The Aztec Civilization

http://www.jacksbromeliads.com/theaztecs.htm

The term Aztec, is a startlingly imprecise term

to describe the culture that dominated the
Valley of Mexico in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Properly speaking, all the Nahua - speaking
peoples in the Valley of Mexico were Aztecs,
while the culture that dominated the area was a
tribe of the Mexica (pronounced "me-shee-ka")
called the Tenochca("te-noch-ka").

At the time of the European Conquest, they

called themselves "Tenochca" or "Toltec",
which was the name assumed by the bearers of
the Classic Mesoamerican culture.

The earliest known information about the Mexica is that they migrated from the north
into the Valley of Mexico as early as the 12th century AD, well after the close of the
Classic Period in Mesoamerica. They were a subject people and were forced to live
on the worst lands in the valley. They adopted the cultural patterns called theMixteca-
Pueblo that orignated in the culture of Teotihuacan, so the urban culture they built in
the 15th and 16th centuries is essentially a continuation of Teotihuacan culture.

The people of Mesoamerica distinguished between two types of people: the Toltec
(which means 'Craftsman'), who continued Classic urban culture, and the Chichimee,
or 'Wild People', who settled Mesoamerica from the north. The Mexica were then,
orignally Chichimec when they migrated into Mexico but eventually became the
Toltecs proper.

History
Tenochca history is among
the best preserved in all of
Mesoamerica. They date the
beginning to 1168 and their
origns to an island on a
lake north of the Valley of
Mexico.
Their god Huitzilopochtli took them on a journey to the south and they arrived in the
Valley of Mexico in 1248. According to their history, the Tenochca were orignally
peaceful, but their Chichimec ways, espec-ially their practice of human sacrifice,
revolted other people who banded together and crushed their tribe. In 1300, the
Tenochcas became vassals of the town of Culhuacan; some escaped to settle on an
island in a lake. The city they founded was Tenochtitlan, or "Place of the Tenochcas.

Relations between the Tenochcas

and Culhuacan became bitter
after the Tenochcas sacrificed a
daughter of the king of
Culhuacan; so enraged were the
Culhuacans that they drove all
the Tenochcas from the mainland
to the island.

There, the Tenochcas who had

lived in Culhuacan taught urban culture and architecture to the people on the island
and the Tenochcas began to build a city. The city of Tenochtitlan is founded sometime
between 1300 and 1375 AD.

The Tenochcas slowley became more powerful and

militarily more skilled, so much so that they
became allies of choice in the constant conflicts
between the various peoples of the area. The
Tenochcas finally won their freedom
under Itzacoatl (1428 to 1440), and they began to
build their city, Tenochtitlan.
Under Itzacoatl, they built temples, roads, a causeway linking the city to the mainland
and they established their government and religious hierarchy. Itzacoatl and the chief
who followed him, Mocteuzma I (1440 to 1469) undertook wars of conquest
throughout the Valley of Mexico and the southern regions of Vera Cruz, Guerrero, and
Puebla. As a result, Tenochtitlan grew dramatically. Not only did the city increase in
size, precipitating the need for an aqueduct system to bring water from the mainland,
it grew culturally as well as the Tenochcas assimilated the gods of the region into
their own religion.

A succession of kings followed

Moctezma I untill the accession
of Moctezma II in 1502; despite a
half century of successful growth
and conquest, Tenochca culture
and society began to suffer
disasters under Mocteuzma II.

First, tribute peoples began to

revolt all over the conquered
territores and it is highly likely
that Tenochca influence would
eventually have declined by the
middle of the 16th century. Most
importantly, the reign of Moctezma
II was interrupted by the invasion
of the Spaniards under Cortez in
1519 to 1522.

