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Essays on sacrifice in aztec
Essays on sacrifice in aztec
Essays on sacrifice in aztec
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The letter that Cortes’ wrote described firsthand encounters of all of the fascinating things that he saw and experienced in the city of Tenochtitlan. Cortes’ description of what he encountered reflects as primary sources to the reader. Descriptions of how the city is set up with waterways and bridges as a form of protection from anyone getting inside. He explains how the markets are situated for buying/selling for everything that one could ever imagine, and how controversies are overseen by ten to twelve magistrates to ensure fair-trading is conducted as well as delinquents being punished. Secondary sources that Cortes’ had experienced were seen through the eyes of the people speaking about certain priest entering the chapels where idols were worshiped as well as human sacrifice rituals. …show more content…
He tells about trying to convert the people to his religious beliefs and practices while referencing their method of human sacrifices that were conducted.
These practices of human sacrifice had seized during his time spent there. The motives of Cortes’ when writing “the wonders of Tenochtitlan” and the Aztecs were for him to return to this majestic place taking the wealth they had for himself as well as his country. This was all in an effort to convince Charles V to give him the funding that he needed to take over the country for the benefit of Spain. There were characteristics of the Aztec religion as well as common practice that Cortes’ wish to
remove. He speaks about the many temples that are present and being situated in different districts as well as suburbs. He speaks about in one of the chapels containing idols where all of the people who reside here dress in black. Until they are removed to be married they are forbidden to have contact with women. Another temple that is described as surpassing all of the rest is where the nobles are buried consisting of a separate chapel within them each have their own idol for worship. He also describes a temple having three halls which contain principle idols and allow priest to enter, but not all of them. They also have the practice of human sacrifice being offered to idols as a means to keep them satisfied and appeased. Cortes’ advises that his God looks down on this behavior. Cortes’ removes idols from their temple and replaces it with images of his idol. In regards to the Aztecs and Moctezuma allowing him to remove the idols and replace them with his leads the reader to believe that he had succeeded in the transformation of religion.
The religion and culture of the Aztecs played a role in the way the way they thought and fought. They worshiped the war-god Huitzilopochtli. He was identified with the sun and was called "the Giver of life" and "the Preserver of Life" (xxxix). The religion carried some ridiculous rituals such as human sacrifice along with using magicians and wizards to cast spells. In war conditions, human sacrifice played a big role because the Aztecs would not fight to kill,...
... A few photos of Tenochtitlan and warriors headdresses, clubs and obsidian blades would increase the pleasure 10 fold. Also in places the author tends to divert to other Ameriindian cultures and use their ritual practices as examples. These comparisons can bring the ritual practices of a 500 year extant culture into modern day belief.
Spain, as one of the most powerful nations in the old world, had a great influence on many events in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Spanish also had an influence on many other empires/nations' fate. One of the empires that suffered a grave fate at the hands of the Spanish was the Aztec empire. The Aztec empire was not the oldest Mesoamerican empire and it was formed from an agreement between three city-states. The Aztec's class system had the emperor on top, then the priests, and everyone else below them. The priests were responsible for keeping the gods happy. The sacrifice of goods and people was a commonplace in the Aztec culture, and it was often the goods/people of other nations that were taken for sacrifices. As one can imagine,
To begin with, the Aztec's cruel tribute system allowed Cortes to act as a liberator. The process of human sacrifice was extremely common and was feared by the majority of the common people. The Aztecs as a nourishment for the Sun and all other gods needed human sacrifice. The Aztecs sacrificed between 10,000 and 50,000 victims per year. As the majority of those who were sacrificed were war captives who opposed the Aztecs, they obviously greatly feared the brutal tribute system. However not only war captives were sacrifices, common adults and children were also sacrificed at times. Cortes himself was disgusted at the thought of human sacrifice, this allowed him to gain Indian allies as well as gain respect among Mexican tribes that feared and opposed the Aztecs. The majority of the population feared the process therefore making Cortes, whom despised the process, an appealing alternative. Many followed Cortes as they shared the same views on the 'human sacrifice' topic.
One of the principle themes in the Aztec downfall was the immense greed of the Europeans. The principle goal of every major faction in Europe was to gain power and wealth it didn’t matter from what source. Everyone from popes and kings to the lowly soldier envisioned rivers of gold and fame. Ever since they had boats Europeans have been looking for lucrative trade routes and other ways to turn a profit. The ruling monarchs of these countries contributed a great deal to this. They saw vast profits from these ventures through taxes and the customary “ Royal Fifth” which was a fifth of all profits would go straight to the King and/or Queen. Also royalty or other nobility within the country personally funded a large majority of explorations. Trading and exploration companies just helped push the trend further and made the exploitation of newly discovered lands big business. While greed was defiantly a starting point for Cortez’s expedition, it was his greed while in Central Mexico that changed the tide of history. Cortez’s first encounters with the natives in Central...
