Although captive images have been examined for the Classic Maya, we lack a thorough understanding of depicted captives as a pictorial motif. Furthermore, the convention of “tagging” Late Classic Maya captive sculptures with identifying texts was understood a century ago, yet the ways in which these scripts functioned beyond the role of label are not well known. This layering of identifying texts onto captive figures presents interesting avenues of scholarly inquiry for understanding relationships among ancient Maya texts, figural images, and actual bodies. In this article I explore captive iconography and then suggest that the captive tagging convention is related to the tagging of possessed objects. The artistic tendency toward tagging the thigh with more frequency than other bodily regions suggests a secondary meaning for such markings, and I propose that these tags alluded to the post-sacrifice practice of removing the femur as a war trophy.
This study inserts Santiago, Chile, into contemporary discussions of colonial Latin America by reading two Jesuit documents—a map and a letter—created prior to and following the devastating earthquake of 1647, respectively. Alonso de Ovalle's Prospectiva y planta de la ciudad de Santiago (1646) presents an urban paradise in accordance with Spanish and Catholic ideals, a New World Jerusalem. This depiction is juxtaposed with a letter by Juan González Chaparro that describes postearthquake Santiago as “ruined at the powerful hand of the Almighty.” Focusing on the 1647 earthquake's religious dimensions and perceived causes, the study concludes that the religious authorities of Santiago stand out in the colonial Spanish Americas for assigning fault for such a disaster to their city's elites rather than to its underclasses.
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