COLLECTION NAME:
JCB Archive of Early American Images
Record
Accession number:
07324b
Record number:
07324b-3
JCB call number:
B725 H564g
Image title:
The Great Temple of Mexico
Place image published:
[London]
Image publisher:
[Jeremiah Batley]
Image date:
[1725]
Image function:
fold-out plate; vol. 2, following p. 372
Technique:
engraving
Image dimension height:
16.3 cm. (platemark)
Image dimension width:
21.5 cm. (platemark)
Page dimension height:
19.2 cm.
Page dimension width:
23.3 cm.
Materials medium:
ink
Materials support:
paper
Languages:
English
Description:
Bird's-eye view of the main temple [the Templo mayor] of Tenochtitlán or present-day Mexico City. The temple is encircled by a wall with serpents or snakes carved on it, and there are two sanctuaries on the top before which two priests stand. Includes view of the settlement with dwellings and fortifications, as well as a view of the lake beyond it.
Source creator:
Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de, d. 1625
Source Title:
[Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos. English] The general history of the vast continent and islands of America, commonly call'd the West-Indies ... Vol. II
Source place of publication:
London
Source publisher:
Printed for Jer. Batley at the Dove in Pater-noster-row
Source date:
M.DCC.XXV. [1725]
notes:
The great temple at Tenochtitlan was surmounted by two sanctuaries--the one on the left dedicated to Tlaloc, the one on the right to Huitzilopochtli. Huitzilopochtli, whose name means "Blue hummingbird on the left," was the Aztec god of the sun and war. The turquoise or fire serpent (xiuhcoatl) was his mystical weapon. Tlaloc, the god of rain and agriculture, was of pre-Aztec, or Toltec, origin. A coatepantli or wall made of sculpted serpents often surrounds Aztec temples. The tzompantli would hold the skulls of sacrificial victims. This image is similar to the one printed in Antonio de Solís, Histoire de la conquête du Mexique, Paris, 1691.
Time Period:
1701-1750
Provenance/Donor:
Acquired circa 1916.
Owner and copyright:
©John Carter Brown Library, Box 1894, Brown University, Providence, R.I. 02912
geographic area:
Spanish America
Subject Area:
Geography, maps, city views and plans
Subject Area:
Indigenous peoples
Subject headings:
Aztec architecture
Subject headings:
Aztecs--Religion
Subject headings:
Mexico City (Mexico)--Description and travel
The Great Temple of Mexico
