The Aztec or Nahuatl script is a pre-Columbian writing system that combines ideographic writing with Nahuatl specific phonetic logograms and syllabic signs [1] which was used in central Mexico by the Nahua people in the Epiclassic and Post-classic periods. [2]

Welcome to the free, online, searchable database of Aztec (or better, Nahuatl) hieroglyphs. Currently, the bulk of our data is from the Codex Mendoza (c. 1541) and the Matrícula de Huexotzinco (1560).

Jul 23, 2018 · Aztec hieroglyphs don't just reflect how Aztec wrote; they are also brightly colored artistic representations of their language. Aztecs had access to natural pigments reflected in lavish colors and complex ideas and history shown through images by their native artists, scribes and even accountants.

In most cases, when trying to decipher Aztec hieroglyphs, it’s hardly ever about what the glyphs mean but more about how they work to give the intended meaning. When it comes to how complex Aztec writing truly was, scholars such as Alfonso …

09) Red and Yellow: Interiors. 10) Tlantli: Not "Tooth" 11) Tzintli: Not "Buttocks"

Aug 1, 2022 · The goal of Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs is to unlock “the mysteries of Aztec writing for a wide readership for the first time” by “dissecting and describing” this writing system “in lavish detail”—an aim that Gordon Whittaker achieves in a well-grounded, comprehensive, and alluring manner (pp. 6, 9).

Nov 26, 2018 · Stephanie Wood, an ethnohistorian and specialist in Mesoamerican culture who is affiliated with the UO College of Education, will soon be launching the creation of a glyph translation tool, the “Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs,” which unites the work of scholars in Mexico, the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands.

In this innovative volume Gordon Whittaker provides the reader with a step-by-step, illustrated guide to reading Aztec glyphs, as well as the historical and linguistic context needed to appreciate and understand this fascinating writing system.

Nov 1, 2024 · Aztec hieroglyphs were a form of picture writing used to represent words, sounds, and ideas. Unlike alphabetic writing systems, Aztec hieroglyphs combined symbols with phonetic sounds and visual meanings.

The vast majority of hieroglyphs in this database will be drawn from manuscripts prepared in the pre-Hispanic Aztec tradition but painted after the colonization of Mesoamerica by Europeans was underway.