The Aztecs Essay Research Paper An example — страница 2

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government consisted of principally of the leadership of the royal house and the vast bureaucracy backed by it. The Uey-Tlatoani dealed mainly with external affairs of the Aztec empire such as starting wars and making peace treaties. Also there was a parallel ruler, another member of the royal lineage, known as the Cihuacoatl. He dealt mainly with the internal affairs of Tenochtitlan such as the water system and the justice system. The bureaucracy was set into place by the nobles and performed the same function that civil servants perform today. (Oliphant, Atlas of the Ancient World, 195.) To maintain the empire the Aztec government made the territories it conquered tribute twice yearly. Taxes were collected from the territories also and careful accounts were kept of what

territories had to pay. The heavy taxation and forced tribute disgruntled many territories. When Hernan Cortes arrived in the early 1500’s they were happy to help him as spies and informants. (Blacker, Cortez and The Aztec Conquest, 143.) Aztec religion was based on the worship of many gods, but the most important was the sun god. Aztec preists were not allowed to bathe or wash ever during thier time as a priest. This resulted in the priests becoming encrusted with blood and excretements over time. The Great Pyramid was built as a sacrificeing platform to the gods. At the very top was a altar and a statue of the sun god, which had a hollow body in which the preists placed there victims heart. (Oliphant, Atlas of the Ancient World, Pg 197.) Every year Tenochtitlan launched a

“Flowery War,” in which mock battle’s would take place for the sole purpose of taking prisoners. Usually the wars were small between provinces in the empire but one year a large war with an overwhelming defeat by the province of Tenochtitlan took place and it is estimated that between 10 and 80 THOUSAND prisoners were taken. (Jenning’s, Aztec, Pg 436.) After a “Flowery War,” prisoners were marched back to a provinces capital and put to a “Flowery Death.” That is, being sacrificed to the gods. In theds, but the most important was the sun god. Aztec preists were not allowed to bathe or wash ever during thier time as a priest. This resulted in the priests becoming encrusted with blood and excretements over time. The Great Pyramid was built as a sacrificeing platform

to the gods. At the very top was a altar and a statue of the sun god, which had a hollow body in which the preists placed there victims heart. (Oliphant, Atlas of the Ancient World, Pg 197.) Every year Tenochtitlan launched a “Flowery War,” in which mock battle’s would take place for the sole purpose of taking prisoners. Usually the wars were small between provinces in the empire but one year a large war with an overwhelming defeat by the province of Tenochtitlan took place and it is estimated that between 10 and 80 THOUSAND prisoners were taken. (Jenning’s, Aztec, Pg 436.) After a “Flowery War,” prisoners were marched back to a provinces capital and put to a “Flowery Death.” That is, being sacrificed to the gods. In the year that Tenochtitlan took all those

prisoners it took the preists one full week to put to death all the prisoners without stopping. It is said that the area around The great pyramid “turned into a lake of blood and the piles of bodies were taller then the building’s.” (Jenning’s, Aztec, Pg 328.) The center of the Aztec empire is the City of Tenochtitlan, an island on the five lakes in the Mexican valley. The Mixteca, the Aztecs ancestors, believed in a prophecy that there great capital and the future center of the world was to be established on a swampy island, were there would be an eagle seated on a prickly-pair cactus holding a serpent in it’s beak. The Mixteca acted as mercenaries for one power or another until they fulfilled the prophecy and settled on what would become “the center of the one

world.” The Mixteca then changed there name to the Aztec’s and started conquering other powers around the great lake, which is actually divided into six separate lakes. After conquering the other powers it rewrote there texts making the Aztecs glorified and seem as if they had always been the dominant power in the area.(Coe, Atlas of Ancient America, Pg 130.) The Aztec empire relied heavily on the six lakes. The lakes provided food by irrigating the floating crops and by the fish and fowl that the hunters could collect, provided transportation for heavy loads and people, and alsofortified Tenochtitlan from invaders. The mountains surrounding the valley provided clean drinking water, snow for merchants to sell in the city, and also made another barrier for invaders. The next