Barbara_E._Mundy]_The_Death_of_Aztec_Tenochtitlan

44 • The deaTh of azTec TenochTiTLan, The Life of mexico ciTy

water itself, the force that makes the foam and whirlpools
and eddies. If we turn to the gush of water flowing from
beneath Chalchiuhtlicue in the Codex Borbonicus, we can
see that the Mexica artist has limned its edges with shells
and circular jade disks, alternating one after the next. But
the visual emphasis falls on the striations of wavy black
lines, the central straight heavy line breaking into a swirl
in front of the tiny female figure. The artist seemed intent

on capturing this animating force behind the movement of

the water as it was perceptible to human senses.

But the Mexica did not represent all water to be the

same, and the writers of the Florentine Codex’s pages pro-

vide a longer taxonomy to show that there were different

kinds of water, dependent upon origin and hydrography.

They had different smells, colors, and tastes; thus the “fiery

water” of the foundation of Tenochtitlan was perceptibly

different from the “yellow water” there. But all of them were

manifestations of Chalchiuhtlicue, whose unpredictable

violence lay right beneath her calm, mirrorlike surface. 61

Her violent potential in the world is also represented

figuRe 2.12. Unknown creator, Chalchiuhtlicue with ritual objects and
surrounding thirteen-day calendar, Codex Borbonicus, p. 5, ca. 1525.
Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale, France.