Category: Aztec

Bernard Ortiz de Montellanos review of Aztec dietary practices conclude that this culture exploited a vast range of food sources in creative ways, allowing for intakes of protein and other critical nutrients that may be surprising to modern nutritionists in the developed world. His analysis of the diet of the ancient Aztec is intensely illuminating, even given its self-admitted deficiencies. Of course, modern scholars cannot know exactly what these ancient people ate, but the guesses and inferences are shrewd and moderate, and use many nutritional markers that were not available in an earlier article in a similar topic by Ortiz de Montellano (Ortiz de Montanello passim). More importantly, they take into consideration, without squeamishness or derogation, nutritional sources which were sometimes discounted or ignored in earlier centuries and even in earlier decades.

Thus, readers learn the role of spirulina, mesquite, agave, maguey, amaranth, and insects; just a few examples of the sorts of non-European foodstuffs with which the Aztecs supplemented the modest quantities of more familiar foods they consumed. Ortiz de Montellano also discusses the techniques used to collect, process, and store their foods; critical elements in garnering the greatest yield of nutrients from each source. An obvious example is the slaking of corn with lime; a less well-known example is the collection of spirulina from the lakes. With this information in hand, the achievement of the Aztec empire becomes more of imaginable. It is so difficult to imagine it today, just looking at the climate and the poverty in the region today. Ortiz de Montellano make

The discussion of illness goes over the relatively small number of illnesses that probably plagued the Aztecs before contact with the Europeans. Ortiz de Montellano also notes the illnesses that inconvenience the population now. He also addresses the public health measures that they followed.

Ortiz de Montellano takes some space to discuss the relationship between a cultures notions of the origins of illness and the steps that they take to address it. In the case of the Aztec, their attribution of illness to supernatural, magical, or moral causes affected the way they treated them. They used divination, ritual incantation, and tonalli, or what could be described as personal essence, important to health, and crucial to understanding their approach to healing. He also reviews their understanding of natural causation, which was rather sophisticated in some instances, for example in noticing that intercourse during the last month of pregnancy could be associated with infection of the amniotic sac (Ortiz de Montellano 153).

In discussing the cures that the Aztecs attempted, Ortiz de Montellano goes into a great deal of detail regarding their religious ideas. At times, this detail threatens to seriously overwhelm the reader and digress from the issue of health. However, an explication of their religious system is crucial because their ideas of illness were ineluctably tied to their notions of the sacred. This complex and largely poorly understood religious system warrants reader attention.

The author addresses the traditional practices potential for effectiveness through such phenomena as the placebo effect, or the reduction of stress. A growing body of research validates this relationship.

This chapter series winds up by considering the modern syncretism that is visible in Mexico today. The confluence of traditional medicine, the Catholic Church, and modern science have created the unique healing practices and belief that are in effect today. As an example of how these influences are syncretized, the author describes ceremonies to ensure good crops that are performed on the day assigned to a saint called Tepozteco, who is a holdover from pre-contact times (Ortiz de Montellano 212).

Thus, Ortiz de Montellano brings the reader fully into the modern era, having demonstrated that the ancient Aztecs possessed a complex and highly evolved diet and medical structure based on a sophisticated religious system. The evidence is plentiful and well-supported, and the whole is profoundly thought-provoking.

Works Cited

Ortiz de Montanello, Bernard R. Aztec Cannibalism: An Ecological Necessity? Science 200.4342 (611-617 ). Web. 2012.

Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. Aztec Medicine, health and Nutrition. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990. Print.

Long before the Spanish expansion of America, there were tribes with highly developed cultures and politics. The Columbus arrival brought these peoples problems, complicated to the dissolution of their civilization. David Stannard devoted his book American Holocaust to the research of the question of Spanish interference into the Mayas and Aztecs life, and the war which led to the empires destruction. The point of this essay is to retrace the development of Mayas and Aztecs to their total extermination.

Fifteen centuries before the Columbian discovery of America, it was settled by the powerful and developed empires of the Maya and Aztecs. The Maya tribes occupied the territories of southern Mexico and North Guatemala jungles. Their culture was on a high level. They invented the exact solar calendar and created an advanced hieroglyphic script, they prognosticate the exact time of the eclipse of the Sun and the Moon. In the first centuries AD, they achieved staggering perfection in architecture and art. At the beginning of Spanish expansion in the sixteenth century, Maya Indians occupied vast and rich space. Spaniards were interested in gold and silver, gaining great wealth. But resources of precious metals in Maya lands were poor. Moving further to Mexico and Peru, the conquerors subdued the Indians for slave work. The master was free to do what he wished with his people  have them plant, have them work in the mines, have them do anything without limit or benefit of tenure (Stannard, 73). In Guatemala, the native population was the Aztecs. There was the Union of three city-states with the center in Tenochtitlan. This town underwent destruction by conquistadors in 1519-1521. A great number of the population died from starvation and diseases. In 1494 Spaniards suffered from the epidemic. The disease was rapidly spread among the Aztecs. If, as the Spanish physician and medical historian Francisco Guerra now contends, the epidemic that ravaged Hispaniola in 1494 was swine influenza, it would have been a pestilence of devastating proportions (Stannard, 68). A new wave of aggression was directed to Indians, as they were accused of contagion and were killed as infection carriers. The Aztecs were exposed to the holocaust, and Tenochtitlan was ruined. After three months of siege and vehement strife, the city was kept by Cortes in 1521. About the war experience of Indians Stannard writes, The Aztecs battlefield experience was the result of complex political rivalries that had existed in the region for centuries, rivalries the Spanish under Hernando Cortes were able to turn to their advantage (Stannard, 75). From the ruins of the Aztec capital Spaniards built a new city  Mexico City.

The result of Spanish expansion was the Holocaust of the native population of America. The World History names three cases of the genocide directed against Jews during World War II, Armenians during Turkish usurpation, and Ukrainians during starvation of 1932-33. But the work American Holocaust sets thinking about the real genocide of the native population of America. As a result of the expansionist policy of Spain, two of the most original and significant civilizations were wiped off the face of the earth.

Word Count  514 words.

