Codex Ríos


Codex Ríos, originally titled Indorum cultus, idolatria, et mores and also known as Codex Vaticanus A, is a 16th-century Italian translation and expansion of an earlier Aztec codex, the identity of which is debated. The source manuscript may have been the Codex Telleriano-Remensis or a hypothetical lost text known as Codex Huitzilopochtli, or the Codex Ríos may have drawn on multiple antecedents.
The Codex Ríos is organised into seven sections by subject, encompassing Aztec religion, cosmology, ethnography, a divinatory almanac, and pictorial chronicles. The annotations, written in cursive Italian, are attributed to Pedro de los Ríos, a Dominican friar working in New Spain between 1547 and 1562. Its illustrations were likely executed by an Italian artist in Rome before the codex entered the Vatican Library, where it remains today.

Contents

The Codex Ríos is written on European paper and comprises 101 folios, approximately in size. It is divided into seven sections, organised by subject, with each section separated by one or more blank folios.
The first section addresses cosmological and religious traditions, including depictions of the heavens, pre-Hispanic giants known as tzocuillixeque, and the previous four eras or cosmogonic suns, as well as narratives concerning Aztec deities such as Quetzalcōātl. The second is the tōnalpōhualli, a 260-day divinatory almanac that portrays ornately dressed deities and other supernatural entities thought to influence the fate linked to each day. The third section presents the Aztec calendar tables covering the years 1558 to 1619, without any pictorial content. The fourth is an 18-month festival calendar, accompanied by illustrations of deities and nēmontēmi symbols associated with each period. The fifth is a primarily ethnographic section, describing sacrificial and funerary practices, and concludes with portraits of Indigenous individuals. The sixth section comprises pictorial chronicles spanning the years 1195 to 1549, beginning with the migration from Chicomoztoc—the mythical place of origin of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples—and continuing with events in the Valley of Mexico. It includes representations of rulers, military campaigns, celestial phenomena, and other historical events. The seventh and final section consists of year glyphs—the visual symbols used in the Aztec calendar system to designate specific years—for the period 1562 to 1566, without accompanying text or imagery.