The Aztec Alphabet: Writing in Pictures and Glyphs

While the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Tenochtitlan believing they were witnessing a society without written records, they encountered a sophisticated system of pictographic and ideographic writing known as tlacuilo. This episode explores the world of the tlacuilos, the elite scribes who preserved history through codices made from deer skin and amate paper. We examine how these images conveyed complex political treaties, genealogies, and tribute lists, relying on a combination of visual symbolism and phonetic hints that required specialized training to interpret. Lucas and Luna discuss the materials used, the rigorous education at the calmecac, and the tragic loss of knowledge when Spanish missionaries burned thousands of indigenous texts. By looking at surviving examples like the Mendoza Codex, we see how the Aztecs recorded their own reality, challenging the narrative that they had no history before European contact. #Tlacuilo #AztecWriting #MesoamericanCodices #TenochtitlanHistory #NahuatlLanguage #MendozaCodex #IndigenousLiteracy #CalmecacEducation #AmatePaper #SpanishConquest #BernalDiazDelCastillo #FlorentineCodex #MexicaCulture #PictographicWriting #PreColumbianArt #CortezChronicles #HistoryPodcast #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo