//=time() ?>
We've been asked about the role of 'quinametzin' (#Nahuatl for giants) in #Aztec #Mexica #mythology. They feature strongly in the creation story of the 5 Suns, though the sources disagree as to WHICH Sun they inhabited https://t.co/r1MrDIrcQq
Image from the Codex Vaticanus 3738.
Knowing the black and yellow stripes on images of #Tezcatlipoca's face link to his #jaguar animal counterpart is the easy bit! This deity is one complex being: Doris Heyden found 360 different phrases for him in Book 6 of the Florentine Codex alone! https://t.co/cIbF4PWovF
Guess what % of #Aztec fever remedies were effective? 70%! Bernard Ortiz de Montellano wrote: ‘An analysis of all the botanically identifiable fever remedies in the Florentine Codex has shown that 70% contained chemicals known to do what [#Mexica healers] required [of them].’
Guess how the #Aztecs caught #rattlesnakes? No, not by peeing on them, but by throwing tobacco at them! The Florentine Codex (Book XI, image below) says that 'if the fine tobacco enters its mouth, [the serpent] stretches out stupefied, it moves no more...' https://t.co/JeyogPz32q
In ancient #Mesoamerica people counted in 20s: 20 days in a 'month', each with its own calendar sign, a festival every 20 days, a person was called a 'twenty' (20 fingers and toes!); even plots of land were measured in 20s - 20 steps in each direction. Drawing by/© Steve Radzi
May 500 years ago: various #conquistador groups sail up and down the Yucatán coast, the Spanish found the town of Vera Cruz, and Cortés is appointed leading captain. Follow our month-by-month 'Encounters Countdown', written by Professor @MatthewRestall https://t.co/Al6bsQUkTU
Our attempt to animate a classic #Maya mural scene at #Bonampak, to bring to life Professor Mary Miller's suggestion of a 'frame-by-frame cinematic record of how rattles are shaken' in 'The Boys in the Bonampak Band' https://t.co/wcapFuAisv
Question in one of our #Aztecs workshops: did the #Mexica celebrate gods' birthdays? Yes! Find out more with 'Ask the Experts'... https://t.co/9BKI7gy9m9 (Image from Florentine Codex Book 3)
In March 1519 the Cortés-led expedition leaves the island of Cozumel (marked) with the shipwreck survivor (and thus Mayan speaker) Gerónimo de Aguilar on board... Follow our month-by-month 'Encounters Countdown', written by Professor @MatthewRestall https://t.co/XvXITzlEDT