Aztec hieroglyphics: a name-based writing system

Abstract

The system of writing employed by the Aztec Empire and its immediate neighbours in early 16th-century Mesoamerica has a number of characteristics that make it highly unusual in comparative perspective. Among them is the fact that it was almost entirely restricted to the recording of names or, more precisely, of personal and place names, titles and professions. All other areas of information were recorded by means of iconography and a numeral-based notation system. This article will discuss the nature of Aztec names and the manner in which they are recorded in Aztec writing.

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