Works Cited

Stannard, David. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

The 13th century was one of the most important centuries for the growth and stabilization of modern civilization that was facilitated through various major political, economic, and social events. This century was defined by the growth of religions like Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism throughout Asia and Christianity in Europe which would give rise to some of the most powerful Empires like the Delhi Sultanate and the Byzantine Empire. The expansion of trade and the creation of new trade routes would facilitate the spread of new ideas while also having the downfall of facilitating invasions like those of the Mongols and the spread of diseases in later centuries like the black plague. Technological Innovations like the inventions of paper would instill a desire to learn that would result in the creations of major learning centers such as the house of wisdom in Baghdad and would help solidify the power of New world powers that would arise. Although there are many events that shape the 13th century there are three main events or ideas social, political, and economic, in the regions of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the middle east, Americas, Europe, and Africa that shaped the overall structure of this time.

To begin, during the 13th century, East Asia was as epicenter of change and growth. One of the major political events was the revival of the civil service this caused the bureaucracy in china to move to more of a meritocracy based on Confucian principles. This exam also created a sense of unity within the government itself since all leader would have to be well versed in Confucian principle therefore providing political stability. The growth of new trade routes such as the silk roads and Indian ocean trade routes had an enormous impact on economy allowing not only for religion to spread but new technology, goods, and ideas that would provide major benefits for the economy. The importation of champa rice in China from Vietnam which could mature early, resist droughts and flood could be harvested 3 times a year contributed to a huge spike in population which led to significant economic growth. Trade was later also facilitated by the extension of the grand canal in china and along with providing economic growth because it allowed for cross country trade, it also provided a method of cultural unity and stabilization with the connection of such a large area. Considering social event, the expansion of Confucianism through the civil service exam brought forth a new societal class called the scholar gentry. These scholar gentry we extremely well versed in Confucian principals and provided a unified government soon outnumbering the Aristocrats. As a result of the spread and overwhelming support for Confucianism, strongly supported by the government, society shifted towards Confucian traditions like the expectation that women would defer to men shown by the increase in foot binding which limited a women’s ability to move and elevated their social status showing how important deference to men was.

From East Asia, we now move to South Asia which was defined politically by the emergence of the Delhi sultanate established by Islamic forces conquering the city of Delhi in India and reining for over 300 years. These new strong, unified, Islamic forces helped repel the Mongol and kept them from directly invading India although they were overthrown in the 14th century by Mughals that traced their ancestry to the Mongols. The establishment of the Delhi also led to economic Changes with the Implementation of the Jizya which was a tax on non-muslims putting heavy economic strain of the large community of people following the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Officials in the Delhi Sultanate also began showing the power of the economy through architecture. Exchanging Information, technology, and culture with the Middle East through major trade routes, developments in algebra and geometry allowed Sultans to erect magnificent building like Qatub Minar which was a huge display of cultural and economic power to other states. The new, rapid introduction of Islam also led to huge social impacts in the areas ruled by the Delhi Sultanate. Huge groups now not only converted to Islam for the purpose of upward social mobility but now to simply to avoid paying the high tax just for not following the correct religion. While this helped expand the Islamic religion, the rulers of the Delhi sultanate could not maintain their rule. Another big social movement in South Asia was the Bhakti Movement. The movement which promoted the connection of a single diety, did not discriminate women and people of low class which ultimately resulted in the rise of feminism represented by figures such as Mira Bai.

Now to the final division of Asia, Southeast Asia. The major political event of South Asia was the battle against invaders, specifically the Mongols, led by Ghengis Khan, attempting to conquer Major cities and implant their rule. The Mongols, conquering over 12 million square miles allowed the territories which were ruled and united by the Mongol Empire to enter into a time of peace called ‘Pax magnolia’. The mass, successful conquering by the Mongols Led to the connection of the silk road across continents. This new connection of trade routes had the overwhelming effect of boosting the economies of the states involved. The connection of the trade route also facilitated the exchange of goods, cultures, technology etc. across the continent. The result was the spread of Irrigation and drainage techniques along with Champa rice spreading from the Khemer empire in Asia to Europe and along with overall economic growth along with population growth and a surplus of food this also help spread religion. When merchants who traded in the Indian ocean trade routes or the silk road went to another culture or territory, they had the effect of sharing their religions and culture with the people they traded with. This ultimately led not only to the spread of religions, mainly Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism to spread but also caused the formation of schisms in religions. The prime example of this were the Sufi Muslims who combined aspects of Islam including upward social mobility and tolerance for other faiths with aspects of Hinduism including the worshipping of their local deities to crate religions that were more favorable and spread even easier through missionary work because of desirability.

Now we have to the privilege to talk about the beginnings of one of the greatest economic powers, The Americas. There were four major civilizations including the Maya, the Inca, and the Aztecs and while each civilization was different, they each had certain was of maintaining political control. In the Mayan civilization the rulers organized its rule into separate city-states each ruled by a different king and the Inca did something similar organizing its empire into provinces each which a separate government. This allowed the Mayan and the Incan Governments to retain proper control over conquered people. Each of these civilizations also had of way of keeping conquered people in line, both the Maya and the Aztecs collected a tribute which is a payment from the conquered people to the conqueror and the Incas instituted the Mit’a system for men in between the ages of 15 ang 50 and although these system helped the government keep power it also caused resentment and hatred from conquered people, especially the Mayans who sometimes called for human Tributes, and created disunity within the conquered areas. Another huge aspect of these civilizations were the Inventions that boosted the economy especially in agriculture. The Aztecs were able to create a system of aqueducts that provided water from Tenochtitlan to the city. The Aztecs also placed floating gardens called chinampas on lake Texcoco to maximize on their farming land also digging an irrigation system and draining parts of the river for even more land. The Incan civilization developed a system of terraces for the cultivation of crops using the Waru system of raised water beds to guide rainwater, prevent drought, and prevent flooding. Each of these unique systems helped boost the economy by increasing food production and preventing natural disasters from wiping out the majority of the food supply. In Social aspects, each civilization was massively centered around religion. The Mayans would please the Gods by providing human sacrifices and tried to map out when to perform religious ceremonies through astronomy. The Incan used a system of animism honoring the sun god Inti and used intense form of Ancestor veneration in belief of the rulers connection to the gods. Finally, the Aztecs used religion to create a theocratic society having a both political and religious ruler at the top of the social hierarchy called the great speaker who was the representative of the Gods. The major institution of religions in these civilizations provided a common societal goal of pleasing the Gods and helped connect the people with the rulers.

