Mantic Hemerology of the Borgia Group
Abstract
The Borgia Group is a set of five pictographic books from pre-Hispanic times from central-southern Mesoamerica. Its content deals, for the most part, with mantic hemerology: the art of interpreting the auspicious or unfortunate values of the days. Although this divinatory character is generally recognized, there is little research on the use and social function of these books and their relation to mantic and its psychology in general. This has led, since the beginning of the 20th century, to strands of thinking that want to see in their content representations of astronomical or mythological events. In this contribution we summarize the origins and failures of these currents, and we argue for a contextual study of the documents, resorting to sources from different times, including current continuities, which tell us about their use. As examples, pages 75-76 and 27 of Codex Borgia are discussed.
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