108 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
ter initially founded in the Early Formative period, by Late Postclassic times it had
become a regional religious center for the Zapotec and Mixtec nobility.
Late in the fifteenth century a number of Mixtec and Zapotec centers in Oaxaca
were conquered as part of the expansion of the Aztec empire. Subsequently these
towns were obliged to pay annual tribute to the Aztecs, and Mixtec artisans were moved
to Tenochtitlan where they were required to produce goods for their Aztec overlords.
We can learn much about the origins and histories of royal Mixtec families from
the surviving Mixtec codices that tell epic tales of strategic alliances, heroes and vil-
lains, wars, political intrigue, and tragedy (Box 2.4; see also Chapter 6). Research
that integrates Mixtec history as it is presented in the codices with on-the-ground ar-
chaeological data has now demonstrated that many of the events depicted in the
codices correspond to changes identified in the archaeological record. This finding
has led some scholars to conclude that the Mixtec codices do not record mythical
events, but historical ones. Of course, because of the main subject matter of the
codices—that is, dynastic history—the codices cannot provide us with a compre-
hensive understanding of Mixtec history, but they do highlight key historical events
and people and they provide insights into how the Mixtecs themselves viewed their
own history.
Mixtec codices are made of long strips of deer hide, covered with a thick white
gesso, painted, and then folded accordion-like to make a “screenfold” (note that
codices from other parts of Mesoamerica were made of other materials, including
paper from the bark of the amatefig tree or from maguey fiber, and they were some-
times rolled or left flat). Screenfolds can be easily stored and transported, and then
unfolded to reveal the painted pages that tell the story. They may have also served
as pictorial devices for performers who reenacted the stories through drama, dance,
and song in the royal courts.
Mixtec writing, like Aztec writing, is pictorial in that it uses images that resemble
what is being represented. With the exception of the Codex Vienna, which deals with
Mixtec cosmogony, the Mixtec codices record the origins, achievements, and con-
quests of royal families, an indication of just how important genealogical history was
to these families. Clearly, their right to authority was based on ancestry (see Box 2.4).
In addition to the major Mixtec codices, other pictorial manuscripts from the Colo-
nial period have survived, including maps, tiros(pictorials on rolled paper), and lien-
zos (pictorials on large, flat sheets of cloth) (for more on this topic, see Chapter 6).Mixtec Religion. The Mixtec belief system was based on the notion that the
supernatural and natural worlds were inextricably interrelated. Natural features
such as caves, mountains, rivers, and heavenly bodies were venerated, and forces of
nature such as the sun, wind, rain, lightning, clouds, fire, and certain animals were
given supernatural identities as spiritual beings or deities.
The Mixtec spiritual pantheon included spirits associated with powerful natural
forces and places as well as the spirits of ancestors. The Mixtec word for “sacred
being” was ñuhu,a word that Spaniards in the Colonial period translated as “idol,”
reflecting the fact that many spiritual beings were represented by images made of