Detail View: JCB Archive of Early American Images: [Aztec calendar stone]
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Accession number:
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01686
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Record number:
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01686-2
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JCB call number:
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B792 L579d
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Image title:
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[Aztec calendar stone]
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Place image published:
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[Mexico]
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Image publisher:
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[Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros]
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Image date:
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[1792]
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Image function:
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fold-out plate II
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Technique:
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engraving
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Image dimension height:
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24.8 cm.
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Image dimension width:
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24.4 cm.
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Page dimension height:
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29.9 cm.
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Page dimension width:
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36.5 cm.
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Materials medium:
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ink
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Materials support:
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paper
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Description:
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Aztec calendar stone.
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Source creator:
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León y Gama, Antonio de, 1735-1802
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Source Title:
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Descripcion histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras, que con ocasion del nuevo empedrado que se esta formando en la plaza principal de Mexico
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Source place of publication:
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México
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Source publisher:
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En la imprenta de Don Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros
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Source date:
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M. DCC. XCII. [1792]
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notes:
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During the 1780s and 1790s, major archeological discoveries were unearthed during renovations to the square or Zócalo in Mexico City--the Coatlicue statue and the Aztec calendar stone or the "piedra del sol" which has become the symbol of Mexico. León y Gama's book was the first scholarly description of that discovery and attempted to explain the meaning of the stones. The Aztec calendar "sunstone" is a thirteen-and-a-half foot, basalt relief representation of the Mexica creation myth and not, strictly speaking, a calendar. The face portrayed at the center of the stone is generally interpreted as the sun god, Tonatiuh, symbolizing the Fifth Sun or fifth era of Aztec time. The glyphs on the stone represent a map of the Aztecs' destiny, indicating not only when the world was supposed to have begun, but also when it would end. The square quadrants spaced around Tonatiuh represent the preceding four eras of the Aztecs--jaguar, wind, rain, and water.
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Time Period:
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1751-1800
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References:
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http://www.artcamp.com.mx/AZ/2.html (May 2004); Cañizares-Esguerra, J. How to write the history of the New World, fig. 5.2, p. 272-280
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Owner and copyright:
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©John Carter Brown Library, Box 1894, Brown University, Providence, R.I. 02912
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geographic area:
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Spanish America
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Subject Area:
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Artifacts, industry, and human activities
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Subject Area:
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Indigenous peoples
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Subject headings:
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Aztec calendar
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Subject headings:
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Aztec gods--Mexico
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