Aztlan Art
View some of our unique Azteca theme murals art.
Azteca Autumn
View the painting of this beautiful modern day Azteca princess.
Pancho Villa
Learn about the life and death of one of histories most rebellious Generals.
Emiliano Zapata
Find out how the Mexican revolutionary Zapata fought in guerrilla actions during and after the Mexican Revolution.
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Azteca Poetry
Aztec Poems
The earth shakes: the Mexica [Aztec] begins his song:
He makes the Eagles and Ocelots dance with him!
Come to see the Huexotzinca:
On the dais of the Eagle he shouts out,
Loudly cries the Mexica.
The battlefield is the place: where one toasts the divine liquor in war,
where are stained red the divine eagles,
where the tigers howl,
where all kinds of precious stones rain from ornaments,
where wave headdresses rich with fine plumes,
where princes are smashed to bits.
There is nothing like death in war,
nothing like the flowery death
so precious to Him who gives life:
far off I see it: my heart yearns for it!
And they called it Teotihulcan
because it was the place
where the lords were buried.
Thus they said:
'When we die,
truly we die not,
because we will live, we will rise,
we will continue living, we will awaken
This will make us happy.'
Thus the dead one was directed,
when he died:
'Awaken, already the sky is rosy,
already dawn has come,
already sing the flame-coloured guans,
the fire-coloured swallows,
already the butterflies fly.'
Thus the old ones said
that who has died has become a god,
they said: 'He has been made a god there,
meaning 'He has died.'
Even jade is shattered,
Even gold is crushed,
Even quetzal plume are torn . . .
One does not live forever on this earth:
We endure only for an instant!
Will flowers be carried to the Kingdom of Death:
Is it true that we are going, we are going?
Where are we going, ay, where are we going?
Will we be dead there or will we live yet?
Does one exist again?
Perhaps we will live a second time?
Thy heart knows:
Just once do we live!.
Like a quetzal plume, a fragrant flower,
friendship sparkles:
like heron plumes, it weaves itself into finery.
Our song is a bird calling out like a jingle:
how beautiful you make it sound!
Here, among flowers that enclose us,
among flowery boughs you are singing.
All the earth is a grave and nothing escapes it, nothing is so perfect
that it does not descend to its tomb. Rivers, rivulets, fountains and
waters flow, but never return to their joyful beginnings; anxiously
they hasten on the vast realms of the rain god. As they widen their
banks, they also fashion the sad urn of their burial.
Filled are the bowels of the earth with pestilential dust once flesh and bone,
once animate bodies of man who sat upon thrones, decided cases, presided in
council, commanded armies, conquered provinces, possessed treasure, destroyed
temples, exulted in their pride, majesty, fortune, praise and power. Vanished
are these glories, just as the fearful smoke vanishes that belches forth from
the infernal fires of Popocatepetl. Nothing recalls them but the written page.
HUNGRY-COYOTE (NEZAHUALCOYOTL)
King of Texcoco (1431-72)
NOMBRES EN NAHUATL Y MAYA
Indigenous Names
TONALNA Mother of Light MADRE DE LA LUZ F
HIUHTONAL Precious Light LUZ PRECIOSA F
YOLTZIN Small Heart PEQUEÑO CORAZÒN
IZEL Unique, One of a kind UNICO(A)
ZELTZIN Delicate Delicada
XOCHIYOTL Heart of Gentile Flower CORAZON DE LA GENTIL FLOR
IXCATZIN Cotton-Like COMO ALGODON
CITLALMINA Comet Tail FLECHAS DE LAS ESTRELLAS (METEORO)
TLANEXTLI Brillance, Radiance, Splendidness BRILLO, RADIANTE, ESPLENDOR
NOXOCHICOZTLI Necklace of flowers COLLAR DE FLORES
NELLI Truth VERDAD
YOLIHUANI Source of Life Fuente de Vida
TLAZOHTLALONI Man HOMBRE, FORMA MASCULINA
TEOXIHUITL Turquoise, Beautiful, Divine TURQUEZA, PRESIOSO(A) DIVINO
XICOHTENCATL (ANGERED BUMBLEBEE) Jicote Enfurecido
UEMAN VENERABLE TIEMPO
TLACAELEL Diligent Person PERSONA DILIGENTE
EHECATL Wind Serpent SERPIENTE DE VIENTO
TLANEXTIC Western Light LUZ PONIENTE
TONAHUAC Single Posessor of Light UNICO DE LA LUZ POSESIBA
UETZCAYOTL Essence of Light LA ESCENCIA DE LA LUZ
ZIPACTONAL Peaceful Light LUZ HARMONICA
MOYOLEHUANI In Love ENAMORADO(a)
XIHUITL Comet COMETA
XOCHICOTZIN Small Flower Wreath PEQUEÑO COLLAR DE FLORES
TEPILTZIN Priviledged Child HIJO PRIBILEGIADO
TLAZOHTZIN Loved One QUIEN ES AMADO
XOCHIQUETZAL Most Beautiful Flower/Feather LA MAS PRESCIOSA FLOR, PLUMAJE DE FLOR
YOLOXOCHITL Flower of the Heart FLOR DEL CORAZON
HUITZILIHUITL Feather from Hungry Bird PLUMA DE AVE HAMBRIENTA
YOLYAMANITZIN Considerate PERSONA CONS
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Malinche
I am helping Cortez destroy my Land..
