show use of the Rebus principle and a highly conventionalised set of symbols
.
The monumental inscriptions were often historical records of the citystates:
Famous examples include:
The function of these kinds of historical inscriptions also served to consoliate the power of the rulers who used them also as a kind of propaganda testimonies to their power. Most commonly monumental hieroglyphocal texts describe:
Renowned epigrapher David Stuart writes about the differences in content between the monumental hieroglyphical texts of Yaxchilan and those of Copan:
A number of Precolumbian codices written on amate paper with gesso coating remain today.
Historical narratives
Administrative
Astronomical, calendrical and ritual texts:
Of disputed authenticity:
have been found with inscriptions. For example drinking vessels with the inscription saying "The Cacao drinking cup of X" or similar.
The largest part of the Mesoamerican literature today known has been fixed in writing after the Spanish conquest. Both Europeans and Mayans began writing down local oral tradition using the Latin alphabet to write in indigenous languages shortly after the conquest. Many of them were monks and priests who trying to convert the natives to Christianity and translate holy scriptures acquired good dominance of the indigenous languages and often even composed grammars and dictionaries of the indigenous languages. These early grammars of native languages systematized the reading and writing of indigenous languages in their own time and help us understand them today.
The most widely known early grammars and dictionaries are of the Aztec language, Nahuatl. Famous examples are the works written by Alonso de Molina
and Andrés de Olmos
. But also Mayan and other Mesoamerican languages have early grammars and dictionaries, some of very high quality.
The introduction of the Latin alphabet and the elaboration of conventions for writing indigenous languages allowed for the subsequent creation of a wide range of texts. And indigenous writers took advantage of the new techniques to document their own history and tradition in the new writing, while monks kept on extending literacy in the indigenous population. This tradition lasted only a few short centuries however and due to royal decrees about Spanish being the only language of the Spanish empire by the mid 1700'es most indigenous languages were left without a living tradition for writing. Oral literatures however kept being transmitted to this day in many indigenous languages and began to be collected by ethnologists in the beginnings of the 20th century, however without promoting native language literacy in the communities in which they worked. It is an important and extremely difficult job in the mesoamerica of today, and what that is only beginning to be undertaken, to return native language literacy to the indigenous peoples.
But during the first post-conquest centuries a large number of texts in indigenous Mesoamerican languages were generated. A corpus that today after a hundred years of study remains only superficially known and about which the general public is largely ignorant.
books historical accounts also incorporated prophetical material, a kind of history in advance.
Annals
Historias
These administrative documents include a large number of:
. Because the poems were transcribed at a later date, scholars dispute whether these are the actual authors. Many of the mythical and historical texts also have poetic qualities.
Aztec Poetry
Mayan Poetry
s masterpiece of an Ethnographic account contained in 12 volumes)
Coloquios y doctrina Christiana (also known as the Bancroft dialogues. Describing the first dialogues between Aztecs and monks preaching Christianity)
, mentioned above for their historical content, but also containing treatises on medical lore, astrology, etc. Although clearly belonging to Maya literature, they are profoundly syncretic in nature.
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
Mesoamerican literature extend back to the oldest-attested forms of early writing
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
in the Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
n region, which date from around the mid-1st millennium BCE
1st millennium BC
The 1st millennium BC encompasses the Iron Age and sees the rise of many successive empires, and spanned from 1000 BC to 1 BC.The Neo-Assyrian Empire, followed by the Achaemenids. In Greece, Classical Antiquity begins with the colonization of Magna Graecia and peaks with the rise of Hellenism. The...
. Many of the pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
cultures of Mesoamerica are known to have been literate
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
societies, who produced a number of Mesoamerican writing systems
Mesoamerican writing systems
Mesoamerica, like India, Mesopotamia, China, and Egypt, is one of the few places in the world where writing has developed independently. Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are logosyllabic, combining the use of logograms with a syllabary, and they are often called hieroglyphic scripts...
of varying degrees of complexity and completeness. Mesoamerican writing systems arose independently from other writing systems in the world, and their development represents one of the very few such origins in the history of writing
History of writing
The history of writing records the development of expressing language by letters or other marks. In the history of how systems of representation of language through graphic means have evolved in different human civilizations, more complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing, systems of...
.
The literature and texts created by indigenous Mesoamericans are the earliest-known from the Americas for primarily two reasons: Firstly the fact that the native populations of Mesoamerica were the first to enter into intensive contact with Europeans, assuring that many samples of Mesoamerican literature have been documented in surviving and intelligible forms. Secondly, the long tradition of Mesoamerican writing which undoubtedly contributed to the native Mesoamericans readily embracing the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
of the Spaniards and creating many literary works written in it during the first centuries after the Spanish conquest of Mexico
Spanish conquest of Mexico
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...