The Spaniards kidnapped

Mocteuzma and eventually killed
him in 1524.
When the city of Tenochtitlan fell,
the remainder of Mexico fell very rapidly. The Spaniards managed this conquest for
several reasons. First, Aztec conquest was not concerned with the politics of
territorial influence, the conquests only had to deal with the payment of tribute. There
was then, a large group of subject peoples with no loyalty to Tenochtitlan and a lot of
hostility, and Cortez conquered Tenochtitlan largely by using these enemies. Second,
the Aztecs had nothing like formal military strategy; wars were largely fought as
large-scale individual combats. Finally, cortez and his men were desperate. They had
entered Mexico against orders and knew that unless they conquered Mexico, they
would be severly punished when they returned to Spain.
Religion
The religion of the Aztecs was incredibly complicated, partly due to the fact that they
had inherrited most of it from conquered peoples. Their religion was dominated by
three gods:
Huitzilopochtli (hummingbird wizard), the native and chief god of the Tenochca, he
was their war and sun god.
Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror), chief god of the Aztecs in general.
Quetzalcoatl (Sovereign Plumed Serpent), widely worshiped throughout Mesoamerica
and the god of civilization, the priesthood and learning.
Below these three gods were an infinity of other gods, of which the most important
were:
Tlaloc: the Rain God
Chalchihuitlicue: the God of Growth
Xipe: the "Flayed One" a god associated with spring
To access information on all of the more important gods, please refer to the page:
"Aztec Gods & Dieties"
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The overwhelming aspect of Aztec

religious life in the imaginations of non-
Aztecs was the predominance of human
sacrifice. This had been practiced all
throughout the world of Mesoamerican
life but the Tenochca practiced it at a
scale never seen before or since.

There's not a great deal known about all

the details, but there's a good idea of its
general character and justification.
Throughout the Mesoamerican areas, the
theology involved the concept that the gods gave things to the humans only if they
were nourished by the humans. Among the Maya for instance, the priests would
nourish the gods by drawing their "Own" blood by piercing their tongues, ears,
extremities or genitals. Other sacrifices involved prayer, offerings of food, sports and
even dramas and plays. The Aztecs practiced all of these sacrifices, including blood-
letting. But the Aztec theologians also developed the notion that the gods are best
nourished bt the living hearts of sacrificed captives..... the braver the captive, the
more nourishing the sacrifice. This theology led to widespread wars of conquest in
 search of sacrifical victims both captured in war and paid as tribute by a conqured
people.

Some sacrifices were very minimal, involving

the sacrifice of a slave to a minor god, and
some were very spectacular, involving hundreds
or even many thousand captives.

Aztec history claims, the their

god Ahuitzol (1468 to 1502), who preceded king
Moctezma II, sacrificed 20,000 people after a
war in Oaxaca. No matter what the size of the
sacrifice it was always performed the same way.
The victim was held down by four priests on an
altar at the top of a pyramid or raised temple
while one of the priests made an incision just
below the rib cage and pulled out the living
heart. The heart was then burned and the
corpse was pushed down the steep steps. The
most brutal of human sacrifices were those
dedicated to the god Huehueteotl. Sacrifical
victims were drugged and then thrown into a
fire at the top of the ceremonial platform. Before they were killed by fire, they were
gragged out by hooks and their living hearts were pulled out and thrown back into the
fire.

Writing
Mayan writing can barely be
read, but we do know hoe to
read Aztec writing. Like the
Mayans, the Aztecs developed
a true system of writing.
Aztec writing isn't phonetic,
but rather a loose system of
rebus writing.

Still, if the testimony of the

Spanish is reliable, this
writing system was seen as
an aid to oral traditions
 rather than as a replacement. Aztec writing was used for many purposes, diaries,
chronicles, calendrical counts, and history. This is why we know more about Aztec
history before 1500. in far greater detail, than any other American peoples.

Many theories have been presented for the development of a widespread literate
tradition among the Aztecs while the same didn't occur for the Mayas. Perhaps the
most convincing is the fact that Aztec society was far more complex than any other
preceding culture. The persistent need for accurate record-keeping which is
introduced with social complexity led to the development of the most literate society
on the American continents.

In 1519, Hernan Cortez sailed from Cuba, landed in Mexico and made his way to the
Aztec capital. Miguel Leon Portilla, a Mexican anthropologist, gathered accounts by
the Aztecs, some of which were written shortly after the conquest.....

Speeches of Motecuhzoma and Hernan Cortez

When Motecuhzuma (Montezuma) had given neck-
laces to each one, Cortez asked him:
"Are you Motecuhzoma? Are you the King? Is it true
that you are the king Motecuhzoma?"

