Codex Chimalpopoca
Also known as: Códice Chimalpopoca, Anales de Cuauhtitlan y Leyenda de los Soles, Chimalpopoca Manuscript
A colonial-era Nahuatl manuscript compiling the Anales de Cuauhtitlan and the Leyenda de los Soles, the Codex Chimalpopoca preserves Mexica annals and the cosmogony of the Five Suns, blending mythic origins with early historical memory.
Description
The Codex Chimalpopoca is a key Nahuatl-language witness to central Mexican myth-history. It intertwines the annalistic record known as the Anales de Cuauhtitlan with the cosmological Leyenda de los Soles, which recounts successive world ages and the birth of the current Sun. Compiled by indigenous scribes in the early 17th century from earlier pictorials and oral narratives, the codex preserves episodes such as the Mexica migration and the founding of Tenochtitlan alongside creation cycles culminating in Nanahuatzin’s self-sacrifice at Teotihuacan. Though shaped by colonial context, its language, calendrics, and deity lists retain pre-Hispanic structures. The original manuscript no longer survives; modern editions derive from 19th–20th-century copies and transcripts that transmit the Nahuatl text with Spanish glosses and editorial notes.
Historiography
The compilation is attributed to anonymous Nahua scribes; it was named after the 19th-century scholar Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca, associated with an important copy. Editors such as Primo Feliciano Velázquez and later John Bierhorst produced influential transcriptions and translations. The original manuscript was reportedly destroyed in the mid-20th century, leaving scholars dependent on derivative witnesses whose ordering and orthography differ. Debates persist over the relationships among the annals, the Leyenda de los Soles, and parallel traditions in Sahagún and other colonial texts.
Date Notes
Colonial-era Nahuatl compilation preserving earlier traditions; manuscript later copies circulated; original reportedly lost mid-20th century
Themes
Archetypes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Quetzalcoatl
- Tezcatlipoca
- Huitzilopochtli
- Tonatiuh
- Nanahuatzin
Myths
- Legend of the Five Suns
- Deeds of Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl
- Nahua Migrations and Foundations
Facts
- Written in Classical Nahuatl with occasional Spanish glosses.
- Comprises two principal components: Anales de Cuauhtitlan and Leyenda de los Soles.
- Preserves the Five Suns cosmogony and the creation of the current Sun and Moon.
- Annals section records Mexica migration narratives and early rulership lists.
- Named for 19th-century scholar Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca associated with a key copy.
- Original manuscript is lost; modern editions rely on 19th–20th-century transcripts.
- Calendrical reckoning employs Nahua day signs and year counts integrated with annal entries.
- Creation account features Nanahuatzin’s self-sacrifice at Teotihuacan to animate the Sun.
- Reflects a colonial redaction of pre-Hispanic sources, likely including pictorial codices.
- Textual witnesses show variant ordering and orthography across editions and copies.