Next we have the country that was the center of the slave trading across many continents and trading routes, Africa. Politically, Africa was divided into kin-based networks where families would govern themselves and a chief which is the male head of a network of families disputed conflicts between neighbors in a village. A group of villages became districts and the group of chiefs worked together to solve the districts problems and although this worked out for some while, competition for resources increased making it harder to govern these Kin-based networks and they eventually dissolved. After the kind-based network dissolved, a group of seven states loosely connected by kinship ties, arose called the Hausa kingdoms. Lack of a centralized authority allowed these states to form prosperous city-states around the Trans-Saharan trade routes but with no centralization they were also very susceptible to Invasion and conquering. Centered around major trade routes including the Trans-Saharan and the Indian ocean trade route, the exchange of goods brought much wealth to the Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Zimbabwe. Merchants in Ghana would sell ivory to muslim merchants in exchange for salt, copper, cloth, and tools. After Mansa Musa passed through, the Gold trade and mining flourished there. Zimbabwe unlike Mali and Ghana not only relied on land based trade but also used ports in costal cities like Mombasa, Kilwa, and Mogadishu to gain access to East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia in the Indian Ocean trade making them one of the wealthiest states in Africa. The focus on trade also had some social impacts. In East Africa, merchants trading on the trans-Saharan trade routes combines bantu and Arabic to form Swahili and the spread of Christian culture via trade routes created the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia which combined aspects of African religion such as Ancestor veneration, and belief in spirits to for a unique kind of Christianity apart from exposure to the Orthodox church of Eastern Europe or the Roman Catholic Church. Another Social impact of spread was the Indian Ocean Slave trade between East Africa and the Middle East. The history of owning a large number of slaves signifying a higher social status meant that it was hard to stop the trade since slaves provided a huge amount of labor for plantations. This would ultimately carry on through the Atlantic slave trade and result in the fight for African American rights in later centuries.

The second to last division of the world that will be analyzed will be Europe. One major political event in Europe during the 13th century was the development of Feudalism which was a decentralized political organization based on a system of exchanges of land for loyalty. This ensured that the Monarch would always have power over knights and lord who owed the monarch services and offered peasants security from bandits, rival landowners, and invaders like Vikings somewhat causing citizens to trust in the government more, solidifying their power. Another huge political event that took place was the signing of the Magna Carta. In this document King John gave the citizens many rights including the right to not be sentenced without a cause and the right to a trial by a jury. This document promoted peace within the country and set an expel for later document like the Constitution of the United States of America. Once major Economic event that took place was the implementation of the three-field system of farming where crop rotation between three fields were used. This allowed not only for consistent fertile land, but also a larger crop yield therefore a population boom. Another major economic event in Europe was the development of technology like windmills and new types of plows. While the windmills reduced the cost of energy in Europe, the new, lighter plows worked better in the light soil of Southern Europe further helping the agriculture industry produce more food and benefiting the economy. The Invention of the Horse collar which is a harness fitted around a horse’s neck in order to operate a plow or wagon also made preparing fields and harvesting even more efficient. Furthermore, La Reconquista and the great schism of Christianity had major social Impacts in Europe. La Reconquista which was the attempt by Christians to take back Spain after it was by Muslims provided unity across the mainly Christian country of Europe towards a common goal and purpose. While La Reconquista promoted Unity, the Great Schism promoted disunity among Christians in Europe between the members of the Roman catholic Church and the Orthodox Christian church distancing people who were Orthodox from the Mainly dominant Roman Catholic Church.

Last but not least we have the Middle East. During this century there were huge political powershifts surrounding the trade routes in the Middle East. The Mamluk Sultanate was established in Egypt after they seized control of the government and held a monopoly over the cotton and sugar trade from the Middle East to Europe. The Abbasid Caliphate was also challenged by the Seljuk Turks whose leader called himself Sultan reducing the power of the highest ranking Caliph in the Abbasid Caliphate to chief Sunni Religious authority. The Mongols later conquered the rest of the Abbasid Caliphate ending Seljuk rule. One huge Social event in the Middle East was the establishment of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. This Islamic house of learning not only represented the power Islam had on the middle East but also showed how much Islam had spread in the last century throughout Afro-Eurasia.

Crime, or what one in the twenty-first century may perceive as crime, has changed drastically since historical and societal formation. From the times of Hammurabi to now, much has changed; a minor crime today may have carried the death penalty when he was walking around. This essay will go over ancient crime in a multitude of eras and empires from Mesopotamia, to Ancient Rome, to the Aztecs all the while including the various law codes each society had.

Traditionally, when one thinks of ancient Mesopotamian laws Hammurabi comes to mind, and while he is very important, he did have a predecessor. In the twenty-first century BCE, the Code of Ur-Nammu was created. Unsurprisingly, it was written by Ur-Nammu of Ur. While only being partially preserved, Ur-Nammu’s code brought us great insight to Hammurabi’s framework. The Code of Ur-Nammu was “arranged in casuistic form” which many later law codes used. It also implemented the idea of monetary compensation for any bodily injury afflicted (“Law in Mesopotamia”).

Unlike the Code of Ur-Nammu, Hammurabi devised a law code based on reciprocity; “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. He developed this law code composed of 282 laws in order to have one unifying thing across the Babylonian Empire, which encompassed several modern-day countries. Hammurabi had stated that he wanted to “make justice visible in the land, to destroy, the wicked person and the evil-doer, that the strong might not injure the weak” (ushistory.org). His code was advanced, listing all the crimes based on the category (whether it was property, marriage, etc.), and all the punishments for those crimes based on social class for both the victim and perpetrator. An example of this would be this “If a man has destroyed the eye of a man of the gentleman class, they shall destroy his eye… If he has destroyed the eye of a commoner… he shall pay one mina of silver (today’s price is around $313.50)… If he has destroyed the eye of a gentleman’s slave… he shall pay half the slave’s price” (ushistory.org).