And the king said: "Yes, I am Motecuhzoma." Then he

stood up to welcome Cortez; he came foreward,
bowed his head low and addressed him in these
words:
"Our Lord, you are weary. The journey has tired you,
but you now have arrived on earth. You have come to
your city, Mexico. You have come here to sit on your
throne, to sit under its canopy."
"The Kings who have gone before, your
representatives have guarded it and preserved it for
your coming. The Kings Itzcoatl, Motecuhzoma the
Elder, Axayacatl, Tizoc and Ahuitzol ruled for you in the city of Mexico. The people
were protected by their swords and sheltered by their shields."
"No, it is not a dream. I am not walking in my sleep. I am not seeing you in my
dreams, I have seen you at last! I have met you face to face! I was in agony for five
days, for ten days, with my eyes fixed on the Region of Mystery. And now you have
come out of the clouds and mists to sit on your throne once more!"
 When Motecuhzoma had finished, La Malinche translated his address into Spanish so
that the Captain could understand it. Cortez replied in his strange and savage tongue,
speaking first to La Malinche:

"Tell Motecuhzoma that we are

friends. There is nothing to fear. We
have wanted to see him for a long
time, and now we have seen his face
and heard his words. Tell him that
we love him well and that our hearts
are contented."

Then he said to Motecuhzoma:

"We have come to your house in
Mexico as friends. There is nothing
to fear."

La Malinche translated this speech and the Spaniard grasped Motecuhzoma's hands
and patted him on his back to show their affection for him...

Mexican Mythology... The Sacerdotal Order of the Temples of

Human Sacrifices
The civil policy of the Aztecs is so closely blended with their religion that, without
under-standing the latter, it is impossible to form correcit ideas of their government or
their social institutions. In thinking of the religious system of the Aztecs, its as if it had
emanated from a comparatively refined people open to gentle influences, while the
rest breathes a spirit of unmitigated ferocity.
It naturally suggests the idea of two distinct sources and authorises the belief that the
Aztecs had inherited from their predecessors a milder faith, on which was afterwards
en-grafted their own mythology. The latter soon became dominant and gave its dark
coloring to the creeds of the conquered nations, which like the Mexicans and ancient
Romans, seemed willingly to have incorporated into their own... until the same
funereal superstition settled over the fartest borders of Anahuac.

The Aztecs recognised the existence

of a supreme Creator and Lord of
the universe. They addressed him in
their prayers as "The God by whom
we live, Omnipresent, that knoweth
all thought and giveth all gifts,"
"without whom man is as nothing,"
"invisible, incorp-oreal, one God of
perfect perfection & purity," "under
whose wings we find repose and a
sure defence."

These sublime attributes infer no

inadequate conception of the true
God. But the idea of a unity-of-a-
being, with whom volition is action,
who has no need of inferior
ministers to execute his purpose
was too simple, or too vast for their understanding; and they sought relief in the
plurality of deities, who presided over the elements, the changes of the seasons, and
the various occupations of man.

Of these, there were thirteen principal deities, and more than two hundred inferior
ones; to each whom some special day, or appropriate festival was consecrated. At the
head of all this stood the terrible Huizilopohtli (see Gods and Deities), the Mexizan
Mars.
Although it is doing injustice to the heroic-war-god of antiquity to identify him with
this monster. This was the patron diety of the nation. His fantastic image was loaded
with costly ornaments. His temples were the most stately and august of the public
edifices, and his altars reeked with the blood of human sacrifices in every city of the
empire.
Disastrous indeed must have been the influence of such a superstition on the
character of the people.
 A far more interesting personage in their mythology was Quetzalcoatl, God of the
Air.

A divinity who, during his residence

on earth instructed the natives in the
use of metals, in agriculture and in
the arts of government. He was one
of those benefactors of their species
who has been deified by the
gratitude of proster-ity. Under him,
the earth teamed with fruits and
flowers without the pains of culture.