kill and torture my people.
But if I do not help him my land will destroy Cortez.
I had to choose.
I give my life to Cortez because of the locket
He bears about his throat and knows nothing about .
Later, out of his scaled armor will come Quetzalcoatl.
Later I shall be justified.
But who knows how much later.
Azteca Heritage Tradition Lives on Today
The Aztec Empire was peopled by a group that was once nomadic, the Mexicas. Their chroniclers told them that after their long journey from Aztlán, they found themselves to be outcasts, until they found the sign sent to them by their god Huitzilopochtli, and began to build their city. And so the Mexica peoples continued, and the Aztec Empire began.
The city of Tenochitlan was soon to become one of the largest cities in the world. The power of the Mexica peoples became more consolidated, and they began to form alliances. Their military power grew as well, and they began to conquer peoples in the surrounding areas.
At the height of its power, the Aztec Empire was organized and strong, but ruled with fear. In 1519, a clash of cultures was to take place, unlike anything before it. Although there was much tragedy in both the Spanish and Aztec empires before this, the meeting of the two civilizations was disastrous. In a few short years, the culture and structure of one of histories greatest empires would have virtually vanished.
Did You Know....
It was against the law to be drunk in public in the Aztec empire, unless you were over 70 years old!
Each Aztec home had a steam bath!
It is said that the major Aztec weapon could chop off the head of a horse with one blow!
Read on for much more ancient Aztec history!
Ancient Azteca weapon
Each ancient Aztec weapon was unique, used for a specific purpose - Aztec warfare was a highly organized, complex affair, steeped in ritual and tradition. We know quite a bit about some of the weapons that were used by the Aztecs, though it appears much of the history has been lost.
One finds a repetition of the most important weapons in historical sources, while other weapons receive minimal mention in only a few scattered documents. This suggests that other, less commonly known arms may be forgotten.
So we'll look at the ones that we do know a little about, and briefly discuss each ancient Aztec weapon.
Maquahuitl
Perhaps the best known ancient Aztec weapon is the maquahuitl (macahuitl). This is sometimes compared to the sword, and it was a powerful, close contact weapon. Like the European sword, they came in two varieties - one handed and two handed. Made from wood (usually oak), they were about 3-4" wide and 3-4' long. The two handed versions might be slightly wider and as tall as a person. Embedded in the edges was obsidian (volcanic stone) or flint.
The maquahuitls were incredibly strong, and the Spanish claimed they could chop the head off a horse with one blow. They were sharp and the Aztecs knew how to use them. They could not thrust like a sword, and so they lent themselves to a different type of warfare.
The picture of a maquahuitl is from The Book of the Sword by Richard Burton. Most likely the maquahuitl usually had simpler grips.
Clubs
The maquahuitl could be used as a club, but other types of clubs were used. The cuauhololli was a mace made of wood with a ball at the end. It could be used to smash and crush. Various other types of clubs were commonly used, sometimes just made of wood, other times with embedded stone as the maquahuitl.
Spears and Lances
Another common ancient Aztec weapon was the spear. They were extremely sharp, and sometimes over 7 feet long. They didn't have a small point as many spears you may be familiar with, but a blade a foot wide made of smaller stone blades. Theses spears were known to pierce the Spanish armour, and were sharp enough that the warriors could use them to shave. They are called tepoztopilli. Spears were used in Mexico long before the Aztec empire.
Atlatis
The atlatl was a spear throwing device, for longer distance combat. This ancient aztec weapon is described on The World Atlatl Association website:
An atlatl is essentially a stick with a handle on one end and a hook or socket that engages a light spear or "dart" on the other. The flipping motion of the atlatl propels a light spear much faster and farther than it could be thrown by hand alone.
As you can see, the atlatl was used in other parts of the world and is still used today. The Aztec artists often drew the gods with atlatls in their hands. Darts were used made from oak, single pointed with obsidian, flint, or even copper or bone. The propelled darts tended to be more powerful than arrows.
Atlatls often had a symbolic significance, and some were made with great artistry. One was given to Hernan Cortes by Motecuhzoma II.
Bows and Arrows
Bows, known as tlahuitolli, were common as well. The bows were 5 feet long, and the arrows (yaomime) were pointed with flint, bone or obsidian, and kept in a quiver (mixiquipilli). As with all their weapons, the Aztecs were very skilled in using the bow and arrow. It is believed that the arrows could fly 450 feet or more.
Slings
Another devastating ancient Aztec weapon, the sling was made with fibers from the maguey plant (latin agave americana). The slings (tematlatl) were used to send stones flying toward the enemy. They were thrown so powerfully and accurately, that they could do significant damage to a soldier in full metal armour.
The Aztec warrior didn't just pick up stones on the battlefield - they would be prepared ahead of time, carefully shaped. It is believed that the stones could be thrown farther than the arrows could be shot - perhaps over 650 feet.
The Azteca Sunstone .
The amazing Azteca calendar sunstone is a thirteen-and-a-half feet and weighs twenty-five tons, a visual representation of the Mexica creation myth with an image of the Mesoamerican conception of cyclical time and space.
It provides an image of the Mesoamerican view of the equivalence of space and time in its depiction of the four suns surrounding the Fifth sun at the center, and in this way can be considered a calendar that represents larger time spans, the world ages or eras.
The face portrayed at the center of the stone is generally interpreted as the Mexica sun god, Tonatiuh, symbolizing the Fifth Sun, the sun of Motion (4-Movement, or Nahui-Ollin). The four quadrants spaced around the central figure represent the preceding four suns, or eras, and each contains a representation of the name of the particular era derived from the sign of its last day, a name that indicates as well the way of its destruction. The first, on the upper right, designates the first Sun, 4-Jaguar, followed in counterclockwise order by the second Sun, 4-Wind; the third sun, 4-Rain; and the fourth sun, 4-Water.
Palenque
Palenque is in the South of the country towards the areas of Chiapas and Yucatán, in medium of the tropical forest, and extends on 20 km². Palenque was one of the ceremonial centers most significantof the first Maya empire. The site has existed for several front-JC centuries but he knew his apogee only towards 8th or 9th century. This one was discovered by the Westerners in 18th century. The temple of the Inscriptions is known and preserved best more of Palenque. It counts 9 stages with more than 70 aliasings. At the interior is there a sarcophagus of 3 meters out of 2,10 meters which contained a significant character (undoubtedly a priest or alarge head) surrounded by jewels of jade and a death mask in jadeplates.
Moctezuma Xocoytl 2
1480-1520
Azteca Emperor
Moctezuma Xocoytl is the most well known emperor in the history of the Aztecs. He was also the last true emperor the Aztec empire would ever know, for it was during his reign that Cortez came to conquer Mexico. So how was it that such a great emperor and his awesome empire was conquered by a force of less than one thousand when the empire’s capital city alone numbered around three hundred thousand? The Aztec’s down fall was due to one thing alone. That thing was the Aztec’s false religion that governed every part of their lives and the superstition that Moctezuma held due to this false religion.