Next up is the Greeks, more specifically the Athenians. The US and many European law systems base themselves off of the Athenian law system. There are quite a few differences though, first off, the average jury size in Athens was between 200 and 600 people, almost always an odd number, to ensure there were no ties (Mathes). There were also no lawyers or judges. Instead of lawyers, cases were argued by regular Greek citizens, and judges were to easily bribed or coerced in order to trust them. Something the Greeks did which is almost unheard of today is that all cases and trials lasted no more than one full day, down to the point where the time was monitored using a water clock to be sure there was an accurate representation of the time left (Zaffar).

Just like ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Greece had its share of laws and law codes. One of the most well-known law codes was the one written by Draco. Draco was known for his incredibly harsh, brutal punishments, which is where the word ‘draconian’ comes from. An example of these violent punishments comes from Plutarch in Life of Solon, apparently, the punishment for stealing an apple or cabbage was death. Before Draco, laws were given orally. He wrote the laws on wooden and stone tablets so any literate Greek could read them (Dhwty). Aristotle claimed the laws were written with blood instead of ink, whether he was speaking literally or metaphorically is up in the air.

In order to bring some sort of normalcy to Athens, after the death of Draco, Solon wrote up a new law code. Solon’s laws were extensive, covering from inheritance to damages to how the political system works. Draco’s harsh laws were either scrapped or heavily modified, apart from the ones dealing with murder, which were kept. Solon also had to change how the trade worked in Athens due to a massive economic problem, which resulted in grains being illegal to trade and Greece’s olive and olive oil industry to be exported and sold at will (Cartwright).

Roman law was complex to do the hierarchical form of government and citizenship statuses they had. Laws were voted on through assemblies for the most part but could also come to fruition through the Emperor’s orders, senatorial decrees, magistrate decisions, as well as the unofficial Council of Plebs (“Ancient Rome”). Laws were enforced by Praetors on an administrative level, and by Vigiles on a police force level. For a long period of time, none of the laws were written down formally, therefore wealthy officials could just makeup laws or change ‘existing’ ones to suit their needs. This lead to a revolt, which lead to the laws being written down of twelve stone tablets and displayed for all literate Roman citizens to read (“Ancient Rome”).

A lot like Hammurabi’s, the Roman Empire’s punishment system was greatly determined by the social class of those committing the crime. Patricians and other high ranking citizens may receive a slap on the wrist for something a plebian or a slave would be killed for. The favorite Roman manners of execution for capital offenses included: crucifixion, beheading, throwing the criminal from the Tarpeian Rock, burying them alive, or if they commited patricide, they were thrown into a river (Mathes).

A lot of Rome’s features of law and order are still used today. Concepts such as checks and balances, regular elections, and term limits for officials are meshed together with Athenian democracy to form the modern democratic structures we have today (“Ancient Rome”). Another Roman piece commonly used around the world today is Justinian’s law code. Justinian’s law code is called the Corpus Juris Civilis, it is a compilation of four books, totaling somewhere near one million words that codified all Roman Empire laws from the time of Hadrian in the early 100s CE. The four books the Corpus Juris Civilis includes are: The Code, the Novellae (new laws Justinian created), the Digest (legal opinions prior to Justinian), and the Institute (legal textbook). Most European law codes are backed off of Justinian’s Code, and to some extent, the US is as well, though the United States is based on English Common Law, which is a mix of Germanic and Roman laws (Krenzke).

Medieval England had its fair share of law code attempts, as the history of English Common Law is murky and surprisingly, unknown. Before kings and queens wrote down their laws they were practiced as generational customs passed down orally from kingdom to kingdom. Everyone from William the Conqueror to Edward the Confessor had their own law codes. Punishments were often bizarre and interestingly specific, like this one from King Alfred, “The loss of a big toe cost the offender 20 shillings (1 pound, $1.29). The second toe over, 15 and only 9 for loss of the middle toe, 4 for the 4th and 5 for the baby toe” (Duhaime). Innocent or guilt was thought to be up to God, therefore, England adopted Germanic trial by Ordeals. The most commonly known ordeal is Trial by Combat, wherein two people (or their chosen champions) fight to the death, and if the accused is still living, they were innocent because God had willed it (“Crime and Medieval Punishment’). Medieval England also used capital punishment more than imprisonment, heathens were executed, concealment of an exile would land both parties executed, acts of treason would have one executed, and the list goes on (Duhaime).

A much different look at crime comes from the Aztec Empire. Crime and punishment for the crime varied between cities. Their laws covered every imaginable aspect of life, from estate inheritance to economics. Unlike other civilizations, many of the laws were created in order to preserve the social class system (“Aztec crime and punishment”). Commoners could not dress the same as those ranking above them. Women and men in Aztec culture were fairly equal. Crimes were dealt with seriously, harshly, and swiftly through the court systems; minor crimes would be dealt with in the village, more serious crimes were dealt with in the capital, Tenochtitlan, and very serious crimes were dealt with at the Emperor’s palace, and judged by the Emperor himself. There was no prison system in the Aztec Empire, therefore most crimes were punished with the death penalty. Criminals would often be put to death on an altar, strangled, or stoned on the spot. Lighter punishments included having one’s head shaven, their home demolished, or paying back medical expenses (“Aztec crime and punishment”).

Overall, all these civilizations and their interpretations of crime and punishment have shaped the modern world in ways we cannot imagine. Many aspects of society are compounded upon when looking at law codes. One also gets a window into how society is running and what they believe to be a nuisance occurrence based on what they are making laws on.

The Aztec empire was one of the most prominent empires of this time. The Aztecs commonly referred to as the Mexicas, adopted cultures and traditions from earlier peoples, while at the same time developing their own, unique society. They are believed to have originated from Nahuatl-speaking people that migrated south to what is now known as northern Mexico. There, they built the magnificent cities of Tlatelolco and Tenochtitlán, which eventually grew into two of the largest cities at that time.

War and religion were major parts of everyday Aztec life. War became so significant because the Aztecs believed that war was their religious duty, and they must honor their gods through it. Since it was their “religious duty,” they would fight harder, thus conquering large territories in an astonishingly short amount of time. Through war, men were able to acquire wealth, as well as gain prestige. The Aztecs were polytheistic and worshipped numerous gods and goddesses. They believed that the most basic issue in the world was the struggle between order and disorder. According to their philosophy, the disorder was symbolized by uncleanliness and dirt, which compelled them to keep their city remarkably clean at all times. However, not all aspects of Aztec religion had positive impacts on their society. Human sacrifices were a crucial part of Aztec religious life, and hundreds, possibly even thousands, of human sacrifices were made. The Aztec people believed the god that symbolized the sun needed to be fed sacred fluids (human blood) in order to keep the sun moving. Influenced by this belief, the Aztecs sacrifice countless people, often in violent and gruesome manners.

During the early days of the Aztec empire, there were no social classes or distinctions. Most everyone was in poverty, and it was not until they selected their first king, Acamapichti, that social classes were introduced. People at the top of the social pyramid included soldiers, imperial officers, and people chosen by the emperor that were honored for being war heroes. The next class was the warrior class, and in theory, any free man had the chance to become a warrior. Whenever someone had a son, the child’s parents would dedicate him to war. They practiced rituals, such as burying the child’s umbilical cord along with some arrows and a shield, which they believed would increase their son’s chance of becoming a warrior. At the mere age of six, boys joined a school that would prepare them for war. Their training was brutal, as the children were taught to survive on small portions of food and to take pain without complaining. Once they reach eighteen, the young men are given a test that requires them to capture prisoners for sacrifice. If successful, they are initiated into the warrior class. The men that fail must join the working class. This class made up the majority of society and performed services such as fixing roads and bridges. Beneath this class was tlalmaitl class, composed primarily of serfs, responsible for agricultural labor. Finally, the lowest class in Aztec society were the slaves. Most slaves were prisoners that were captured in war or kidnapped from enemies. Slavery was not overly harsh in Aztec society, and most slaves were eventually able to purchase their freedom. Women also played a role in Aztec society. No matter the social class, women were responsible for weaving and cleaning her house. Weaving was considered sacred and was only performed by females. If a woman were to become pregnant, the family, and possibly the entire neighborhood, would feast. If a woman successfully gave birth, then there would be a celebration for ten to twenty days.

Tenochtitlán was a spectacular city built by the Aztecs. Containing roughly sixty thousand households, the entire population of Tenochtitlán was approximately 250,000. This city was initially built upon salt marshes and contained four central highways connecting to the mainland. Surrounded by stone walls, the city was easily defensible and could withstand prolonged attacks. In the marketplaces, tradespeople presented countless types of merchandise. Tenochtitlán also contained the grand temple of Huitzilopochtli. This temple was one hundred feet tall and consisted of three flights of stairs, each containing 120 steps. When the Spanish first entered this city, they were astounded by its magnificence and cleanliness.

The Aztec empire achieved many great advancements during its existence. They had a strong sense of religion, which consequently, gave them a desire for warfare. Distinct social classes were eventually developed, with people of the noble class on top. The Aztecs were also incredibly advanced in the area of architecture. They built the breathtaking city of Tenochtitlán, which contained incredible buildings like the temple of Huitzilopochtli.

Religion, which is defined as a particular system of faith and worship, and dates back to the beginning of time, has played a major role in decision making. Throughout history, we have witnessed how religion has impacted individuals in their daily life, including major life decisions. Ranging from whom they can marry, to being able to donate their organs and such. Although the darker aspects of religion are not often displayed, religion has often been a vessel for individuals to commit crimes, such as genocide, mass murders, shootings, and suicide. Religion can manipulate these events so much that they can become normalized and if practiced for generations, become an important role in the lives of these individuals. In the case of the Aztec religion, human sacrifice was normalized and deemed necessary in insurance for survival and abundance of crops and health. In today’s society, these acts would not be seen under the same microscope and many would even deem it as murder. As we have progressed in our knowledge of the universe and our belief systems have shifted, we can now analyze how religion has been used by different societies to maintain order and instill fear.

The Aztecs wandered in search of a place to stay after being forced out of Chapultepec after sacrificing the daughter of King Culhuacan in a worshipping ritual. After wandering for some time and receiving a sign from their God, they are known to have arrived in central Mexico, claiming their city Tenochtitlan. They are believed to have arrived during the beginning of the 13th century, originally as hunter-gatherers (prehistoric nomadic groups that harnessed the use of fire, studied plant life, and refined technology for hunting and domestic purposes). They brought about the demise of the Toltecs and began creating treaties with neighboring tribes to greater expand their tribe. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “It is possible that their migration southward was part of a general movement of peoples that followed, or perhaps helped trigger, the collapse of the Toltec civilization.” The Aztecs had several gods they worshipped and offered sacrifices. Huitzilopochtli, who was their sun god was more idolized and respected. Although Huitzilopochlti’s origin is not fully known, in Aztec mythology it is believed he was the offspring of Coatlicue an Aztec deity who was the earth-mother goddess. Huitzilopochtli was associated with gold, war, and rulership, all things of which the Aztecs needed in abundance, and so their sacrifices and rituals became normalized.

Human sacrifice has been around and practiced all around the world far longer than the Aztecs, however, they formalized the event including specific ceremonies and rituals. Human sacrifice rituals were of greater importance in the ancient Aztec religion and were thought to keep the gods content, as well as ensure the world would continue to exist. In most human sacrifice rituals, the priest performing the ritual would slice into the human torso and remove their still-beating heart. The Aztecs believed they had a blood debt with the ancient gods, which essentially meant they had to keep the Gods happy by offering blood. They believed that through these sacrifices the world would continue to exist and they would be blessed with crops, water, and health. Though the Aztecs likely saw human sacrifice as crucial for their survival, every month there was at least one major religious ceremony, during which the sacrifices would take place. During these rituals, the Aztecs would usually cut themselves and offer their blood, they would sacrifice animals, as well as humans. The selection of the victims included that the chosen would be painted and often would be dressed to impersonate the God that was being celebrated until it was time for the sacrifice. A priest would then cut into the chosen torso and remove their still-beating heart, then they would toss their victims down El Templo Mayor, a shrine. Although there has been extensive research done, there is not an exact number of all the sacrifices done. According to Spanish sources, up to 20,000 people were put to death as part of a ceremony to dedicate the Templo Mayor (or Great Temple) in Tenochtitlán in 1487.