. This article summarizes current knowledge about indigenous Mesoamerican literatures in its broadest sense and describe it categorized by its literary contents and social functions.
Precolumbian Literature
When defining literature in its broadest possible sense including all products of "literacy", what becomes primarily interesting about a literate community is the manner in which literacy and literature is used. Which topics are chosen to be written and spoken about? And why did they do it? Which genres of literature are found in Mesoamerica?The answer to this question is complex and is the topic of the rest of this article that will try to describe and resume what is known about the genres and functions of indigenous Mesoamerican literatures.
Three major subjects of Mesoamerican literatures can be identified:
- Religion, time and astronomy : Mesoamerican civilizations shared an interest in the recording and keeping track of time through observation of celestial bodies and religious rituals celebrating their different phases. Not surprisingly a large portion of the Mesoamerican literature that has been delivered down through time to us deals exactly with this kind of information. Particularly the true precolumbian literature such as the Mayan and Aztec codicesAztec codicesAztec codices are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture....
deal with calendrical and astronomical information as well as describing the rituals connected to the passing of time. - History, power and legacy: Another large part of the Precolumbian literature is found carved into monumental structures such as stelae, altars and temples. This kind of literature typically document power and heritage, memorize victories, ascension to rulership, dedications of monuments, marriages between royal lineages.
- Mythical and fictive genres. Mostly present in postconquest versions but often relying on oral or pictorial traditions the mythical and narrative literature of Mesoamerica is very rich, and we can only guess as to how much has been lost.
- Every day literature. Some texts are sort of every day literature such as descriptions of objects and their owners, graffiti inscriptions, but these only constitutes a very small part of the known literature.
Pictorial vs. Linguistic literature
Geoffrey Sampson distinguishes between two kinds of writing. One kind of writing he calls Semasiographical, this covers kinds of pictorial or ideographic writing that is not necessarily connected to phonetic language but can be read in different languages, this kind of writing is for example used in roadsigns which can be read in any language. The other kind of writing is phonetic writing called by Sampson Glottographic writing and which represents the sounds and words of languages and allows accurate linguistic readings of a text that is the same at every reading. Normally only the latter is considered true writing but in Mesoamerica there was made no distinction between the two and so writing, drawing and making pictures were seen as closely related if not identical concepts. In both the MayanMayan languages
The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...
and Aztec languages there is one word for writing and drawing ((tlàcuiloa in Nahuatl and tz'iib' in Classic Maya
Classic Maya language
The Classic Maya language is the oldest historically attested member of the Mayan language family. It is the main language documented in the pre-Columbian inscriptions of the Classic Era Maya civilization.- Relationships :...
)) Pictures are sometimes read phonetically and texts meant to be read are sometimes very pictorial in nature. This makes it difficult for modern day scholars to distinguish between whether an inscription in a Mesoamerican script
Mesoamerican writing systems
Mesoamerica, like India, Mesopotamia, China, and Egypt, is one of the few places in the world where writing has developed independently. Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are logosyllabic, combining the use of logograms with a syllabary, and they are often called hieroglyphic scripts...
represents spoken language or is to be interpreted as a descriptive drawing. The only Mesoamerican people known without doubt to have developed a completely glottographic or phonetic script is the Maya, and even the Mayan script is largely pictorial and often shows fuzzy boundaries between images and text. Scholars disagree on the phoneticity of other Mesoamerican scripts and iconographic
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
styles, but many show use of the Rebus principle and a highly conventionalised set of symbols
Symbology
Symbology concerns the study of symbols.Symbology may also refer to:-Academics:* Semiotics, study of signs and symbols* Iconography, branch of art history which studies images...
.
Monumental Inscriptions
Famous examples include:
- Hieroglyphic Stair of Copan recording the history of CopanCopánCopán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. It was the capital city of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD...
with 7000 glyphs on its 62 steps. - The inscriptions of Naj TunichNaj TunichNaj Tunich is a natural cave and an important archaeological site in Guatemala.The discovery of the Naj Tunich caves, in Poptún southern Peten, Guatemala, in 1979 initiated the interest for Cave Archeology among Mayanists...
records the arrival of noble pilgrims to the sacred cave. - The tomb inscriptions of Pacal the famous ruler of Palenque.
- The many stelae of YaxchilanYaxchilanYaxchilan is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in what is now the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta, with Piedras Negras as its major rival...
, QuiriguáQuiriguáQuiriguá is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the department of Izabal in south-eastern Guatemala. It is a medium-sized site covering approximately along the lower Motagua River, with the ceremonial center about from the north bank. During the Maya Classic Period , Quiriguá was situated at...