What’s particularly ironic about the writing is his inability to separate himself from the Christian church, which he blasts for the cruel treatment which they inflict on the natives, but never considered a possible flaw in the belief system. In the “The Coast of Pearls, Paria, and the Island of Trinidad” he writes, “......the ruffian tyrants getting their share of the captives who will be house slaves, and when in this ‘repartimiento’ a tyrant gets an old person or an invalid, he says, ‘Why did you give me this one?.......” the idea of the “repartimiento” was to distribute indian slaves and forcingly convert them to Christianity, de las Casas saw the wrongness of this system but would later go on to suggest that the indian slaves be replaced with African slaves. He would later regret that suggestion but it shows that Christianity was a tool for royal decrees and that he was still intrigued with converting others into Christianity.
Bowden’s idea of why this happened focused mainly on the old misunderstood traditions of the tribes living in Mexico. He shows how the friars, churches and icons took the blunt of the revolts force. Bowden points out the religious differences and similarities be...
The perspective of another society is always subjective, especially when two completely different cultures interact for the first time. In Bernal Diaz del Castillo’s The History of the Conquest of New Spain, the first-hand account illustrates a barbaric and pagan society where sacrifices are pervasive in everyday life. However, David Carrasco’s essays titled “The Exaggeration of Human Sacrifice” and “Human Sacrifice / Debt Payments from the Aztec Point of View” shed a significant amount of insight into the religious roles that human sacrifice played in Aztec society, rather than the cruel and barbaric connotations which Daz heavily implied. Based on the readings of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Carrasco’s essays offered an outside perspective into the ritualistic practices of human sacrifice and in doing so, introduced the concept of nextlaoalli as well as the commonality of the ritual human sacrifice in Aztec society.
A major element of Aztec life was religion, as often is in the case in ancient civilizations. The Aztecs were a polytheistic people, and they often made use of human sacrifice to please their gods. Diaz often makes reference to the blood-stained walls of the Aztec temples in his account of the conquest. In reference to the success of Cortes and his soldiers, an anci...
Castillo says that they "stood so high that from it [the temple] one could see over everything very well, and we saw the three causeways which led into Mexico" (World History: Castillo, 252). Cortés is observing the future and destiny that awaits him and the great city of Mexico.
To get the sacrifices the Aztec went to war with other tribes in Mexico to get these human sacrifices (Conrad & Demmest 47-49) . With each conquest more sacrifices and more land was added to the Aztec kingdom. The Aztec were a strong civilization who were familiar with organized large scale war, had specialized war chiefs, and a well organized system of territorial levy in which large armies could be amassed in a short time (Age of Reconnaissance 124-125). They may have been well organized for war, but they were not prepared for internal changes in there civilization. When expansion was no longer an option there system crumbled.
The Aztec civilization was a very complex society that was feared and known well for their various gory sacrifices done to please their many gods in their polytheistic religion. The much feared civilization began by the exile of one of the two Toltec leaders, which lead to the decline of the Toltec state that was later replaced by Mexica, or the Aztecs. According to the Aztecs, the land chosen to build their main city was chosen by the portrayal of an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. Through military might, the Aztecs managed to become the most powerful civilization in the mid-fourteenth century. They maintained their power through military might and the fear they caused other civilizations because of the human sacrifices they performed on their captured victims. In the mid-fourteenth century, the Aztecs used the method of human sacrifices to uphold fear in their neighbors by using the method year round to please the gods and ensure their survival.
Carrasco shows that sacrificing was key to the Mesoamericans. Their entire belief is through world renewing, world making, and world centering. Both Aztecs and Mayans revolved their society around structures that they thought was centered around the universe. Each one believed that their society revolved around the universe. Sacrifices such as autosacrifice, removing the heart while the person was still alive was a daily ritual with the Aztecs, and Mayans. The purpose for public sacrificing was to feed the gods and make the them happy with their people. The type of people sacrificed was the beautiful and the captured warriors after a war. The beautiful was sacrificed because the gods didn't give any distinct quality to be remembered for such as a disfigured face.
The templo mayor, sits in the of a square ceremonial precinct of the four-quarter system, the center of the city of Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan was the capital city for the Aztecs. The Templo’s represented the access through the city as well as to the celestial and under world. The significance of its twin temples dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the war god, Tlaloc, the rain god, and the sculpture of the moon goddess, Coyolxauhqui goes with a story which the Aztecs would hold rituals to show the importance of it.
Tenochtitlan was the capital city of the Mexican civilization established around 1325. The Aztecs, who inhabited Tenochtitlan, picked the site based on an ancient prophecy that said the wandering tribes of the Aztecs would find the destined site for a great city by spotting an eagle eating a snake while perched on a cactus. The Aztecs saw this sight on what was then a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco. This eagle can be seen on Mexico's coat of arms and on the Mexican flag today. They built their city using chinampas , or floating gardens, used for agriculture and to dry and expand the island. These chinampas were linked with wooden bridges, connecting both platforms used for residential purposes as well as platforms for the maize and other crops they grew to the inner island as well as to the outer terrain. Tenochtitlan covered an estimated 8 to 13.5 km2 (3.1 to 5.2 sq mi), situated on the western side of the shallow Lake Texcoco.