According to History, “Human sacrifice was an integral part of the Aztec religion – as it was for many other societies in the New World. One of the central beliefs of the Aztec world was that Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun, needed constant nourishment in the form of human blood – seen as the sacred life force – to keep the sun moving from east to west across the sky. Those who were sacrificed included both volunteers, who saw their choice as the height of nobility and honor, and prisoners captured by the Aztecs during their frequent wars.”

Today in modern Mexico, Organized Crime Cartels use similar human sacrifice methods, although they have modified them to increase torture and often display them to create fear. In a similar manner to the Aztecs, they often display the severed heads of those they have killed. La Santa Muerte, who is a Mexican deity known to be a personification of death has been used as a medium in many illegal human sacrifices and rituals, which has angered her devotees because it brings the wrong message about who she is and instead is being associated with violence and crime. The FBI stated that “Santa Muerte ideology has developed in Mexico for approximately a half-century and has spread into the United States and Central America. The cult’s popularity has increased with its ties to illicit narcotics trafficking in Mexico in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a “saint of last resort,” Santa Muerte has always had a following among those who live in extreme circumstances. As one expert explains, “The Santa Muerte cult could best be described as [following] a set of ritual practices offered on behalf of a supernatural personification of death…she is comparable in theology to supernatural beings or archangels.” Therefore, Santa Muerte is a theology.

Furthermore, there have been a few cases including a case In December 2009 and January 2010 in Ciudad Júarez, “perpetrators murdered individuals in apparent Santa Muerte ritual killings. Regarding one incident, authorities found at the crime scene the remnants of an apparent altar and the words “Santa Muerte” and guidos flake (take care of us, skinny) spray painted. In the second crime, gang members burned a victim behind a house containing an altar and a small Santa Muerte statue. Interviewed neighbors said that the killers – part of the Hillside 13 Gang – asked for “something big”; as a result, the perpetrators performed multiple human sacrifices.” as well as in April 2010 in Camargo and Miguel Aleman, “perpetrators tortured and decapitated individuals, carved the letter “Z” into their chests, and placed the victims’ heads on the roof of a desecrated, graffiti-covered roadside chapel. Based on the graffiti messages, the victims belonged to the Gulf Cartel. The perpetrators comprised members of the Los Zetas Cartel, which has embraced Santa Muerte as its patron saint. Many of the group’s members have tattoos of her image on their upper arm or chest.”

Modern scholars have analyzed human sacrifice in the context of “each culture and discern that culture’s unique ideologies and practices. The latest trend in scholarship reveals the multivalent symbolic value and multidimensional functions of sacrifice while recognizing the diverse orientations and purposes of these rites within particular cultures. The same considerations have been given to complex Aztec sacrificial schemes.” each religion and culture has its kind of ideology and theology. Some might have just been extremely bloodthirsty and for others, it was simply a pleasure.

The Aztec Empire is one of the dominant empires in ancient history in the Americas. The Aztecs contributed many inventions and architectures to the human past. The rise of the Aztec Empire was swift because of their advance in the economy, agriculture, and organizations. The Aztecs were very ambitious as well. As on top of their realm with active military and abundance economy, the Aztec conquered their neighborhood tributes steadily. As a sad consequence for themselves, the Aztecs were eventually defeated by the Span in the mid of the 1500s.

Locating in the central and southern areas of present-day Mexico during a period from the 1400s to 1500’s AD, the Aztec Empire, fortunately, possessed many nourish regions around the Valley of Mexico and along the Gulf of Mexico. According to some researchers (e.g., Nichols and Evans, 2009), the Aztec mainland was located in a challenging location as a high altitude as 2,200 meters above sea level and was surrounded by a system of lakes, canals, and mountain springs with a large and dense population. The Aztecs could construct a complicated community around the Basin of Mexico to cope with its interesting geography and multicultural complexity. The Aztec Empire sketched on a vast geographical region as known as Meso-America (the central and southern of Mexico in Central America). The north side of the Aztec Empire was adjacent with the United States, bordered by Guatemala and Belize on the south, next to the Pacific Ocean on the west, and enclosed by the Caribbean Sea on the east. Due to its large area and is crossed by two major mountain chains, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Aztec regions enjoyed a mixture of hot and humid climates along its boundaries.

According to some researchers, the empire consisted of three city-states as the Triple Alliance, which were Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. However, the central capital of the Aztecs was Tenochtitlan, which was in the center of the Basin of Mexico with an abundance system of active volcanos. Enclosed by the high mountain chains and many systems of water lake, mountain springs, and canals, the Aztec geography provided fertile soils to grow and develop strong agriculture, one of the main subsistence patterns of the ancient Aztecs.

According to some researchers, agriculture is a fundamental foundation in the Aztec community in the very early period. Evidence of growing agriculture were the numerous constructions of chinampas and systems of irrigations on Aztec rural zones. The development of chinampas created many lush gardens, which allows the Aztecs to cultivate vegetables year-round based on the continuous and surplus water supply from natural lakes and mountain springs into those zones. Also, the humid climate relatively helped the Aztecs could grow many plants and vegetables. Evidence of the Aztec’s growing agriculture was plenty in Teotihuacan Valley and Texcoco piedmont. According to Smith, the Aztec farmers also built terraces on the slopes of mountains to create more zones for cultivation. Some of the plants the Aztecs could grow on those terraces were maguey, maize, beans, and cotton. Hunting and fishing were additional methods of cultivations of the Aztecs.

According to Smith, Aztecs lived in small houses which were built of brick and supported on stone cobbles foundation walls. Interesting, these houses usually had two doors and no windows. Many archeologists refer to these houses as typical peasant houses. Many Aztec’s daily activities such as weaving took place in the patios of peasant houses. A noticeable feature in Aztec architecture was the temple pyramid surrendered by noble family’s compounds and commoner’s lodgings. Due to the favor by Nature, the Aztec Empire proposed richness of salt along with its islands and abundance of mud, which was the critical component for artistically painted pottery and ceramic works. Therefore, the Aztecs developed several market plazas along their territories to trade their products and artworks with foreign vendors, buyers, and artisans. According to Smith, the Aztecs purchased their salt, blades, needle, and painted pottery for alien craft goods.

