Codex Ríos is an Italian translation and augmentation of a Spanish colonial-era manuscript, Codex Telleriano-Remensis

Codex Telleriano-Remensis

The Codex Telleriano-Remensis, produced in sixteenth century Mexico and printed on European paper, is one of the finest surviving examples of Aztec manuscript painting...

, that is partially attributed to Pedro de los Ríos, a Dominican

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 friar working in Oaxaca and Puebla between 1547 and 1562. The codex

Codex

A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...

 itself was likely written and drawn in Italy after 1566.

The manuscript is focused on the Tolteca-Chichimeca culture in the Tehuacan Valley in modern-day Puebla

Puebla

Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....

 and Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...

. It can be divided into seven sections:

1. Cosmological and mythological traditions with emphasis on the four epochs.
2. An almanac, or tonalamatl
   Tonalamatl
   The tonalamatl is a divinatory almanac used in central Mexico in the decades, and perhaps centuries, leading up to the Spanish conquest. The word itself is Nahuatl in origin, meaning "pages of days"....
   
   , for the 260-day divinatory year common in Mesoamerica
   Mesoamerica
   Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
   
   .
3. Calendar tables for the years 1558 through 1619, without drawings.
4. An 18-month festival calendar, with drawings of the gods of each period.
5. Ritual customs, with portraits of Indians.
6. Pictorial chronicles for the years 1195-1549 beginning with the migration from Chicomoztoc
   Chicomoztoc
   Chicomoztoc is the name for the mythical origin place of the Aztec Mexicas, Tepanecs, Acolhuas, and other Nahuatl-speaking peoples of the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica, in the Postclassic period....
   
    and covering later events in the Valley of Mexico
   Valley of Mexico
   The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
   
   .
7. Glyphs for the years 1556 through 1562, without drawings or text.

Codex Ríos consists of 101 pages of European paper, accordion-folded. It is held in the Vatican Library

Vatican Library

The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...

, Rome, and is also variously known as Codex Vatican A, Codex Vaticanus A, and Codex Vaticanus 3738.

See also

• Codex Vaticanus B
  Codex Vaticanus B
  Codex Vaticanus B, also known as Codex Vaticanus 3773, is an Aztec ritual and divinatory document. It is a member of the Borgia Group of manuscripts. It contains 49 leaves, 48 of them are painted on both sides.- History :...
  
  
• Mesoamerican codices
• Aztec codices
  Aztec codices
  Aztec codices are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture....
  
  
• Aztec calendar
  Aztec calendar
  The Aztec calendar is the calendar system that was used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the basic structure of calendars from throughout ancient Mesoamerica....