MADRID CODEX

The corn god (left) and the rain god, Chac. Drawing from the Madrid Codex (Codex Tro-Cortesianus), Latin Codex Tro-cortesianus, together with the Paris and Dresden codices, one of several richly illustrated glyphic texts of the pre-Conquest Mayan period to have survived the mass book-burnings by the Spanish clergy during the 16th century. The Madrid Codex is believed to be a product of the late Mayan period (c. AD 1400) and is possibly a post-Classic copy of Classic Mayan scholarship. The figures and glyphs of this codex are poorly drawn and not equal in quality to those of the other surviving codices. The codex contains a wealth of information on astrology and on divinatory practices. It has been of particular value to historians and anthropologists interested in identifying the various Mayan gods and reconstructing the rites that ushered in new years. It shows, for example, the Muluc years celebrated by a dance on high stilts. Also illustrated are Mayan crafts such as pottery and weaving and activities such as hunting. The Madrid Codex consists of 56 pages, inscribed on both sides, formed by folding and doubling a sheet manufactured from the bark of a fig tree. Found in two unequal sections (called the Troano and the Cortesianus) in two locations in Spain in the 1860s, the Codex is now housed in the Museum of America in Madrid.