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Aztecs.pdf
Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 1
THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS
Submitted by
Jane Doe
El Centro College
HIST 1301, Section 55002, Summer 2016
Total Word Count: 1650
Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 2
The term “Aztec” refers to the American Indian empire that dominated central Mexico
(also known as Mesoamerica) when Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of the Yucatán
peninsula in 1519. Whenever we hear the term “Aztec” many people usually imagine a culture
that was extremely violent and militaristic, a culture full of human sacrifice and cannibalism. The
idea of the Aztecs as cannibals, savages, and generally uncivilized peoples has its origins with
the conquest of the Aztecs by Cortés and Spanish colonists in the sixteenth century, who used
such allegations as justifications for conquest and colonization. But a careful examination of
Aztec history and society reveals another side to their civilization. Their accomplishments in
mathematics, together with their techniques for measuring time and surveying land use, as well
as their interest in astrology, enriches our understanding of Aztec society. They were far more
sophisticated than a simple “civilized/uncivilized” binary opposite, even by modern standards.
Thus, the central tenet of this essay is that the Aztecs were more than barbarians and in fact were
quite sophisticated, especially in the areas of mathematics, their techniques for measuring time
and surveying land use, and because of their interest in astrology (Cartwright, 2014,
http://www.ancient.eu/Aztec_Civilization/; Bernal, 1963, pp 10-11).
The Aztecs, according to their own legends, pinpoint their origin to the place called
“Aztlan” which is located in northern Mexico or the modern-day American Southwest. Many of
their own origin stories reference supernatural realms and locations that anthropologist are still
trying to locate in geographic terms. In the twelfth century CE before they rose to dominance in
central Mexico, the Aztecs lived on the margins of civilized Mesoamerica (central Mexico). By
the thirteenth century the Aztecs had embarked on a period of wandering and settled in the
Valley of Mexico. Later on, they continually fought with the small city-states which also resulted
in shifting alliances. Afterwards, they took refuge on small islands in Lake Texcoco in the Valley
Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 3
of Mexico. In 1325 they founded the town of Tenochtitlán (modern-day Mexico City). The story
of how the Aztec empire rose to dominance in the Valley of Mexico during the 1300s is filled
with intrigue, violence, and bloodshed (Knight, 2002, pp 132-134; Bernal, 1963, pp 12-15).
After the fall of the Toltec empire, which dominated the Valley of Mexico, the region’s
politics were overshadowed by the external neighboring powers and their successor states. “By
the thirteenth century, the Chichimec [Aztec] migrants were establishing new territories in the
valley.” The dominant power in the Valley was the Tepanecas based out of the city-state of
Azcapotzalco. In their migration the Aztecs had gradually transitioned from being nomadic
hunters and gathers to learning how to farm corn. Throughout their journey south to the Valley
of Mexico, which they had taken via Coatepec and Tula, they periodically paused to farm. They
also became familiar with the rudiments of Mesoamerican civilization such as military politics
and human sacrifice. Additionally, during their journey south the Aztecs had developed a strong
belief in a Toltec deity named Huitzilopochtli, who eventually became the top-ranking deity in
their pantheon (Knight, 2002, pp 132-134; Bernal, 1963, pp 16-18).
When the Aztecs were newly arrived in the Valley of Mexico, they occupied a low
position in regional politics and prestige. As their number increased, they eventually established
themselves through military skill. Later on, in 1319, they were attacked by the Tepanecas
because the Tepanecas were engaged in the struggle to dominate the valley and they disdained
outsiders. As a result the Aztecs moved to the rocky, snake infested island of Tizzapan on Lake
Texcoco (where today stands the central campus of UNAM, Mexico’s national university
system). On the island the Aztecs survived by eating snakes. Little by little the Aztecs on
Tizzapan began building homes, temples, and other structures out of rocks and soil. They also
Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 4
began serving as mercenaries in the wars between city-states in the Valley (Knight, 2002, pp
137-138).
