Codex Bodley: A Painted Chronicle from the Mixtec Highlands, Mexico by Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Perez Jimenez

An in-depth examination of a beautiful and historic manuscript
The Codex Bodley is a painted manuscript of the Mixtec people who lived in the highlands of what is now the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. It was created around the early 16th century, shortly before the Spanish Conquest. It is a remarkable example of the beautiful visual language of this ancient culture. Unlike the written literature of the Maya, which utilizes both pictographic and phonetic components, the codices of the Mixtec are rendered in a mostly pictographic form of writing, largely independent of their spoken language. The subject matter of the Codex Bodley covers several centuries of the genealogical history of the Mixtec ruling families in the Oaxacan highlands region.

This book was first published in 2005 by the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, which owns the Codex Bodley, and for which it was named. The first half of the book consists of introductory material which provides valuable historical, cultural, and linguistic context for understanding the Codex. The second half of the book is comprised of photographic reproductions of all 40 pages of the Codex, with English translation running underneath. The book is beautifully designed, illustrated, and printed, and the text examines the history and contents of the Codex in minute detail. This book will no doubt serve as the standard reference on the Codex Bodley for scholars in the field, but it’s also sufficiently accessible to non-scholars with an enthusiasm for the native cultures of Mexico.

In a few spots, it is a book to be admired more than enjoyed. At times the translation makes for a mind-numbing read. At least 90% of the narrative of the Codex is composed of genealogical information, which takes the form of lists of proper nouns. It seems the most efficient and effective way to present this information would have been to “translate” it into the form of genealogical charts, in the modern tree form, rather than into paragraph prose. Doing so would have made it much clearer to see just who is marrying whom, a task made difficult by the intermarriage of close relatives and the repetitive nature of Mixtec names, which are actually the date and month of birth. Yet no such charts exist in the book. The second half of the Codex is less monotonous, as in addition to the genealogy it also features instances of diplomacy, warfare, and religious pilgrimages.

If you’re interested in this subject matter, the excellent reproductions of this beautiful work of art alone are worth the purchase. By comparing the images to the translation, even a novice will to some extent acquire the ability to read the Mixtec pictographs and decipher the names, dates, and places. Despite my reservations in the preceding paragraph, this book is in many ways a model of how historical manuscripts should be presented and explained. Every Mesoamerican codex should receive the same thorough treatment and elegant presentation.
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