The Florentine Codex Describes Early Aztec Life and Is Now Accessible Online

What was early Aztec life like? The Florentine Codex gives viewers an inside look at Mexico’s early pre-Hispanic indigenous culture.

By Elizabeth Gamillo
Jan 4, 2024 4:00 PM
The Florentine Codex, Aztec Ceremonial Artifacts
(Credit: General History of the Things of New Spain by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún: The Florentine Codex, World Digital Library)

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A 16th-century manuscript is getting a modern-day update and will now live online. The text, the Florentine Codex, is a visual and written encyclopedia of the history of the Aztec people in Mexico, pre- and post-colonialism. As an online source, the codex, initially written in Nahuatl and Spanish, was translated into English. Viewers can search the 12 books online for specific texts and images within the manuscript.

“The goal of the Digital Florentine Codex is to bring the three narratives — the two alphabetic texts and the nearly 2,500 hand-painted images — together in a format that makes them easily accessible to the public,” said Kim Richter, the project’s lead at the Getty Research Institute in a press release.

Who Wrote the Florentine Codex? 

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