, CopánCopánCopán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. It was the capital city of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD...
, TikalTikalTikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...
and PalenquePalenquePalenque was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date back to 100 BC to its fall around 800 AD...
and countless other Mayan archaeological sites.
The function of these kinds of historical inscriptions also served to consoliate the power of the rulers who used them also as a kind of propaganda testimonies to their power. Most commonly monumental hieroglyphocal texts describe:
- Lordship: ascension and death of rulers, and the claiming of ancestry from noble lineages
- Warfare: Victories and conquest
- Alliances: Marriages between lineages.
- Dedications of monuments and buildings
Renowned epigrapher David Stuart writes about the differences in content between the monumental hieroglyphical texts of Yaxchilan and those of Copan:
- "The major themes of the known Yaxchilan monuments are war, dance, and bloodletting rituals, with several records of architectural dedicatory rites." Most of the records of wars and dances accompany scenes of the rulers, who are featured prominently in all of the texts. Copán's texts have a far lesser emphasis on historical narrative. The stelae of the great plaza, for example, are inscribed with dedicatory formulae that name the ruler as "owner" of the monument, but they seldom if ever record any ritual or historical activity. Birth dates at Copán are virtually nonexistent, as also are records of war and capture. The Copán rulers therefore lack some of the personalized history we read in the texts of newer centers in the western lowlands, such as Palenque, Yaxchilan, and Piedras Negras." (David Stuarthttp://www.peabody.harvard.edu/Copan/text.html)
Codices
- See also Mayan codices and Aztec codicesAztec codicesAztec codices are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture....
for fuller descriptions of the different codices.
A number of Precolumbian codices written on amate paper with gesso coating remain today.
Historical narratives
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- Mixtec codices
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- Codex BodleyCodex BodleyThe Codex Bodley is an important pictographic manuscript, and example of the native Mixtec historiography. It was named after the colloquial name of the Bodleian Library, where it has been stored since the 17th century...
- Codex Colombino-Becker
- Codex Nuttall (Account of the life and times of the ruler Eight Deer Jaguar ClawEight Deer Jaguar ClawEight Deer Jaguar Claw was a powerful Mixtec ruler in 11th century Oaxaca referred to in the 15th century deerskin manuscript Codex Zouche-Nuttall, and other Mixtec manuscripts. His surname is alternatively translated Tiger-Claw and Ocelot-Claw. John Pohl has dated his life as having lasted from...
and Tilantongo, Tozacoalco and Zaachila dynasties). - Codex Selden
- Codex VindobonensisCodex Vindobonensis Mexicanus ICodex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I, also known as Codex Vindobonensis C, or Codex Mexicanus I is an accordion-folded pre-Columbian piece of Mixtec writing. It is a ritual-calendrical and genealogical document dated to the 14th century.- Contents :...
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- Aztec codices
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- Codex MendozaCodex MendozaThe Codex Mendoza is an Aztec codex, created about twenty years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico with the intent that it be seen by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain...
(part 1 is a history of the founding of Tenochitlan)
- Codex Bodley
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Administrative
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- Codex MendozaCodex MendozaThe Codex Mendoza is an Aztec codex, created about twenty years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico with the intent that it be seen by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain...
(Part 2 is composed of Aztec records of tribute)
- Codex Mendoza
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Astronomical, calendrical and ritual texts:
- Central Mexican origins:
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- Codex BorbonicusCodex BorbonicusThe Codex Borbonicus is an Aztec codex written by Aztec priests shortly before or after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The codex is named after the Palais Bourbon in France. It is held at the Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée Nationale in Paris...
- Codex Magliabechano
- Codex CospiCodex CospiThe Codex Cospi is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican pictorial manuscript, included in the Borgia Group. It is currently located in the library of the University of Bologna....
- Codex Vaticanus BCodex Vaticanus BCodex Vaticanus B, also known as Codex Vaticanus 3773, is an Aztec ritual and divinatory document. It is a member of the Borgia Group of manuscripts. It contains 49 leaves, 48 of them are painted on both sides.- History :...
(aka. Codex Vaticanus 3773) - Codex Fejérváry-MayerCodex Fejérváry-MayerThe Codex Fejérváry-Mayer is an Aztec Codex of central Mexico. It is one of the rare pre-Hispanic manuscripts that have survived the Spanish conquest of Mexico. As a typical calendar codex tonalamatl dealing with the sacred Aztec calendar – the tonalpohualli – it is grouped in the Codex Borgia group...
