The Codex Borgia group consists of five lengthy Prehispanic pictorial manuscripts from south-central Mexico: the Codex Borgia (the most elaborate of all), Vaticanus B, Bologna (or Cospi), Fejérvary-Mayer, and Laud. These ritual screenfold books which, it is believed, served the priests as divinatory manuals, show meticulously painted figures of gods and calendrical symbols and are therefore of extraordinary importance for the understanding of ancient Mexican religion. The five codices are stylistically and iconographically related, contain a number of thematically similar passages, and are based on a common tradition. The themes depicted are generally known from interpretations by informed natives and were recorded shortly after the Conquest. The iconographie identification of the deities was greatly advanced by Eduard Seler, who frequently oriented his interpretations toward the thematic context and published extensive commentaries in the early 1900s. Despite Seler’s monumental contributions, however, the meaning of the Borgia codices is yet not fully understood.
The only recent major contribution toward elucidation of the contents is by K. A. Nowotny, who based his systematic comparisons on the parallel passages of the manuscripts (Tlacuilolli [Berlin, 1961], reviewed in HAHR, XLIII, 461).
The present study is a strictly iconographic analysis. The objective is to define the deities solely by their attributes and to clarify relationships among the gods with similar characteristics. The task was complicated by several factors. The deities were many; their manifestations varied, because their attributes were often interchangeable; and their functions often overlapped. What is more, the central Mexicans assimilated foreign gods into their pantheon. All these variables leave much leeway for establishing determinative criteria for the numerous gods. Chapter II (covering 374 pages) systematizes the vast amount of pictorial material in a detailed statistical inventory of the iconographic elements pertaining to more than fifty gods which occur repeatedly and with variations in the five codices. These emblems, arranged in twenty-six categories, differentiate details in dress and ornaments, such as face and body paint, hair arrangement, headdress, adornments, various types of garments, etc. Evidently, although the position of the gods follows the same order in the parallel passages, their iconographic details may vary. The characteristic emblems peculiar to each deity are delineated with ample discussions on variations and comparative materials, as well as extensive cross references.
The frequencies of similar emblems are tabulated, and the conclusions, presented in chapter III, indicate how each god coincides iconographically, to a certain degree, with other deities, thereby suggesting functional relationships. It is interesting that the groups of related gods, determined iconographically, differ in some ways from previously thematically established groups. On the other hand, certain of the celestial and terrestrial deities could not be isolated.
The author’s painstaking analysis is a major step toward clarifying the meaning of the Borgia codices after the long interval that has elapsed since Seler’s period. Furthermore, the copiously illustrated section which deals in great detail with the iconographic features, is a useful source for comparative studies on other pictorial manuscripts and related mural and sculptural art motifs.
