description Borgia Codex Overview
The Codex Borgia is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican screenfold manuscript associated with the group of ritual books named after it. Painted on animal skin and folded accordion-style, it presents deities, calendrical signs, ceremonies, and divinatory sequences connected with the 260-day ritual calendar. Its exact place of production is uncertain, but it is generally attributed to central or southern Mexico and was created before or around the period of Spanish contact.
help Borgia Codex FAQ
What was the Borgia Codex actually used for?
It functioned as a ritual and divinatory book rather than a narrative chronicle. Specialists could interpret its 260-day calendar, deity sequences, directional signs, and ceremonies when advising on the character of particular days.
Is the Borgia Codex an Aztec manuscript?
It comes from central or southern Mexico, but its exact place of production and cultural affiliation remain disputed. It is therefore usually described as a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican manuscript and the namesake of the Borgia Group.
How is the Borgia Codex constructed?
It is painted on animal skin prepared as a long strip and folded back and forth like a screen. The imagery is read through linked signs and painted sequences rather than through alphabetic paragraphs.
Why is it called the Codex Borgia?
The modern name comes from Cardinal Stefano Borgia, whose collection once contained the manuscript. It is now preserved in the Vatican Apostolic Library as Borg.mess.1.
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