They imagined three separate states

of existence in the future life. The
wicked, comprehending the great
part of man-kind, were to expiate
their sins in a place of everlasting
darkness. Another class, with no
other merit than that of having died
of certain diseases, were to enjoy a
negative existence of indolent
contentment. The highest place was
res-erved, as with most war-like
nations, for the heroes who fell in
battle, or in sacrifice. They passed
at once, into the presence of the Sun,
whom they accom-panied with songs and choral dances in his bright progress through
the heavens and, after some years, their spirits went to animate the clouds and
singing birds of beautiful plumage, and to revel amidst the rich blossoms of the
garden of paradise.
Such was the heaven of the Aztecs; more refined in its character than that of the more
pol-ished pagan. In the destiny they assigned to the wicked, we discern similar traces
of refinement; since the absence of all physical torture forms a striking contrast to the
schemes of suffering so ingeniously devised by the fancies of the most enlightened
nations. In all of this, so contary to the natural suggestions of the ferocious Aztec, we
see the evid-ence of a higher civilization inherited from their predecessors in the land.

The Sacerdotal Order was Very Numerous

Five Thousand Priests, were in some way or
another, attached to the principal temple in
the capital. The various ranks and functions
of this multitudinous body were
discriminated against with great
exactness. Those best instructed in music
took the management of the choirs.

Others arranged the festivals to the

calander, some over-saw the education of
the youth, and still others had charge of the
hieroglyphical paintings and oral
traditions. The dismal rites of sacrifice
reserved for the chief dignitaries of the order.

At the head of the whole establishment were two high preists elected from the order by
the king and principal nobles without reference to birth, but soley for their
qualifications. They were equal in dignity and inferior only to the sovereign, who
rarely acted without their advice in matters of public concern. The priests were each
devoted to the service of some particular deity and had quarters provided within the
spacious precincts of their temple; at least while engaged in immediate atten-dance
there, for they were allowed to marry and have families of their own. In this monastic
residence, they lived in all the stern severity of conventual discipline.
 Three times during the day and once a night, they were called to prayers. They were
frequent in their vigils and mortified the flesh by fasting and cruel pennance,a
drawing of blood from their bodies by flagellation, or by piercing themselves with the
thorns of the aloe.

The great cities were divided into districts, placed under the charge of a parochial
clergy, who regulated every act of religion within their precincts. It is remarkable that
they administered the rites of confession and absolution. The secrets of the
confessional were held inviolable and penances were imposed of much the same kind
as those enjoyed in the Roman Catholic Church.

There were two remarkable peculiarities in the Aztec ceremony. The first was that as
the repetition of an offence, once atoned for, was deemed inexpiable, confession was
made but once in a man's life, and was usually deferred to a late period of it. Another
peculiarity was that priestly absolutition was received in place of the legal
punishment of offences, and authorised an acquittal in case of arrest. Long after the
conquest the simple natives, when they came under the arm of the law, sought to
escape by producing the certificate of their confession.

Sacrifices
 Human sacrifices have been practised by
many nations, not excepting the most
polished nations of antiquity, but never by
any on a scale to be compared with those of
the Aztecs. The amoumt of victims immolated
on its altars would stagger the faith of the
least scrupulous believer.

Scarcely anyone pretends to estimate the

yearly sacrifices throughout the empire at
less than twenty thousand a year, and some
carry that number as high as fifty thousand a
year.

On great occasions as the coronation of a

king, or the consecration of a temple, the
number is still more appalling. At the
dedication of the great temple
of Huitzilopochtli, in 1486, the prisoners,
who for some years had been reserved for
this purpose, were drawn from all quarters to
the capital. They were arranged in files
forming a procession nearly two miles long. The ceremony consumed several days
and seventy thousand captives are said to have perished at the shrine of this terrible
deity.

But who can believe that so many people would have suffered themselves to be lead
unresistingly like sheep to the slaughter? Or how could their remains, too great for
consumption in the ordinary way, be disposed of without breeding a pestilence in the
capital? Yet the event was of recent date and is attested to by the best informed
historians.

One fact may be considered certain. It

was customary to preserve the skulls of
the sacrificed in buildings
appropriated to this purpose. The
companions of Cortez counted one
hundred and thirity-six thousand skulls
in just one of these places.

Without attempting a precise

calculation, it is safe to conclude that
thousands were yearly offered-up in the different cities of Anahuac on the bloody
altars of the Mexican divinities. The great object of war with the Aztecs was as much
to gather victims for their sacrifices as to extend their empire. It was then that, an
enemy was never slain in battle if it could be helped if there was a chance of taking
him alive. To this the Spaniards repeatedly owed their pres-ervation. When
Montezuma was asked. "Why he had suffered the republic of Tlascala to maintain her
independence on his borders," he replied, "That she might furnish him with more
victims for his gods!"

