Lord Eight Wind of Suchixtlan and the Heroes of Ancient Oaxaca

Reading History in the Codex Zouche-Nuttall

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Mexico
Cover of the book Lord Eight Wind of Suchixtlan and the Heroes of Ancient Oaxaca by Robert Lloyd Williams, University of Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robert Lloyd Williams ISBN: 9780292774032
Publisher: University of Texas Press Publication: January 1, 2010
Imprint: University of Texas Press Language: English
Author: Robert Lloyd Williams
ISBN: 9780292774032
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication: January 1, 2010
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Language: English

In the pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican world, histories and collections of ritual knowledge were often presented in the form of painted and folded books now known as codices, and the knowledge itself was encoded into pictographs. Eight codices have survived from the Mixtec peoples of ancient Oaxaca, Mexico; a part of one of them, the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, is the subject of this book. As a group, the Mixtec codices contain the longest detailed histories and royal genealogies known for any indigenous people in the western hemisphere. The Codex Zouche-Nuttall offers a unique window into how the Mixtecs themselves viewed their social and political cosmos without the bias of western European interpretation. At the same time, however, the complex calendrical information recorded in the Zouche-Nuttall has made it resistant to historical, chronological analysis, thereby rendering its narrative obscure.

In this pathfinding work, Robert Lloyd Williams presents a methodology for reading the Codex Zouche-Nuttall that unlocks its essentially linear historical chronology. Recognizing that the codex is a combination of history in the European sense and the timelessness of myth in the Native American sense, he brings to vivid life the history of Lord Eight Wind of Suchixtlan (AD 935-1027), a ruler with the attributes of both man and deity, as well as other heroic Oaxacan figures. Williams also provides context for the history of Lord Eight Wind through essays dealing with Mixtec ceremonial rites and social structure, drawn from information in five surviving Mixtec codices.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In the pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican world, histories and collections of ritual knowledge were often presented in the form of painted and folded books now known as codices, and the knowledge itself was encoded into pictographs. Eight codices have survived from the Mixtec peoples of ancient Oaxaca, Mexico; a part of one of them, the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, is the subject of this book. As a group, the Mixtec codices contain the longest detailed histories and royal genealogies known for any indigenous people in the western hemisphere. The Codex Zouche-Nuttall offers a unique window into how the Mixtecs themselves viewed their social and political cosmos without the bias of western European interpretation. At the same time, however, the complex calendrical information recorded in the Zouche-Nuttall has made it resistant to historical, chronological analysis, thereby rendering its narrative obscure.

In this pathfinding work, Robert Lloyd Williams presents a methodology for reading the Codex Zouche-Nuttall that unlocks its essentially linear historical chronology. Recognizing that the codex is a combination of history in the European sense and the timelessness of myth in the Native American sense, he brings to vivid life the history of Lord Eight Wind of Suchixtlan (AD 935-1027), a ruler with the attributes of both man and deity, as well as other heroic Oaxacan figures. Williams also provides context for the history of Lord Eight Wind through essays dealing with Mixtec ceremonial rites and social structure, drawn from information in five surviving Mixtec codices.

More books from University of Texas Press

Cover of the book We Were Going to Win, Or Die There by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book A Trade like Any Other by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Morphology of the Folktale by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Men as Women, Women as Men by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Texas Cemeteries by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Constructing the Image of the Mexican Revolution by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Indians into Mexicans by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Folklore by the Fireside by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Dopers in Uniform by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book The Classical Mexican Cinema by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book The Uses of Failure in Mexican Literature and Identity by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Modernizing Patriarchy by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book The Cultural Life of the Automobile by Robert Lloyd Williams
Cover of the book Organized Agriculture and the Labor Movement before the UFW by Robert Lloyd Williams
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy