Karlee S's List: The Aztecs

• Aztec Families:
  

   

  
  

      In Mesoamerica during Aztec times, families, roles of family members, and household structure was extremely important.
• Mexicans defined statuses and regulated relationships through rules of kinship and marriage (Berdan 2005).
• in our society, often times we grow up with our family typically living with parents and guardians. The Aztec way was similar to this with the difference being that the majority of people lived with their families for their entire lives.
• Generations of family members often lived in the same household or area.
• They also had specific assignments not only in the household and among family members but they also played into the role as a member of the Mexican society.
• have chosen to discuss the roles of men, women, and the relatives and children in the family setting of the Aztecs.

4 more annotations...

• Lives and Responsibilities of the Aztec People 
    In the Aztec house- holds, the men farmed or did craft work such as pottery, weaving, metal working, and wood carving. The women made the clothing and cooked the meals.
• Until the age of ten, boys stayed home learning skills from their fathers, then they would go to school for a general education and military training. Girls were expected to learn housekeeping and cooking skills; very few girls attended schools.

• Aztec people, like the people of China,   India, or Africa   at this time, were polytheistic   - they had many gods.
• Many of these gods were parts of nature.
• Coatlicue was the god of creation
• Xipe Totec   was the seeds to be planted, that would grow into food (like Persephone   for the Greeks).
• Tlaloc was the god of rain (like Demeter   for the Greeks)
• He had a companion Chalchiuhtlicue, the god of water. They worked with Chicomicoatl, who was the god  of actually producing food.
  
• 
    The Aztec god of seeds, Xipe Totec (ca 1500 AD
• Other Aztec gods represented ideas.
• Huitzilopochtil, for   instance, was the god of war (like Ares).
• But he was also a sun god, like Apollo.
• Quetzalcoatl was less important  than Huitzilopochtil, but he was the god of civilization - and also the god of wind
• His brother was Tezcatlipoca, the   god of wars that were fought at night (when Huitzilopochtil was resting).

10 more annotations...

• Religion was very important to the Aztec people. In the temples and on the huge pyramids, priests performed religious ceremonies and made sacrifices to the powerful Aztec gods. The Aztec people believed that their gods controlled human fate and the destiny of the empire.

           

  In Aztec culture, art and religion were represented by sculptures and bright colored paintings. The craftsmen carved small figures of people and animals out of quartz, obsidian (volcanic glass), and jade. Statues were made to adorn shrines and temples. In the capital city of Tenochtitlan, fantastic stone sculptures of the gods were carved represent the gods.

• Expansion: Around  1400 CE, the Aztec government began conquering neighboring tribes.
• They needed many things to manage their  growing population.
• The  Aztec population had grown.
• needed new cities to house their population.
• needed new lands to feed their population.
• needed new captives  to feed their hungry gods.
• Storehouses needed  to be filled.
• Schools needed to be run.
• government had its hands  full trying to satisfy all these needs.   
• Temples needed to be built.
• When the Aztecs conquered a tribe, they demanded  tribute in the form of food, clothing, precious stones, building supplies,  and captives.
• Tribute:  War was the answer.
• The first four the Aztecs kept for themselves.
• The last they  gave to their gods. 
• Other  tribes hated and feared the Aztecs.

• they simply ran away in  fear rather than fight.   
     

   
• The  Emperor & Palace: The Aztecs had an emperor, a king who ruled over all  the people.
• emperor lived in the imperial palace in the capital city  of Tenochtitlan.
• The palace was huge.
• even had its own zoo.
• ground floor of the palace housed government offices and the  shops of the most talented craftsman in the Aztec empire.
•  