As the supply of victims began to

fail, the preists, the Dominicans of
the New World, bellowed aloud for
more and urged on their
superstitious sovereign by the
denunciations of the celestial
wrath. Like the militant churchmen
of Christendom in the Middle
Ages, they mingled themselves in
the ranks and were conspicuous in
the thickest of the fight by their
hideous aspects and frantic
gestures.

Strange that in every country, the most fiendish passions of the human heart have
been those kindled in the name of Religion!
 The influence of these practices on the Aztec character was as disastrous as might
have been expected. Familiarity with the bloody rites of sacrifice steeled the heart
against human sympathy and begat a thirst for carnage, like that excited in the
Romans by the exhibitions of the Circus. The prepetual recurrence of ceremonies in
which the people took part, associated religion with their most intimate concerns and
spread the gloom of superstition over the domestic people, until the character of the
nation wore a grave and even melancholy aspect which belongs to their descendants
to the present day.

The influence of the priesthood of

course, became unbounded. The
sovereign thought himself
honoured be being permited to
assist in the services of the
temple. Far from limiting the
authority of the priests to the
spiritual matters, he often gave
his opinion to theirs where they
least competent to give it. It was
their oppisition that prevented the
final capitulation which would
have saved the capital. The whole
nation, from the peasent to the
prince, bowed their heads to the
worst kind of tyranny, that of a
blind faith.

Human Sacrifice, however cruel, has nothing in it degrading to its victim, it may be
rather sad to ennoble him, by devoting him to the gods. Though so terrible with the
Aztecs, it was sometimes voluntarily embraced by them as the most glorious death
and one that opened a sure passege into paradise. The Spanish Inquisition on the
other hand, branded its victims with infamy in this world and consigned them to
everlasting perdition in the next.

Cannibalism
 One detestable feature of the Aztec
superstition sunk it far below that of the
Christian. This was its Cannibalism. Though
in truth, the Mexicans were not cannibals in
the coarsest acceptation of the term. They
did not feed on human flesh merely to gratify
a brutish appetite, but in obedience to their
religion. Their repasts were made of the
victims whose blood had been poured out on
the altar of sacrifice. This is a distinction
worthy of notice, still... cannibalism under
any form or whatever sanction, can have but
a fatal influence on the nation addicted to it.

It suggests ideas so loathsome, so degrading

to man to his spiritual and immortal nature,
that it is impossible for the people who
practice it, to make any great progress in
moral or intel-lectual culture.

The Mexicans furnish no exception to this remark. The civilization which they
possessed descended from the Toltecs, a race who never stained their altars with the
blood of man. All that deserved the name of science in Mexico came from this source;
and the crumbling ruins of edifices attributed to them. Still evedent in various parts of
New Spain, show a decided superiority in their architecture over that of the later
races of Anahuac.

It is true the Mexicans made great proficiency in many of the social and mechanic
arts, in that material culture was the natural growth of increasing opulence which
ministers to the gratification of the senses. In purely intellectual progress, they were
behind the Tezucans, whose wise sovereigns came into the rites of their neighbors
 with reluctance, and practised them on a much more moderate scale.

Aztec Prophecies
Prophecies can be misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misused... they tend to be
self-fulfilling. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire is a perfect example of
this problem. Toltec legends tell of Quetzelcoatl, a white skinned bearded priest-
king who came from the East to establish an enlightened kingdom among the
Indians. Eventually he departed by boat to the West. Quetzelcoatl promised to
return, and as the appointed day of this second coming approached, heavenly
 omens indicated that the Aztec culture was about to come to an abrupt and violent
end.

Nezhaulcoyotl
Nezhaulcoyotl, a king of Texcoco whose reign bridged
the 15th and 16th centuries, also was a great
astrologer. He had an observatory built on the roof of
his palace and invited other astrologers in his kingdom
to come to his court. There, he disputed with them and
taught his wisdom. When Moctezuma II was elected
king of Mexico, Nezhaulcoyotl praised the nation for
having chosen a ruler "whose deep knowledge of
heavenly things insured to his subjects his
comprehension of those of an earthly nature."

