Skriptorium

Expert opinions

"The codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I is certainly one of the two most important Mixtec codices, both for its content as well as its aesthetic achievement. The manuscript has the best documented history of any of the codices. This complex and varied history is ably presented in the commentary of Otto Adelhofer."

Wayne R. Ruwet, University of California, Los Angeles, California

"The grandest of the history books of the Mixtec tribe is the Vienna Codex, which begins with the Creation, continues with the story of Quetzalcoatl and the birth of the Mixtec people, and ends with the history of the Caciques of Tilantongo who ruled the Mixtec lands until the Conquest."

C. A. Burland, F. R. A. I. in "Magic Books from Mexico", Harmondsworth 1952

"... The most important codices of this group (= of Mixtec historical and genealogical manuscripts, called naandeye or tonindeye in Mixtec) are the Bodley, Vindobonensis (reverse), Nuttall, Colombino and Codex Becker ... Later (1950) we published the first complete translation of a Mixtec codex, the reverse side of the Vindobonensis, for - although this is only one part of that codex - it was undoubtedly painted at a later period and by a different hand from the one which painted the obeverse side."

Alfonso Caso, in: Interpretation of the Codex Bodley 2858, p. 13 (Mexico City 1960)