Codex Ríos

Codex Ríos
Vatican Library
Folio 20r, which depicts the deity Tláloc (central left) surrounded by calendrical symbols
Also known as
  • Indorum cultus, idolatria, et mores (transl.Worship, Idolatry, and Customs of the Indians)
  • Codex Vaticanus A
  • Codex Vaticanus 3738
  • Copia vaticana
Date16th century
LanguageItalian
MaterialEuropean paper
Size46 cm × 29 cm (18 in × 11 in)
FormatFolio
Contents

Codex Ríos, originally titled Indorum cultus, idolatria, et mores and also known as Codex Vaticanus A, is a 16th-century Italian translation and expansion of an earlier Aztec codex, the identity of which is debated. The source manuscript may have been the Codex Telleriano-Remensis or a hypothetical lost text known as Codex Huitzilopochtli, or the Codex Ríos may have drawn on multiple antecedents.

The Codex Ríos is organised into seven sections by subject, encompassing Aztec religion, cosmology, ethnography, a divinatory almanac, and pictorial chronicles. The annotations, written in cursive Italian, are attributed to Pedro de los Ríos, a Dominican friar working in New Spain between 1547 and 1562. Its illustrations were likely executed by an Italian artist in Rome before the codex entered the Vatican Library, where it remains today.