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Title: The Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript
ISBN: 0486275698
Author:
Gisele Diaz
Alan Rodgers
Publicate Date: 1993-06-22
Publish: 1993-06-22
List Price: $20.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $14.14
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.73
Amazon Merchant Price: $18.85
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Magnificent reproduction of the Mixtec Codex
This Codex is remarkable at any price. The colors and reproductions are simply gorgeous and the text is helpful. Present are a bewildering number of religious pictograms, some calendric and other representing the mystical or dreamlike journey of the strange character 'one-eye.'
The characters are, overwhelmingly, bloodsoaked and violent. There is decapitation, dismemberment and heart sacrifice. This document gives the lie to those anthropologists who claim that the mesoamerican societies are 'misunderstood' and were not human sacrificial--that tales of human sacrifice and cannibalism were tales perpetrated by the Conquistadores to justify their conquest and subjugation of gentle cultures.
Well, not quite. Judging my this and other codices, as well as archaeologic revelations, suggest that these societies were just as bloodstained as advertised. This is not to justify the Spanish Conquest but just a simple fact.
At the same time, many of the characters in this codex require major interpretation. Virtually everything is split, injured or vomits blood. Depictions of people [children?] being tortured and blinded are especially disturbing. Nevertheless, this is a document well worth owning.
Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexic
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2: Fun to show off
Even if you, like me, don't have much of a knowledge base about ancient Mexican history, it's cool just to show people the book. I've flipped through it and gained a vague understanding of how it fits into history, and I appreciate that it brings to life an aspect of a culture that I really only know through mythology. The preface to explain the Codex is probably well-written, although, admittedly, I felt rather daunted by it. Skimming through it was still valuable, though. A good conversation piece!
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3: The Other 5 Star Reviews are Right
I will not go over their 5 star comments except to say that I agree. The amazingly colourful and crisp art in this short book is rivetting. As much as one may credit the reknowned author, deep congratulations should also go to the publisher for a masterful print job.
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4: Un libro que no puede faltar
Sin duda este es un t??tulo que no debe faltar en ning??na biblioteca personal, ya que la restauraci??n de uno de los principales c??dices es perfecta, para aquellos interesados en la cultura y ciencia ancestral este c??dice es de gran ayuda.
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5: A Gem
This is a very strange and beautiful book in pictures. It reads like a dream if you tune in to it, and reveals very deep meanings about the relation between life and death, the human relation to the forces of nature, and time. Even though there are no words, it is possible to understand. If you get into it the symbols become more and more recognizable, and they begin to speak. the calendrical symbols and the spirit deities are completely recognizable. The sequences are all about times, and there is a big element about sacrifice. It has to do with the consequences of change; there is no life without death. The book has a very powerful image of life and death fused back to back that pretty much is the epitome of all the book is about. It's all about life and death in relation to time.
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