Eduard Seler


Eduard Georg Seler was a prominent German anthropologist, ethnohistorian, linguist, epigrapher, academic and American scholar, who made extensive contributions in these fields towards the study of pre-Columbian era cultures in the America.

Research

Seler is best known for his foundational studies concerning the ethnography, documents, and history of Mesoamerican cultures, for which he is regarded as one of the most influential scholars active around the turn of the 20th century. Seler laid many fundamentals in understanding and deciphering the Aztec pictorial script. A main contribution was the re-discovery and analysis of the basic Aztec calendar system: the existence of two Aztec calendars, a 365-day solar profane and a 260-day religious calendar. He also noted from the sources that the ceremonial killing victim figures alleged by Spanish priests and military were most probably vastly exaggerated propaganda. This was supported by excavations in the late 20th century. Seler also brought Lienzo Seler II, an indigenous manuscript, to Berlin in 1897.
Being poor and of ailing health, he was helped and supported for decades by his wife Cäcilie Seler-Sachs, physically and intellectually. Her photos of Aztec temples and pyramids are still useful to scientists, and after her husband's death she went about verifying his works and publishing them. Seler was also helped by a Mexican scholar and by historians Antonio Peñafiel and Manuel Martínez Gracida.
File:Codex Mendoza folio 5v.jpg|thumb|A page of the Codex Mendoza : the conquests and rules of Itzcoatl tlatoani of Tenochtitlan
File:Borgia 53 bottom left.jpg|thumb|Bottom left page of the Borgia Codex : the deity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli spearing a woman

Timeline