- Codex LaudCodex LaudThe Codex Laud, or Laudianus, is an important sixteenth century manuscript associated with William Laud, an English archbishop who was the former owner of this ancient Mexican codex...
- Codex Borbonicus
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- Maya codicesMaya codicesMaya codices are folding books stemming from the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark cloth, made from the inner bark of certain trees, the main being the wild fig tree or Amate . Paper, generally known by the Nahuatl word amatl, was named by...
:
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- Paris Codex
- Madrid Codex
- Dresden CodexDresden CodexThe Dresden Codex, also known as the Codex Dresdensis, is a pre-Columbian Maya book of the eleventh or twelfth century of the Yucatecan Maya in Chichén Itzá. The Maya codex is believed to be a copy of an original text of some three or four hundred years earlier...
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Of disputed authenticity:
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- Grolier Codex
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Other texts
Some common household objects of ceramics or bone and adornments of jadeJade use in Mesoamerica
Jade use in Mesoamerica was largely influenced by the conceptualization of the material as a rare and valued commodity among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Olmec, the Maya, and the various groups in the Valley of Mexico. The only source from which the indigenous cultures could...
have been found with inscriptions. For example drinking vessels with the inscription saying "The Cacao drinking cup of X" or similar.
Post Conquest Literatures written in Latin script
The most widely known early grammars and dictionaries are of the Aztec language, Nahuatl. Famous examples are the works written by Alonso de Molina
Alonso de Molina
Alonso de Molina was a Franciscan priest and grammarian, who wrote a well-known dictionary of the Nahuatl language published in 1571....
and Andrés de Olmos
Andrés de Olmos
Andrés de Olmos , Franciscan priest and extraordinary grammarian and ethno-historian of Mexico's Indians, was born in Oña, Burgos, Spain, and died in Tampico in New Spain...
. But also Mayan and other Mesoamerican languages have early grammars and dictionaries, some of very high quality.
The introduction of the Latin alphabet and the elaboration of conventions for writing indigenous languages allowed for the subsequent creation of a wide range of texts. And indigenous writers took advantage of the new techniques to document their own history and tradition in the new writing, while monks kept on extending literacy in the indigenous population. This tradition lasted only a few short centuries however and due to royal decrees about Spanish being the only language of the Spanish empire by the mid 1700'es most indigenous languages were left without a living tradition for writing. Oral literatures however kept being transmitted to this day in many indigenous languages and began to be collected by ethnologists in the beginnings of the 20th century, however without promoting native language literacy in the communities in which they worked. It is an important and extremely difficult job in the mesoamerica of today, and what that is only beginning to be undertaken, to return native language literacy to the indigenous peoples.
But during the first post-conquest centuries a large number of texts in indigenous Mesoamerican languages were generated. A corpus that today after a hundred years of study remains only superficially known and about which the general public is largely ignorant.
Historic accounts
Many of the postconquest texts are historical accounts, either in the form of annals recounting year by year the events of a people or citystate often based on pictorial documents or oral accounts of aged community members. But also sometimes personalized literary accounts of the life of a people or state and almost always incorporating both mythical material and actual history. There was no formal distinction between the two in Mesoamerica. Sometimes as in the case of the Mayan Chilam BalamChilam Balam
The so-called Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 18th-century Mayan miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Mayan and early Spanish traditions have coalesced...
books historical accounts also incorporated prophetical material, a kind of history in advance.
Annals
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- Annals of the Cakchiquel
- Chilam BalamChilam BalamThe so-called Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 18th-century Mayan miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Mayan and early Spanish traditions have coalesced...
books from Chumayel, Maní, Tizimin, Kaua, Ixil, and Tusik - Annals of Tlatelolco, Annals of Tlaxcala, Annals of Cuauhtitlan
- Many local histories of a single Indigenous state in forms of Annals or picture Codices.
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Historias
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- Cronica MexicayotlCrónica MexicayotlThe Crónica Mexicayotl is a chronicle of the Aztec empire that was written in the Nahuatl language by Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc around 1598. Given that its author belonged to the Aztec royal lineage, the manuscript documents the Aztec version of the history of central Mexico. It was written in...
by Fernando Alvarado TezozomocFernando Alvarado TezozómocFernando or Hernando Alvarado Tezozómoc was a colonial Nahua noble. A son of Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin and Francisca de Moctezuma , Tezozómoc worked as an interpreter for the Real Audiencia... - Codex Chimalpahin by Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñon Chimalpahin QuauhtlehuanitzinChimalpahin QuauhtlehuanitzinDomingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin , usually referred to simply as Chimalpahin or Chimalpain, was a Nahua annalist from Chalco...