Since the Aztec peasants intensified the agricultural practices and cultivated mostly on terraces of maize, cotton, and beans; the Aztec peasants lived in small dwellings, which were spared away from each other. Mostly, rural Aztec women mainly used cotton to weave cloth. According to Smith, the Aztec residents in rural areas also had many other activities and inventions. Some of the noticeable activities were manufacturing paper from the fig trees to make books, building ceramic vessels, extracting salt from saline-like water, making obsidian blades, and trading goods and products with the foreigners from western Mexico. On the other hand, some of the elite residents in urban areas enjoyed living medium-size and large-size houses in Yautepec, one of the dominant city-states during the Aztec empire. Also, the Yautepec commoners lived in a dense neighborhood with many trading activities and business transactions operated busily daily. Comparing the rural inhabitants, urban people had a much more prosperous lifestyle in general.

The Aztecs worshiped many gods and had several outstanding ways to respect their divine beings. Some of the terrific worshiping methods among the Aztec Empire were ritually killing a human to offer to a deity, constructing huge temples to worship the celestial beings, and respecting their gods through paintings and artworks. According to Phillips, human sacrifice was a very most common practice among Aztec communities. Each month, the Aztecs were scared of a distinct god. Thus, the Aztecs had to scarify one human being every month. The Aztecs believed that the crucified person to a deity would die as the god they were honoring, and in return, he would be respected afterlife. The Aztec ritual of human sacrifice was very brutal. On the final day of the month, the chosen person would lie on the stone, and his heart would be ripped out from his chest in front of the Aztec community. His corpse would be cooked and served to the elite people in the society and military. Another way to worship the gods of the Aztecs was by building temples. According to Brumfield, the religious center of the Aztec was Tenochtitlan, where numerous temples were built around a pyramid temple called the Great Temple. Also, the Aztecs made two separate sanctuaries on top of the Great Temple. Also, the Aztecs showed their respect to their gods through celestial drawings and religious paintings on the walls of each temple. Even, the Aztecs formulated their beliefs into myths, poetry, and songs; and then, they passed on these artworks through generations to retain the heavenly admiration.

According to Fagan, Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who reached Mexico in 1519 in his search of treasure. When Cortes arrived in Mexico, he only had 550 soldiers, 16 horses, 14 cannons, and a few dogs. Eventually, Cortes’s group met the Aztec emperor at the time, Montezuma II. The encounter of Cortes and the emperor Montezuma II was the first contact of the Aztecs with the European nations. Despite his small force, Cortes eventually conquered the entire Aztec Empire because of the following reasons. First of all, Cortes used Spanish horses and guns to terrify the native Aztecs. Secondly, a Mayan woman named Malintzin gave Cortes insights into the Aztec military and helped him form alliances against the emperor Montezuma. Thirdly, Cortes had undetectable help from the disease. Illnesses killed more Aztecs than Spanish swords. Lastly, the emperor Montezuma thought that Cortes was Quetzalcoatl, who was a crucial Aztec god. Traveling 400 miles to reach Tenochtitlan, Hernan Cortes was able to take control of the entire city due to the false belief of the emperor Montezuma. Eventually, Cortes took the emperor Montezuma and then ordered the Aztec to stop fighting. However, Cortes’s order made the Aztecs angry, and started a rebellion.

Consequently, Cortes killed the emperor Montezuma and left the Tenochtitlan because the Aztec army was too numerous. After Cortes left the city, a smallpox epidemic suddenly attacked the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan. As a result, Cortes’s troops easily destroyed the weakened Aztec soldiers. In 1521, the Spanish took over the Aztec capital. And, Hernan Cortes took one more expenditure to Honduras, then severed as Governor-General of New Spain. He returned to Spain as a very wealthy man and dies in Seville, Spain in 1547.

Every empire in human history always follows the pattern: rising and then falling. The Aztec Empire is not an exception to the wheel of history. However, The Aztec Empire has its own distinction from other normal empires. The Aztec Empire was rising very rapidly but then conquered in a flash by the Spanish. However, the Aztecs still contributed many great inventions to human history. Notably, the Aztec architecture is remarkable for human history and worth to remembered by generations.

A significant part of the work of the Aztecs is the religion that was founded by the Europeans called Christianity. The Europeans had various reasons why they needed to assume control over the Native American clans. One explanation was that the Europeans were anxious to overcome these clans as a direct result of South America’s fortunes. Their second reason was strict energy. Numerous Spaniards professed to have gone to the Americas to spread the gospel and convert the Native Americans. It is easy to refute whether religion or insatiability assumed the most significant job. For instance, in Mexico, the conquistador Hernán Cortés was invited by the Aztec head, presumably because the Aztecs accepted that it was their god Quetzalcoatl coming back from the eastern ocean, as he had guaranteed. The sovereign sent Cortés presents of gold and silver. Consequently, Cortés made partnerships with the Aztecs’ adversaries, devastated Aztec sanctuaries and urban areas, and raised crosses, an image of Christianity, on the remains. Moreover, when the Aztecs saw the crosses they turned out to be significantly progressively persuaded this was the arrival of their god, since he was the divine force of intersection. At the point when the Aztecs understood their error, it was past the point of no return. The Spaniards vanquished them in the fight, and lastly had their territory, however their gold, and silver also.

This examination of Aztec gods and Aztec faith has been the subject of a deal of speculation and information. These sacrifices executed by Mexica priests in the Pyramids of the Sun and Light are known. Yet, there’s more to Aztec belief than just people, though some of their rituals were violent. Here’s a look at some of the great Aztec deities in the temple and their importance in Aztec belief. The pantheon (many deities) of the Aztec society was large, with hundreds of gods and goddesses revered. Some of these gods were farming since the society relied heavily on agriculture. Components of the world, heroes, and ancestors were also venerated. It was thought that the weight of the physical reality and the fate of humans depended on these deities, some of which were kind, and others of which were unsatisfied and terrifying.

