the pictured example of aztec hieroglyphs shows the mummy of a human figure bound with ropes, with a crown on its head, indicating the death of a ruler. the small water-animal attached to the crown by a cord shows that the dead ruler's name was ahuitzotl, that being the aztec word for "water-animal". the right half of the glyph shows a man seated upon a dais, with a crown on his head and a speech-scroll issuing from his mouth. the aztec word for ruler was "tlahtouani", "he who speaks", shown graphically by the speech-scroll. finally both figures are attached by cords to the circle above, which represents the year "10-rabbit" (1502 a.d.), indicating the date of this event.