One colorful story related by the Aztecs tells how their war-like nature set them apart
from the other, agricultural groups inhabiting the Valley. After helping the city-state of Culhucan
win several important victories, the Culhua ruler named Achitometl offered his beautiful
daughter to the Aztecs as a marriage gift. The Aztecs priests flayed her and used her skin to
drape an Aztec priest. This resulted in a war between the two groups. According to the Aztecs,
Huitzilopochtli spoke to the Aztec priests in visions and dreams, advising, “Go from here calmly
and cautiously.” Again, they resumed their travels. In another part of the Valley their priests had
another vision. Here, they beheld Huitzilopochtili’s prophecy signaling the place to build a
permanent settlement: an eagle perched on a cactus, devouring a snake. On this spot the Aztecs
began building Tenochtitlan, which would became a city on the lake and later the Aztec capital
and location of Aztec advances in mathematics, time measurement, and religion (Knight, 2002,
pp 137-139; Bernal, 1963 pp 18-20).
The mathematical accomplishment of the Aztecs is concerned with their number system
and their notation of area. Unlike today’s mathematics, “they followed a vigesimal system.” In
that system, their counting was based on the units of twenty, and they also used subsets of units
of five. We can also observe this in the Nahuatl number where the word for “six” actually means
“five plus one.” Additionally, to refer to large number such as 400 (20x20), they called it tzontli
which means hair or growth of garden herbs. Likewise, for 8000 (20x20x20), they referred it as
xiquipilli or bag of cocao beans. Furthermore, their vigesimal system used number words for
numbers. For example, One-Ce, Two-Ome, Three-Ei or Yei, Four- Macuilli and so forth.
Additionally, “the Aztec’s notation system was different than the present [western] notation
Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 5
system.” We write the numbers in the horizontal fashion whereas the Aztecs wrote in the vertical
fashion. The value of that symbol was determined by the location of the number in that vertical
stack or fashion (Van Tuerenhout, 2005, pp 225-226).
An Aztec manuscript titled the Matrícula de Tributos in Spanish (the counting of tribute),
which details the taxes and other tribute collected from neighboring city-states in the sixteenth
century, provides examples of this different notation system. For example, a dot represented one,
a representation of flag represented ‘twenty’, and a rough symbol of feather represented ‘400’
and so forth. The Matrícula de Tributos also shows symbol used to refer to area. They used to
draw picture of mantle to represent area. Sometimes, they also added another set of symbol to it
which represented the size of mantle. For example, they put two finger on the top to signal that
the size of mantle requested is twice. Those fingers represented two brazas which was a
measurement of distance and its metric equivalence is still unknown. Two colonial-era
documents (i.e., written after 1519), the Codíce de Santa María Asunción and the Codex
Vergara, relate that “the standard unit of measurement was called Quahuitl which is
approximately equivalent to 2.5m.” They used dots and the lines to represent the width and
length of the fields in Quahuitl. A dot was considered to be valued as “20” and a line was
considered “1.” Archeologists and modern scholars, working with the notion of Quahuitl, have
found that the Aztecs used a quantity similar to our hectare (Van Tuerenhout, 2005, pp 226-227).
The Aztecs, who relied on the complex system of measurement to calculate celestial data,
also used these data to structure their daily lives. As a result they had a sophisticated calendar
system. The Aztec calendar consists of two cycles. One cycle consisted of 260 days which they
called Tonalpohualli. The other consisted of 365 days and was called Xihuitl. The term
Tonalpohualli meant “counting of the days.” This calendar was comprised of 260 days obtained
Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 6
by combining 13-day names with 20-day signs. Some of the examples of the 20-day signs in this
calendar were Cipactli (alligator), Ehecatl (Wind), Calli (House), Cuetzapalin (Lizard) and so
forth. The major purpose of the Tonalpohualli calendar was to organize festivals for their patron
deities. Other Mesoamerican civilization used aspects of the Tonalpohualli calendar. Unlike the
Tonalpohualli calendar, the “Xihuitl consisted of 365 days.” It was made up of 18 units, and each
unit contained 20 days in them. The Aztecs added extra 5 days to complete 365 days, and those
five days were called as nemontemi. In our calendar, we refer to specific years by assigning
numbers to them. However, the Aztecs identified their calendar years by the day name on which
they began. The months were named in the honor of gods and the each month were associated
with belief system such as when to start war, when to sow crops, when to harvest them and so
forth. The examples of Aztec months are Atlcahualo (sacrifice of children for rain),
Tlacaxipeualitzili (slaves and war captives were sacrificed), Tozoztontli (children were
sacrificed), Huei Tozoztli (self-sacrifice to impress goddess of corn) and so forth (Van
Tuerenhout, 2005, pp 227-228).
Moreover, there was one more calendar known as Xiuhmolpilli, which combined the
previous two calendars and consisted of a 52-year period. “This calendar was the combination of
Tonalpohualli and Xihuitl, and was integrated to a much larger cycle of 52 years.” In this
calendar, the dates were identified by their signed codes. These signed codes were based on the
codes used in the previous shorter calendars. The combination codes were designed in such a
way that they repeated themselves after every 52 years. From this calendar, we can learn that the
Aztecs had planning and schedule for 52 years, similar to the planning based on 100-year periods
used in western societies (i.e., the century). The Aztecs believed that unless they celebrated the
passing of the 52 with great ceremony and pomp, creation would be placed in jeopardy. The
Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 7
Aztecs had a complex system of religious beliefs that combined celestial calculations with belief
in omens (Van Tuerenhout, 2005, p 229; Bernal, 1963, 25-26).
Though not scientific in their approach to it, the Aztecs were fascinated with astrology
and celestial phenomena. They had a complex understanding of events in the night sky. They
went to great lengths to interpret celestial phenomena and weave their understanding of it into
significant events affecting Aztec society. According Mexican scholar Leon Miguel-Portilla, in
the years leading up to the conquest of Mexico by Spaniards, “there were eight bad omens as
described in the original text of Nahuatl of Sahagún’s native informants.” Bernardino de
Sahagún was a Spanish priest who trained Aztec scribes to write in Spanish after the conquest.
Many of these scribes also wrote in Nahuatl. According to the Nahuatl texts, “the first bad omen
appeared in the sky ten years before the Spaniards first came to the valley.” The text mentions
that there was “flaming ears of corn” or fiery signals in the sky which seemed to bleed fire. In the
fourth omen fire streamed through the sky while the sun was still shining, flashing along the
horizon after sunset to where the sun rises. Though they did not understand these celestial events
the Aztecs linked inexplicable phenomena to important, historical events affecting their society.
This demonstrated the Aztecs’ interest in linking the various complicated components of the
everyday world they inhabited, before and after the Spanish conquest in the early sixteenth
century (Leon Portilla, 1992, pp 1-4; Bernal, 1963, pp125-126).
Considering the Aztecs traditional rule of human sacrifice, we can conclude that their
civilization had violent and “barbarous” aspects, according to our present standards. This
conclusion is supported by archaeologist Carla M. Sinopoli’s article, in which Sinopoli states
that the Aztec empire had a “vast number of human sacrifice in their culture.” Whenever we hear
the term “Aztec” many people usually imagine a culture that was extremely violent and
Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 8
militaristic, a culture full of human sacrifice and cannibalism. Instead of a strict
“civilized/uncivilized” dichotomy, however, we can appreciate their history and culture which
led to intellectual accomplishments in mathematics, techniques for measuring time and surveying
land use, and their interest in astrology. These areas demonstrate that the Aztecs were more than
barbarians or savages. Who today would argue that nations, such as the United States, China,
England, France, and Russia, are not sophisticated, simply because they have enormous military
potential? Together these countries have enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on earth, yet
few people would argue that as a result they are uncivilized nations. On the contrary most people
would argue these nations lead the world in technological and scientific accomplishments.
Similarly, it’s possible to argue that the Aztecs were not only barbarous and violent, according to
our standards. They also had many sophisticated intellectual accomplishments, even by our
standards (Sinopoli, 1994, pp 159-80).
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Running Head: THE BRILLIANT, BARBAROUS AZTECS 9
Bibliography
Primary Source:
Leon Portilla, Miguel (Ed.). (1992). The broken spears: the Aztec account of the conquest of
Mexico. Translated by Lysander Kemp. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Scholarly Book:
Bernal, Igancio. (1963). Mexico before Cortez: art, history, and legend.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
Knight, Alan. (2002). Mexico: from the beginning to the Spanish conquest. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Van Tuerenhout, Dirk R. The Aztecs: new perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Scholarly Journal Article:
Sinpoli, Carla M. (1994). The archaeology of empires. Annual review of anthropology, 23 (1),
159-180.
Encyclopedia Article:
Cartwright, Mark. (2014). Aztec civilization. Retrieved from the Ancient History Encyclopedia
website: http://www.ancient.eu/Aztec_Civilization/
