Book Collection
One Print from "Histoire Générale des Voyages" by Antoine François Prévost 1754
This is a print from Antoine François Prévost's 1754 volume of 'Histoire Générale des Voyages'. The print was engraved by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin. This print shows the 365 day Aztec calendar, called the Xiuhpōhualli, which was divided into 18 months of 20 days each, plus 5 "nameless" days at the end of the year. The Aztecs also had a 260 day ritual calendar called the Tōnalpōhualli that consisted of 20 cycles of 13 days. The two cycles (Xiuhpōhualli and Tōnalpōhualli) together formed a 52 year "century" (the two cycles coincided every 52 years), which is represented in the print by the 52 repeated figures just inside the serpent. The outer serpent represented the calendar.
Aztec Calendar