Should Historians Emphasize Human Sacrifice?

244 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Aztec importance of religion

Historians should emphasize human sacrifice. They should emphasize human sacrifice
because of these three reasons spiritual connection, growth of the empire, and the scale of
usage. They mostly sacrificed to honor their gods. The Aztecs were polytheistic and nature
based which means they believed and worshipped in more than one gods and their gods were
based on nature things."

It was human sacrifice that led to the Aztec expanding their empire. There is a connection
between human sacrifice and the growth of the empire, because according to document A it
says that the Aztecs would stage flower wars in order to get sacrificial victims. Another reason
why historians should emphasize human sacrifice is because according to Document D the scale
of usage

Show More
Related

  • Broken Spears by Miguel Leon-Portilla

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,...

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Aztec And Spanish Empires

    432 Words  | 1 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Hernan Cortes - Reasons for Success

    1842 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Victors and Vanquished

    1399 Words  | 3 Pages

    The history of the Western hemisphere is full of war and conquest. One of the most significant and defining of those conquests is the downfall of the Mexica/Aztec Empire. While there are many other events to choose from, this one stands out since it was one over one of the largest empires in Central America. It is also important to look at because of the immense cultural impact it had. The story of this takeover reads like a movie script, a small band of Spaniards single handedly takes down the most powerful empire in Central America. It was an epic battle, which unfortunately led to the destruction of a magnificent culture. As in any major historical event there are many underlying themes and storylines that come together to make the event happen. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec is no different. Three major themes are seen in this struggle. One of them is the incredible advantage that the Spaniards technology gave them over the Aztecs. A second major theme is the greed that fueled the conquests in the New World. The last major theme was the effect of the political divisions and rivalries within Montezuma’s Central American Kingdom. As this historical event progressed each one of these themes began to intertwine until they became an almost unstoppable force.

    Read More

  • The Role of Religion in "The Conquest of New Spain"

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Aztec Human Sacrifices

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    .... Even though human sacrifices were a common occurrence at the time, the Aztecs ritual and persistence to please the god made the civilization to be known as Central America’s bloodiest civilization in the fourteenth century.

    Read More

  • The Roman Empire and the East Germanic Tribes

    2164 Words  | 5 Pages

    The challenges of the barbarians to the Empire imposed a heavy burden on its finances and its military. The burden of raising the troops and the funds to defend the Empire was threatening to bring about its collapse.

    Read More

  • Why Did The Aztecs Develop A Warlike Culture

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    The first reason the Aztecs developed a warlike culture was due to social reasons. Documents C and D talk about

    Read More

  • How Did The Aztecs Sacrifice Their Lives

    123 Words  | 1 Pages

    From the perspective of the Aztecs, sacrificing their people’s lives and worshipping gods served a greater purpose. To elaborate, the Aztecs believed that the gods had sacrificed their own lives so that the humans could live, and naturally, the Aztecs felt in debt of the gods. This was the reason for the many sacrifices and offerings given towards gods. Another contributing factor was that the Aztec lived in constant fear that the world would come to an end. As a result, their religion’s key focus, was on keeping nature in balance, and to do so, they need to keep the gods happy. Therefore, the reason behind worshipping and sacrifices was so that the Aztec’s could live in harmony with nature and their gods.

    Read More

  • Inca And Aztec Similarities

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    They believed in human sacrificed to the gods, especially to chief god Huitzilppochtli. The Aztecs sacrificed hundreds of war prisoners and other people to the gods each year. The Aztecs also had a belief that the gods before destroyed the world. Human sacrifices were a way to try to appease the gods and prevent them from destroying the world. However, the Aztecs believed that the gods would eventually blow up the world, no matter how many people they will

    Read More

  • Sacrifice In The Aztecs

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    Each and every one of these sacrifices were completely brutal. They would take their own people and put them through a series of torturing techniques in order to please their gods. They sacrificed men and women of all ages. Many times they would sacrifice young children, because that is what the gods required. But could there be logic behind the horrible things that the Aztecs did to there now people? Although human sacrifice was extremely brutal, there could be some logic as to why it was done. Often when people thing of human sacrifice they think about death and that the victim is always killed in the end. However, many of the Aztec human sacrifices that were performed didn’t end in death. They were still very brutal to the victim, for example having one method of sacrifice was bloodletting. This was when an Aztec would use self harm in order to loose a generous amount of blood for a god, but not enough blood to die. Aztecs used human sacrifices because they wanted to appease their gods, they wanted to prevent the universe from crumbling, and they believed it was an

    Read More

  • Human Sacrifices In The Aztec Culture

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    Using human sacrifices was seen as “strictly ritualized process which gave the highest possible honor to the gods and was regarded as a necessity to ensure mankind’s continued prosperity. (Cartwright, Mark. "Aztec Sacrifice.")” To convince the Aztecs to avoid using human sacrifices, it must be done gradually and slowly. The Aztecs also used a non-fatal way of sacrifice that resulted in pieces of paper being drenched in blood then being burned. If the change in worship would change to that mainly for a bit, thousands wouldn’t sacrifice their lives, but they would still use a blood sacrifice. Gradually, the method of prayer rituals would be enforced under the understanding that there is a direct communication between those who are praying and the gods they are praying to. It would influence the Aztecs to use mainly verbal rituals, reducing the amount of blood shed in the name of religion. More people would live and there would still be the communication between the people and gods that the human sacrifice rituals held, but without

    Read More

  • Aztecs Cosmology

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Aztecs cosmology was a unique combination of mythology. Their beliefs about themselves and their purpose were not something they took lightly. “The mystic-militaristic approach characteristic of Aztec religion…felt that the purpose of man’s creation was to provide blood for the maintenance of the Sun’s life” (Leon-Portilla, Aztec Thought & Culture, 122). With this perspective of themselves, the Aztecs believed that human sacrifice was not only justified but necessary for the lives of civilization. Simply put, mankind was “food” for god.

    Read More

  • The Inca Empire

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...eople demonstrated how to effectively control an empire through many different elements such as society, religion, and the government.

    Read More

  • Aztec Beliefs

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    An ancient legend , of an eagle with a snake, landing on a lake, Texcoco was the name. They were a group, an ignorant troupe, created an empire on a swampy lake. The Aztecs are a fascinating civilization,They created a massive empire , but without the element of beliefs there would be no Aztecs . Because, that ancient legend says that the old land of the Aztecs know as Aztlan was suffering drought, so the gods sent them an eagle carrying a snake as an indicator of where to go. The eagle landed on a lake called Texcoco. They created a massive empire and called it tenochtitlan which means land of the eagle. They created new technology in their buildings, and they had an education system for every body. The first building they built was a temple. That is how important their gods were to them. The Aztecs had more than 100 Gods. There gods were based in their agricultural life, so for example they had a sun god, a rain god , and growth god. Including that they had gods that protected their rights as humans, for example they had a slave god that protected the slaves so if the slave owner abuses him he would get punished. They believed that sacrifice, and the victim’s blood nourished the gods. They pursuited human sacrifice because they thought that according to a legend that the sun god sacrificed himself and became the sun to help others, but he eventually needed help, so other gods sacrificed

    Read More

More about Should Historians Emphasize Human Sacrifice?

Open Document