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Madrid Codex Research Paper

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The Madrid Codex is also known as the Tro-Cortesianus Codex. It is one of the three surviving pre-Columbian era Maya books that dates back to the Postclassic Period of Mesoamerican history, from around 900 to 1521 AD.[101] The Madrid Codex is held in the Museum of the Americas (Museo de América) in Madrid and is considered to be the most important piece in the museum 's entire collection. The Codex was made from long strips of amate, a Mesoamerican paper made from inner bark. The pages were folded up accordion-style like a screen. This paper was also coated with a thin layer of fine stucco. This coating was commonly used as the painting surface on most items, similar to applying gesso on a canvas. The complete Madrid Codex consists …show more content…

However, upon closer inspection of the different glyphic elements shows that a number of scribes were involved in its production. The Codex is perhaps the work of as many as eight or nine scribes whom produced different sections of the manuscript. The religious content of the codex makes it likely that the scribes themselves were members of the priesthood or somehow related to the Maya clergy. It is likely that the codex was passed down from priest to priest and each priest that received the book added a section to it in their own hand. Further adding to the knowledge within the book. The Madrid Codex is the longest of the surviving Maya codices. The content within the Madrid Codex mainly consists of almanacs and different horoscopes that were used to help Maya priests in the performance of their ceremonies and divinatory rituals, including a description of the New Year ceremony. The codex also contains astronomical tables, although not as many as are found in the other two surviving Maya codices, the Paris Codex and the Dresden Codex. Some of the content is most likely to have been copied from older Maya books.[103] Scenes in the Madrid Codex connected to the …show more content…

The Dresden Codex is exhibited in two parts, each of them approximately 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) long, The Dresden Codex consists of a total of 78 pages on 39 double-sided sheets. There are four pages in the Codex which are empty. Each sheet measures 20.5 centimeters (8.1 inches) by 10.0 centimeters (3.9 inches). The Dresden Codex, pages 47, 48, 50, 51, and 52.[98] Johann Christian Götze, whom was the Director at the Royal Library at Dresden, Germany, purchased the codex from a private owner in Vienna in the year 1739. Who the private owner was and how it came to Vienna is unknown. It is speculated that it was sent by the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés as a tribute to King Charles I of Spain during the year 1519. Charles had appointed Hernán Cortés as Governor and Captain General of the newly conquered territory known as New Spain. Like the other codices, the Dresden Codex is made from Mesoamerican amate paper often called "kopó." The paper made from the fig tree 's inner bark that 's been flattened and covered with a lime fine stucco paste or 'gesso. ' The book is then folded in the same accordion-like form called leporello, in the same manner that other Mesoamerican texts are written and

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