List of Illustrations and Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Cacaxtla in Context
The Acropolis and Its Paintings
Greater Cacaxtla-Xochitécatl
Diego Muñoz Camargo's Description of Cacaxtla
Problems of Evidence
Between Powerful Neighbors
Cacaxtla among the Epiclassic City-States
Art and Identity
Chaos Again
2. The Murals
Materials and Techniques
Artists
Chronology
3. The Feathered Serpent and the Captive Stair: Polemics of Style
The Serpent Corridor
Feathered Serpents
Aquatic Borders
Feathered Serpents and Aquatic Borders
The Afterlife of the Feathered Serpent
The Captive Stair
Text and Image
A Foreign Style?
Reconsidering Captive Art
Polemics of Style
4. The Temple of Venus: Astral Bodies
Style
Venus/Star Symbolism
Bilingualism and Polyvalence
5. The Battle Mural: Violence in the Plaza
Time and Inevitability
Doubling
Patterns of Naming
The Dangers of Difference
The Battle Mural in Mesoamerican Context
Burial
6. The Red Temple: Maize in the Underworld
A Merchant God and His Wares
Painting Luxury
Of Maize, Cacao, and Men
Supernatural Landscape
7. Structure A: The Mountain of Sustenance
The Portico and Jamb Murals: A Portrait of the Altepetl
Guardians and Antecedents
Names and Dates
Duality and Difrasismo
Sustenance Mountain
Continuity and Change
Painted Earth: The Inner Mural
Later Interventions: Blood and Clay
Buried Paintings
Conclusion
Appendix: Radiocarbon Dates for the Cacaxtla Murals
A Review of Radiocarbon Dating and Reporting
Early Classic Radiocarbon Dates at Cacaxtla
Radiocarbon Dates Associated with Mural Painting
Chronology of the Cacaxtla Paintings
Notes
Bibliography