Moctezuma II, also know as Moctezuma Xocoytl (Xocoytl simply meaning the younger), was born the youngest son of the Emperor Axacayatl who ruled from 1469 until his death in 1481, one year after Moctezuma’s birth. The Imperial line of the Aztecs was not hereditary. A council of elders upon the death of the Emperor simply chose a young man from a noble family to be the next ruler. So Axacayatl was succeeded by a ruthless and bloodthirsty emperor named Ahuitzol, who ruled from 1481 to 1502. Upon his death, Moctezuma II was chosen. At the time, he was in his early twenties and student at the temple. After he was placed on the throne, he immediately started showing that he was more of a “take charge” ruler and different than his successor. While he did personally lead his armies into 43 military victories, he also made a lot of economic changes and attempted to help his people. He built a double aqueduct and several temples. He would also go out in the city in disguise to discover if his latest edict was being carried out and offer bribes to the city judges to discover if they were corrupt in an attempt to better the political and legal system.
Not much is known about his personal life, his likes and dislikes and whether or not he had a wife and a lot of children. Really all that is known is that he loved chocolate and that his daughter Isabella, the one child that is known of, fell heir to what was left of his vast fortune and wealth after the Spanish took over. Since Moctezuma was a temple student in the early years of his life before he became the Emperor, he knew much about his religion and its gods, which caused him to be very superstitious when Cortez came. An Aztec legend was that one of the Great Quetzalcoatl would return as a bearded white man. Also, the Spanish sailed in from the east, which was supposedly the direction that the god had sailed off to. Knowing all this had Moctezuma believing that Cortez was a god to be feared.
When Cortez first arrived in 1519, Moctezuma thought he was the god Quetzalcoatl. He believed that because of the fact that Cortez and his arrival concurred with Aztec legends about the god. Also, when Moctezuma asked after these strange visitors, he was told that their weapons spat lightning and thunder and that some of them had two heads, six legs, and one body (the Aztecs having never seen horses before, let alone men riding on them). He was superstitious and feared what the gods would do or what they might require if something displeased them. After all, the gods were horrible and ruthless, demanding human hearts just to keep their hunger appeased. At first, Moctezuma tried to bribe them into leaving by sending gold and many other gifts. Then, when Cortez burned all the ships except the one that was to send the messages back to the King and advanced toward the city, he managed, by those actions, to further convince Moctezuma that he was a god. Surely only a god could be so bold and fearless.
Moctezuma continued trying to bribe him by sending even more gold and gifts, this time to stay away from the city, right up until Cortez and his men had reached the city gates. Still believing that these men were gods, Moctezuma allowed and even welcomed them into the city where he even gave them flowers from his own private garden, one of the greatest honors of that time, and gave them his father’s own house to stay in. He continued to fear them, and invited Cortez and a select few of his men to visit him at his palace where Cortez placed this once mighty emperor under arrest. Moctezuma spent the last few months of his life trying to please these gods. He did whatever they asked of him. He lavished gifts on them, played games with them in his gardens, he served them, had the temples cleaned of any traces of the sacrifices and had statues of the Virgin Mary erected instead of the altars. He converted to Christianity and swore allegiance to King Charles V in his efforts to please. By 1520, his gods had turned against him and his people hated and despised the weakling this once mighty man had become. They despised him for humbling himself before the invading creatures. Moctezuma II was killed by stones his own people threw as he tried to calm their riot.
After "El noche triste" when Cortez fled the city in a bloody retreat, the Aztec warriors who had once been trained to maime and capture alive victims for sacrifice and cannibalization, now forced Spainish captives to teach them how to use the crude guns against Cortez. The Aztec empire, culture, and people died a few months after Moctezuma had died. Their false religion had caused them to fear mere mortal man and be destroyed by the surrounding tribes they had long brutalized.
The Aztec’s false religion caused the downfall of what could have been thought of as one of the strongest empires on the face of the earth at that time. There are not even many archeological sites left because of the thoroughness of the destruction. The hand of God is as eveident today as it was then to the Spanish. Destruction through small pox resulted because Aztec faith was placed in false gods instead of the one true God. Moctezuma served and feared gods that had been created by his priests. Their religion was Moctezuma Xocoytl’s and the Aztec empires downfall.