- The Lienzo de TlaxcalaHistory of TlaxcalaHistory of Tlaxcala is an illustrated codex written by and under the supervision of Diego Muñoz Camargo in the years leading up to 1585. Also known as Lienzo Tlaxcala and by its Spanish title, Historia de Tlaxcala, this manuscript highlights the religious, cultural, and military history of the...
a pictorial history of the conquest by Diego Muñoz CamargoDiego Muñoz CamargoDiego Muñoz Camargo was the author of History of Tlaxcala, an illustrated codex that highlights the religious, cultural, and military history of the Tlaxcalan people.-Life:...
.
- Cronica Mexicayotl
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Administrative documents
The postconquest situation of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica also required them to learn to navigate in a complex new administrative system. In order to obtain any kinds of favourable positions pleas and petitions had to be made to the new authorities and land possessions and heritages had to be proven. This resulted in a large corpus of administrative literature in indigenous languages, because documents were often written in the native language first and later translated into Spanish.These administrative documents include a large number of:
- Titulos (claims to power by showing a noble precolumbian heritage)
- Petitions (for example petitions to lower tributary payments or complaints about abusive lords)
- Testaments and Land claim documents.
Mythological narratives
The most extensively researched Mesoamerican indigenous literature probably because of being the most interesting by today's standards is the literature containing mythological and legendary narratives. The styles of these books is often very poetic and appealing to modern aesthetic senses both because of the poetic language and its "mystical", exotic contents. Often however the mythological narratives are mistaken for historical accounts because of the lack of distinction between myth and history in Mesoamerican cultures. While many do include actual historic events the mythological texts can often be distinguished by focusing on claiming a mythical source to power by tracing the lineage of a people to some ancient source of power. (Pedro Carrasco)- Popol Wuj (the legendary mythological history of the Quiché people)
- Codex Chimalpopoca (the main source of the Aztec creation myth of the Five SunsFive SunsFive Suns is an album by progressive rock group Guapo released in 2003.- Track listing :#Five Suns, Pt. 1 #Five Suns, Pt. 2 #Five Suns, Pt. 3 #Five Suns, Pt. 4 #Five Suns, Pt...
) - Codex Aubin (Recounting the Mythical wanderings of the Mexica from Aztlan and to Tenochtitlan)
- Historia Tolteca-ChichimecaHistoria Tolteca-ChichimecaThe Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca is a 16th century Nahuatl-language manuscript, dealing with the history of Cuauhtinchan. It is currently located in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. It is written by Fernando De Alva Ixtlixóchitl....
(the Aztec myth of the legendary Toltec and Chichimec peoples)
Poetry
Some famous collections of Aztec poetry have been conserved. Although written in the late 16th century they are believed to be fairly representative of the actual style of poetry used in precolumbian times. Many of the poems are attributed to named Aztec rulers such as NezahualcoyotlNezahualcoyotl
Nezahualcoyotl was a philosopher, warrior, architect, poet and ruler of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian Mexico...
. Because the poems were transcribed at a later date, scholars dispute whether these are the actual authors. Many of the mythical and historical texts also have poetic qualities.
Aztec Poetry
- Cantares MexicanosCantares MexicanosThe Cantares Mexicanos is the name given to a manuscript collection of Nahuatl songs or poems recorded in the 16th century. The 91 songs of the Cantares form the largest Nahuatl song collection, containg over half of all known traditional Nahuatl songs...
- Romances de los Señores de Nueva EspañaRomances de los señores de Nueva EspañaThe Romances de los señores de Nueva España is a 16th century compilation of Nahuatl songs or poems preserved in the Library of the University of Texas...
Mayan Poetry
- Songs of DzitbalcheSongs of DzitbalcheThe [Book of the] Songs of Dzitbalché is the source of almost all the ancient Mayan lyric poems that have survived, and is closely connected to the Books of Chilam Balam, sacred books of the colonial Yucatec Maya. The sole surviving copy of the Songs of Dzitbalché was written in alphabetic Mayan...
Ethnographic accounts
Florentine Codex (Bernardino de SahagúnBernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain . Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec...
s masterpiece of an Ethnographic account contained in 12 volumes)
Coloquios y doctrina Christiana (also known as the Bancroft dialogues. Describing the first dialogues between Aztecs and monks preaching Christianity)
Collections of disparate treatises
Not all specimina of native literature can be readily classified. A prime example of this are the Yucatec Mayan Books of Chilam BalamChilam Balam
The so-called Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 18th-century Mayan miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Mayan and early Spanish traditions have coalesced...
, mentioned above for their historical content, but also containing treatises on medical lore, astrology, etc. Although clearly belonging to Maya literature, they are profoundly syncretic in nature.