Codex Rios (Codex Vaticanus 3738)
Call Number: SPE ** F 1219 C731X 1979
Publication Date: 1979
The Italian text is an amplified translation of the Spanish text of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis. Codex Rios and Codex Telleriano- Remensis are currently believed to be copies of a common original, the lost Codex Huitzilopochtli. Codex Rios is believed to have been copies by a non-Indian(?) artist in Italy and its long Italian texts to be based on a commentary by Fr. Pedro de los Rios. The date 1566 occurs in the text as a reference to a past event.
The manuscript has seven major sections:
1) cosmogonic and mythological traditions with some emphasis on the four epochs;
2) a 260-day divinatory almanac;
3) calendrical tables without drawings for the years 1558-1619;
4) an 18 month festival calendar with drawings of the gods of each period;
5) sacrificial and other customs including portraits of Indians;
6) pictorial annals for the years 1195-1549 beginning with the migration from Chicomoztoc and covering later events in the Valley of Mexico; and
7) year glyphs for the years 1556-62 without written or pictorial entries. Most of the codex has a long written commentary in Italian, but only three pages of the historical section are annotated.