  City-States:  As the Aztec empire grew, under the direction of government officials,  Aztec engineers built many fine cities.
• noble family controlled each  city.
• the noble family was supposed to assist the emperor, the  truth is that each noble family pretty much ran things in their own city  the way they wanted.
• Thus, the Aztecs, like the Mayas, were governed by  city-states.
• Home Rule / Crime and Punishment: With their own people, the  Aztec rulers were quite severe.
• Aztec courts decided on the punishment  those who broke the law would receive.
• Thieves were put to death.
• punishment for being drunk was death.
• Drunkenness was the worse crime.
• Laws  were tough, and they were written down.
• Codices warned of the punishment  you would receive for breaking the law.
• The One Time Forgiveness Law: The Aztecs had an interesting  law.
• only once, you could confess your crime to the priests of  Tlazolteotl and you would be forgiven.
• And you had to do  it before you were caught.
• could only do this once
• Timing was everything.
• If evidence came to light after you  confessed, you were safe.
• You had already been excused from  punishment for that crime.
• However, if you ever committed other crime, you  would be punished to the full extend of the law.
• Aztec laws were very  harsh.

39 more annotations...

• Mexican archaeologists believe that they have located what no one else has before—the tomb of an Aztec emperor.
• scientists have detected underground chambers that they believe contain the remains of Emperor Ahuizotl, who ruled the Aztecs when Columbus landed in the New World. The find could provide a window into the Aztec civilization at its height.
• Archaeologists are thrilled to have detected a link to the Aztec civilization, which ruled much of what is now Mexico between 1428 and 1521.
• In 1519, the Aztecs experienced their first fateful contact with Europeans.
• That year, Spaniard Hernan Cortes and his men marched into the Mexico Valley and took the ruler Montezuma hostagehostage.
• Montezuma's successorsuccessor, Cuauhtemoc (kwow-TAY-mock), led the last resistance to the Spaniards in the battle for Mexico City in 1521.
• Spanish took Cuauhtemoc prisoner and killed him. Then, they conquered the Aztec civilization.
• recently, archaeologists were unable to explore the Aztecs' ceremonial center—the area off Mexico City's zócalo plaza where the Aztecs buried their rulers.
• Why not?
• Spanish built their own city on top of the center.
• Since the Spanish colonial structures are too historically valuable to remove for excavations, archaeologists have never found a tomb of an Aztec ruler.
• 1985, however, an earthquake damaged one of those colonial buildings.
• Officials had to tear down the building, paving the way for archaeological excavations.
• no Aztec royal tomb has ever been found before, archaeologists are digging into the unknown.
• Using ground-penetrating radar, they located the tomb and determined that it has up to four chambers.
• Archaeologists have also located what appears to be a six-foot-by-six-foot entryway into the tomb, about 15 feet below ground.
• passage is filled with water, rocks, and mud; therefore, workers must dig delicately while suspended from slings.
• archaeologists are using pumps to keep the water level down.
• Although the water added complications to the project, it was probably a blessing in the long run. Why?
• constant temperature of the water in the chambers, together with the lack of oxygen, discourages decompositiondecomposition of materials like wood and bone.
• In August, archaeologists said that they hoped to enter the inner chambers of the tomb by the fall.
• They believe that the tomb is an extremely important one—that of the Aztec ruler Ahuizotl (ah-WEE-zoh-tuhl).
• Ahuizotl was an empire-builder who extended the Aztecs' reach as far as Guatemala.
• He was the last of the Aztec emperors to complete his reign before the arrival of the Spanish.
• several clues suggesting this.
• Why do scientists believe that the tomb belongs to Ahuizotl?
• example, the site lies directly below a huge, recently discovered stone monolithmonolith.
• monolith is carved with a representation of Tlaltecuhtli (tlahl-tay-KOO-tlee), the Aztec god of the earth.
• the claw of Tlaltecuhtli's right foot, there is a rabbit and 10 dots.
• "This would be quite an important find for Aztec archaeology," said Michael Smith, an archaeologist who is not connected to the dig. "It would be tremendously important because it would be direct information about kingship, burial, and the [Aztec] empire that is difficult to come by otherwise."
• "[Ahuizotl] must have been buried with solemn ceremony and rich offerings, like vases, ornaments, . . . and certainly some objects he personally used," said Luis Alberto Martos. Martos is director of archaeological studies at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.
• Aztecs were the most powerful society of their time before the arrival of the Spaniards,"

30 more annotations...