GOURD TRUMPETS - MIXTEC ROYALTY
The codex BECKER consists of three fragments (panels 1-3, 4-14, and 15-156)
and depicts events belonging to the years 1047, 1048-1055 and 1066, respectively.
In 1047 King ll Wind ("Bloody Tiger") ruler of the town of Xipe Bundle.
Codex Becker l joins several other Mixtec genealogical codices in recounting
the dynastic struggles that ensued after this king's death.
Panels 8-9 or our codes show, in the upper stirip, six players celebrating.
One of these musicians is none other than the royal David of Mixtec annals,
King 8 Deer (1011-1063) familiarly known as "Tiger Claw".
(SEE BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL READING)
As befitted royal dignity, he and his younger brother Prince 9 Flower blow trumpets while
Prince 12 Olin(=ollin="movement") swings a gourd rattle and Lord 5 Movement beats the tortoise shell.
The date of this paean is 1048, and the inspiration for it was the defeat, capture, and sacrifice of King 8 Deer's
most potent rivals in the race for Xipe Bundle, The rival's body had been burned and 8 Deer had made his oblations
in a temple (shown in upper left of panel 7,Codex Becker l) He thence emerges to join his confederate chieftains in
the music making. Not yet done, however, with other contenders, 8 Deer must wait until the following year (1049) to make good his claims by capturing the town of Xipe Bundle itself.
PREFACE to the CODICE BECKER
1/11 by Karl A. Nowotny
THE CODEX COLOMBINO AKA THE CODICE BECKER
This document was created to record the 11th-century military and political feats of the MixtecLord Eight-Deer
(also known as Tiger Claw) as well as those of another ruler, Four-Wind,
along with the religious ceremonies marking these feats.
The codex, thought to have been created in the 12th century, was acquired by the National Museum
around 1891 and was reproduced in 1892.
The life of Eight-Deer, depicted in all pre-Hispanic Mixtec codices known to exist,
included his conquests of two important Mixtec domains: Tilantongo and Tututepec.
Through this and other conquests and the marital alliances he promoted, Eight-Deer achieved political unification among the numerous Mixtec domains of the Post-Classical period. The eminent Mexican archaeologist and historian Alfonso Caso (1896-1970), a pioneer in the study of pre-Hispanic cultures in the area of Oaxaca, demonstrated that this codex and the Becker I Codex (in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna, Austria) are fragments of a single codex. Caso’s assemblage can be seen in Miguel León-Portilla’s 1996 edition of the codices, in which the fragments were reunited for the first time and named, in honor of the grand master, the Alfonso Caso Codex.
and depicts events belonging to the years 1047, 1048-1055 and 1066, respectively.
In 1047 King ll Wind ("Bloody Tiger") ruler of the town of Xipe Bundle.
Codex Becker l joins several other Mixtec genealogical codices in recounting
the dynastic struggles that ensued after this king's death.
Panels 8-9 or our codes show, in the upper stirip, six players celebrating.
One of these musicians is none other than the royal David of Mixtec annals,
King 8 Deer (1011-1063) familiarly known as "Tiger Claw".
(SEE BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL READING)
As befitted royal dignity, he and his younger brother Prince 9 Flower blow trumpets while
Prince 12 Olin(=ollin="movement") swings a gourd rattle and Lord 5 Movement beats the tortoise shell.
The date of this paean is 1048, and the inspiration for it was the defeat, capture, and sacrifice of King 8 Deer's
most potent rivals in the race for Xipe Bundle, The rival's body had been burned and 8 Deer had made his oblations
in a temple (shown in upper left of panel 7,Codex Becker l) He thence emerges to join his confederate chieftains in
the music making. Not yet done, however, with other contenders, 8 Deer must wait until the following year (1049) to make good his claims by capturing the town of Xipe Bundle itself.
PREFACE to the CODICE BECKER
1/11 by Karl A. Nowotny
THE CODEX COLOMBINO AKA THE CODICE BECKER
This document was created to record the 11th-century military and political feats of the MixtecLord Eight-Deer
(also known as Tiger Claw) as well as those of another ruler, Four-Wind,
along with the religious ceremonies marking these feats.
The codex, thought to have been created in the 12th century, was acquired by the National Museum
around 1891 and was reproduced in 1892.
The life of Eight-Deer, depicted in all pre-Hispanic Mixtec codices known to exist,
included his conquests of two important Mixtec domains: Tilantongo and Tututepec.
Through this and other conquests and the marital alliances he promoted, Eight-Deer achieved political unification among the numerous Mixtec domains of the Post-Classical period. The eminent Mexican archaeologist and historian Alfonso Caso (1896-1970), a pioneer in the study of pre-Hispanic cultures in the area of Oaxaca, demonstrated that this codex and the Becker I Codex (in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna, Austria) are fragments of a single codex. Caso’s assemblage can be seen in Miguel León-Portilla’s 1996 edition of the codices, in which the fragments were reunited for the first time and named, in honor of the grand master, the Alfonso Caso Codex.
