Codex Borgia
Also known as: Codex Borgianus, Codex Yoalli Ehecatl, Manuscrit de Veletri
A pre-Hispanic Central Mexican screenfold ritual and divinatory manuscript, the Codex Borgia catalogs gods, calendars, and auguries, including Venus cycles, trecenas, directional almanacs, and major cultic rites.
Description
Painted on deerskin coated with white gesso and folded into a screenfold, the Codex Borgia comprises thirty-nine leaves (painted on both sides except the end leaves) yielding seventy-six pages read right-to-left. It presents the tonalpohualli (260-day divinatory calendar), regent deities, directional and corporeal almanacs, and sequences of ritual scenes that structure sacred time and space. The manuscript visualizes relations between days, deities, and prognostics, including marriage, travel, warfare, agriculture, and divination. A celebrated section treats Venus as Morning Star, while other folios juxtapose Quetzalcoatl and Mictlantecuhtli, rain gods of the four quarters, and the Cihuateteo and Macuiltonaleque. Produced in the Puebla–Tlaxcala sphere and preserved in the Vatican Library, it anchors the Borgia Group of Central Mexican ritual books.
Historiography
Owned by Cardinal Stefano Borgia and transferred in 1902 to the Vatican Library (Borg.mess.1), the codex was lithographed in Lord Kingsborough’s “Antiquities of Mexico” and foundationally analyzed by Eduard Seler; Karl A. Nowotny’s sectional division remains influential. Long debated are its exact provenance and whether it is pre-conquest or an early colonial copy. A complete digital facsimile enables renewed codicological and iconographic study.
Date Notes
Late Postclassic Central Mexico; some scholars argue for pre-conquest origin, others for an early colonial copy of a pre-Hispanic model.
Major Characters
- Tezcatlipoca
- Quetzalcoatl
- Tlaloc
- Xipe Totec
- Mictlantecuhtli
- Xolotl
Myths
- Cosmic Serpents and the Four Directions
- Venus Cycle and War Omens
- Underworld Journey of the Sun
- Tlalocan and Rain Deities
- Cycle of Years and New Fire
Facts
- Screenfold manuscript of 39 deerskin leaves painted on both sides (except end leaves), yielding 76 pages.
- Read right-to-left; a major section (pages 29–46) is rotated 90 degrees.
- Focuses on the tonalpohualli, deity regents, and divinatory almanacs for ritual, marriage, travel, and warfare.
- Includes a Venus Morning Star almanac and a juxtaposition of Quetzalcoatl with Mictlantecuhtli.
- Central Mexican origin, likely Puebla–Tlaxcala cultural sphere.
- Gave its name to the Borgia Group of Central Mexican ritual codices.
- Named for Cardinal Stefano Borgia; now housed at the Vatican Library (Borg.mess.1).
- First fully published in Lord Kingsborough’s 1830s lithographs; extensively studied by Eduard Seler and later scholars.
- Digital facsimile is available via the Vatican Library.
- Page dimensions are approximately 27 × 27 cm; total unfolded length nearly 11 meters.