This Aztec belief is the Mesoamerican belief of the Aztecs. Like other Mesoamerican faiths, it took components of human sacrifice about the great number of religious festivals which were taken according to designs of the Aztec calendar. Polytheistic in its study, this faith recognized a huge and ever-increasing pantheon of gods and goddesses. The Aztecs could often include gods whose cults came from different geographical areas or peoples into their religious practice. Aztec cosmology splits the earth into thirteen spheres and nine temporal strata or netherworlds, each point associated with a particular set of gods and astronomical targets. The most significant heavenly entities in Aztec belief were the Sun, the light, And this satellite Venus all of these carrying various symbol and spiritual meanings, too as affiliations with specific deities and geographical places whose worship was rooted in a significant reverence for the Sun and Moon, Whose physical purposes are really of immense value to life on Earth.  

During the Aztec period in the country of Mexico, the clothes that women wore were an important symbol of their marital status. The typical tradition was for the boy’s mother to put’s brand new blouse on the bride to show that she was about to get married. Another piece of clothing that was symbolic for showing marital status was a skirt that would be a wedding gift from the groom’s mother. It is tradition for the mother of the groom to lay down the skirt on a mat. For the male, the bride’s mother would get him a cape and tie it on him. Similarly to the skirt, the bride’s mother would buy the groom a loincloth and place it before him as a gift. These are the usual garments would wear in order to show that a man and woman were getting married. These two garments were important because, at the end of the ceremony, the bride and the groom will tie the cap and blouse together to show they are united.

The clothing of the men and women was simple and was all made of cotton. When young girls reached the age of 4 they would begin to wear short skirts and blouses. Once they reached the age of seven they would wear what their mothers would wear, which would just be a longer skirt. There is no factual evidence that states that women wore a specific set of clothes to attract men and vice versa. Usually, men would only wear a loincloth but only when they reached the age of five. Before that, it was a tradition that very young children, both girls, and boys would not wear anything. Unlike today’s culture wear showing more skin is a popular way of attracting the opposite sex, the Aztecs were accustomed to that way of living. Before the Spaniards came and colonized them, there was more skin than clothing. When they say the first army come to conquer them, they were all surprised at how much armor they were wearing because it was out of the norm for them to see that. Just as the Aztecs were surprised by the Spanish army, the Spanish army was shocked at the lack of clothing that the Aztec people of Mexico had.

There were three types of people who lived in the Aztec period of Mexico, the common people, the upper class, and the military. As I mentioned earlier, the people of the Aztec culture would wear a loincloth, but if they wanted to show a higher social standing it would have embroidery or fringes on the end, this also applied to women on their skirts. The upper class consists of religious leaders who wore clothing that was adorned much more than a common person. The symbols would be meaningful, and the brighter the colors the more prestigious the person was. The military clothing was completely different from that of the noble class or common people. They were considered heroes and would wear medals and jewels to be more noticeable when they walked around the village.

Bernard Ortiz de Montellano’s review of Aztec dietary practices conclude that this culture exploited a vast range of food sources in creative ways, allowing for intakes of protein and other critical nutrients that may be surprising to modern nutritionists in the developed world. His analysis of the diet of the ancient Aztec is intensely illuminating, even given its self-admitted deficiencies. Of course, modern scholars cannot know exactly what these ancient people ate, but the guesses and inferences are shrewd and moderate, and use many nutritional markers that were not available in an earlier article in a similar topic by Ortiz de Montellano (Ortiz de Montanello passim). More importantly, they take into consideration, without squeamishness or derogation, nutritional sources which were sometimes discounted or ignored in earlier centuries and even in earlier decades.

Thus, readers learn the role of spirulina, mesquite, agave, maguey, amaranth, and insects; just a few examples of the sorts of non-European foodstuffs with which the Aztecs supplemented the modest quantities of more familiar foods they consumed. Ortiz de Montellano also discusses the techniques used to collect, process, and store their foods; critical elements in garnering the greatest yield of nutrients from each source. An obvious example is the slaking of corn with lime; a less well-known example is the collection of spirulina from the lakes. With this information in hand, the achievement of the Aztec empire becomes more of imaginable. It is so difficult to imagine it today, just looking at the climate and the poverty in the region today. Ortiz de Montellano make

The discussion of illness goes over the relatively small number of illnesses that probably plagued the Aztecs before contact with the Europeans. Ortiz de Montellano also notes the illnesses that inconvenience the population now. He also addresses the public health measures that they followed.

Ortiz de Montellano takes some space to discuss the relationship between a culture’s notions of the origins of illness and the steps that they take to address it. In the case of the Aztec, their attribution of illness to supernatural, magical, or moral causes affected the way they treated them. They used divination, ritual incantation, and tonalli, or what could be described as personal essence, important to health, and crucial to understanding their approach to healing. He also reviews their understanding of natural causation, which was rather sophisticated in some instances, for example in noticing that intercourse during the last month of pregnancy could be associated with infection of the amniotic sac (Ortiz de Montellano 153).

In discussing the cures that the Aztecs attempted, Ortiz de Montellano goes into a great deal of detail regarding their religious ideas. At times, this detail threatens to seriously overwhelm the reader and digress from the issue of health. However, an explication of their religious system is crucial because their ideas of illness were ineluctably tied to their notions of the sacred. This complex and largely poorly understood religious system warrants reader attention.

The author addresses the traditional practices’ potential for effectiveness through such phenomena as the placebo effect, or the reduction of stress. A growing body of research validates this relationship.

This chapter series winds up by considering the modern syncretism that is visible in Mexico today. The confluence of traditional medicine, the Catholic Church, and modern science have created the unique healing practices and belief that are in effect today. As an example of how these influences are syncretized, the author describes ceremonies to ensure good crops that are performed on the day assigned to a saint called Tepozteco, who is a holdover from pre-contact times (Ortiz de Montellano 212).

Thus, Ortiz de Montellano brings the reader fully into the modern era, having demonstrated that the ancient Aztecs possessed a complex and highly evolved diet and medical structure based on a sophisticated religious system. The evidence is plentiful and well-supported, and the whole is profoundly thought-provoking.

Works Cited

Ortiz de Montanello, Bernard R. “Aztec Cannibalism: An Ecological Necessity?” Science 200.4342 (611-617 ). Web. 2012.

Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. Aztec Medicine, health and Nutrition. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990. Print.