Nezhaulcoyotl gave Moctezuma II detailed warnings of

a new astrological age that was beginning in the Aztec
calendar. One of the omens was a famine which
developed in 1507. Then an earthquake occured after the "Lighting of the New Age"
ceremony inaugurated by Moctezuma II. These were sure signs of impending disaster.

Each year thereafter until Hernando Cortes invaded Mexico in 1518, a new omen
appeared. A comet with three heads and sparks shooting from its tail was seen flying
east-ward. In another year, another comet, described as "A Pyramidal Light, which
scattered sparks on all sides, rose at midnight from the eastern horizon till the apex
reached the zenith and faded at dawn." This phenomenon appeared for 40 nights and
was interpreted to mean "Wars, Famine, Pestilence, and Mortality Among the Lords."

In 1508, Moctezuma II visited Tlillancalmecatl ("Place of Heavenly Learning") where

he was given a rare bird. In its shiny chest, he saw stars in reflection and "Fire Sticks"
(guns). The image changed to show the advance of warriors riding on horses which,
since he had never seen them before, he described as deer.

Also in 1508, Moctezuma's

sisterParanazin collapsed into a
cataleptic trance that was mistaken
for death. She recovered while the
funeral pro-cession was taking her
to the royal crypt. She said that
during her trance she received a
vision of great ships from a distant land arriving with men bearing arms, carrying
banners, and wearing "metal casque" (helmets). The foreigners were to become
masters of the Aztecs.

For several days in 1519, a comet hung over the capital city Tenochtitlan. It was
described as "a rip in the sky which bleeds celestial influences dropwise onto the
Aztec world." After that, a thunderbolt struck and burned down the temple of the deity
of Huitilopchitli.

The last omen came one night, again to Tenochtitlan. A woman's voice was heard
"coming from everywhere and nowhere... crying 'My Children, My Children are Lost!"

From these and other signs, the Aztecs

understood their doom as orignating with
celestial powers. Was it then mere coincidence, or
did the Hands of the Fates steer Cortes' ships to
land on April 22, 1519, the very day that the
Aztec calendar calculated for Quetzelcoatl's
return at the end of the 13th Heaven and the
beginning of the Nine Hells? It was as though the
directing forces of the world had staged the
drama to be acted out by historical characters.

Anticipating the event of Quetzelcoatl's return,

Moctezuma II had posted watchers on the coast
to draw images of the aliens and deliver them to him. The emperor was amazed that
the light-skinned, bearded figures matched the traditional descriptions of
Quetzelcoatl. This case of mistaken identity caused the Aztecs to put up little
resistance to the Spaniards, who soon conquered them.

To prevent mutiny among his troops, Cortes burned the ships after they landed. The
cavalry-mounted Spanish forces then quickly defeated several local tribes who
resisted their invasion. When their chiefs sued for peace, Cortes gave them his helmet
and com-manded them to take it to the emperor and return it filled with gold.

The helmet itself was an object of wonder to the Aztecs: it was almost identical to that
worn by the great deity Huiziopochtli. Marveling at the similarty, the emperor
returned the helmet filled with gold and accompanied by a warning to come no closer.
But the Spaniard's greed for gold and dominion drew them inexorably
toward Tenochtitlan.
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As he lay dying, Moctezuma II had a wondrous vision. He told it to Tula, his
favorite daughter. Later, she told it to the Tezcucan noble Iztlilzochitl, who recorded
it:

"To the world I have said farewell. I see its vanities go away from me one by one.
Last in the train and most loved, most glittering is power, and in its hands I see my
heart. A shadow creeps over me, darkening all without, but brightening all within,
and in the brightness, lo, I see my people and their future!"

"The long, long cycles, two, four, eight, pass away, and I see the tribes newly risen,
like the trodden grass, an in their midst a Priesthood and a Cross. An age of battle
more, and lo! There remains the Cross, but not the priests; in their stead is
Freedom and God."

"I know the children of the Aztecs, crushed now, will live, and more after ages of
wrong suffered by them, they will rise up, and take their place - a place of splendor
- amongst the deathless nations of the earth. What I was given to see was revelation.
Cherish these word's O Tula; repeat them often, make them a cry of the people, a
sacred tradition; let them go down with the generations, one of which will, at last,
understand the meaning of the words FREEDOM and GOD, now dark to my
understanding; and then, not till then, will be the new birth and new career."