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The glyph for the city of Tenochtitlan

30th May 2023

The glyph for the city of Tenochtitlan

The Aztec glyph for Tenochtitlan city itself

It’s easy to think the Mexica (Aztec) glyph for Tenochtitlan was the eagle on the cactus on a rock - but that was the glyph for the FOUNDING of the city, not the city itself... (Compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

It’s the set of arrows and shield immediately below - the only bit shown in focus in the picture here - that represents the city itself. This was also the Aztec glyph for war, but it’s only when the shield in question carries the special ‘down ball’ design that it represents the power of Tenochtitlan, rather like a European coat-of-arms.

Picture from the Codex Mendoza (original in the Bodleian Library, Oxford), scanned from the James Cooper Clark 1938 facsimile edition, London (fol. 2, detail).

Cuauhtli

Aztec limerick no. 49 (ode to Tenochtitlan):-
See this set of arrows? Note there’s four;
Add a down ball shield and it means ‘war’.
Few know – it’s a pity –
It’s the symbol of their city.
Who said studying the Aztecs was a bore?

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The glyph for the city of Tenochtitlan

The Aztec glyph for Tenochtitlan city itself

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