Class 3 The Aztecs and the Incas

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Class 3 The Aztecs and the Incas
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• A note about some elements that all the
  Precolumbian civilizations had in common
• Structured societies with hierarchical rule
  (emperor, nobility, merchant class, servants,
  artisans and slaves)
• Rich cultural emphasis on poetry and art
  (message)
• Cities with populations exceeding 100,000
• Agricultural base with strong rural populations
• State-organized labor forces (ayllu in Peru and
  ejido in Mexico)

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The Aztecs A few centuries prior to the
Encounter (1492), an empire in North America
called the Aztecs fluorished. The word Aztec
is a general cover term that refers to a group of
peoples who settled around Lake Texcoco, the site
of modern-day Mexico City. The Aztecs were also
known as the Mexica, and they came to dominate
the area of central Mexico.
Territory of the Aztecs in 1500
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• Before we proceed, lets consider a definition
  of the word Empire ?
• A simple definition is in the Cambridge Advanced
  Learners Dictionary
• noun Ca group of countries ruled by a single
  person, government or countrye.g. the Holy
  Roman Empire
• Remember that this will apply to the Aztecs as
  well as the Incas

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The legend of the founding of Tenochtitlan
The Aztecs arrived in the area of Lake Texcoco
around 1325, having traveled several years from a
region in the north believed to have been called
Aztlan. According to legend, the Aztecs obeyed
their principal war deity Huitzilopochtli to
establish a city were they saw an eagle perched
on a cactus devouring a snake. The eagle,
cactus, and snake were sighted on an islet in the
lake. The Aztecs settled there and named their
city Tenochtitlan. Today, the eagle, cactus, and
snake appear on the Mexican flag as well as
other national emblems.

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• Aztlán (in Náhuatl a place of herons or a place
  of whiteness was thought to be where the Aztecs
  came originally.

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The great Aztec empire prospered and increased in
size through military expansion. Following the
tradition of the Maya and other area cultures,
human sacrifice again insured the favor of the
gods. In a community of primarily farmers and
warriors, the arts also were cultivated,
especially monumental architecture, metallurgy,
and feather art.
TenochtitlanCapital of the Aztec Empire
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The Triple Alliance
The Aztecs formed an alliance with the cities of
Texcoco and Tacuba creating what became known as
the Triple Alliance. Under renowned military
chiefs, the Aztecs conquered the people from the
center of Mexico, all the way to the border with
Guatemala.
Only a few groups were able to resist the conquest
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The Great Tenochtitlan

• Historians disagree on the number of people in
  Tenochtitlan. Some speculate that it was 100,000
  and others believe it to be more like 200,000.
• Tenochtitlan was built on small islands in the
  middle of the lake.
• They communicated by navigating causeways and
  used a system of aqueducts to provide pure water
  to the city.
• Like in Venice, thousands of canoes provided
  transportation around the citys waterways.

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Aztec Society
Social differences were highly accentuated among
the Aztecs. The very highest social sphere was
occupied by a minority of families known as the
pipiltin. These people were members of the
hereditary nobility and occupied the top
positions in the government, the army and the
priesthood. The nobles chose a supreme leader
known as the tlatoani from within their own
group in Náhuatl this name means he who
speaks. This leader was greatly revered and
ruled until his death. However, unlike the
European royalty, his power was not absolute and
he was obliged to account for his deeds before
those who had chosen him.       
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The Working Class
The most numerous social group was known as the
macehualtin these people were engaged in
agriculture and the common trades. Although they
worked the land in family units and were allowed
to kept their produce, the land itself was
collectively owned by the inhabitants of the
neighborhood or calpulli.
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The Aztec Family and Sex Roles

• In the context of the family, men and women
  played distinct roles.  Aztec women married at
  about 16. In school boys were taught arts and
  crafts, and the girls were taught to cook and
  other necessities. At home, farming became the
  main occupation of the men of the Aztec families,
  while the women fulfilled their role as
  housewives and child-bearers. The Aztecs farmed
  not only on land but in water as well. They made
  huge dugout rafts into which they poured dirt for
  a garden. They grew corn, tomatoes, hot peppers,
  and other crops.

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The Codexes or Codices

• The codexes consist of writing and drawings made
  by most of the Mesoamerican people on strips of
  deer skin, or on a kind of paper made from amate
  tree bark. Once finished, these strips were
  folded like a concertina. Although there were
  surely a large number of codexes, only a few were
  conserved. Many were destroyed by the Spanish
  Conquistadores, and others were lost through
  neglect or due to the fragile materials on which
  they were created.  
• http//www.teachingideas.co.uk/history/files/ccazt
  ecs.pdf

Two pages from the Codex Boturini
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Aztec Education
The Mexicas (Aztecs) were especially interested
in education. Boys and girls were carefully
educated from birth. During the first years of
life, fathers educated boys, while mothers took
care of girls. Once family education was over,
the children of the nobles and priests went to
the calmécac, and all others went to the
tepochcalli . The tepochcalli was for the
children of common families and there was one in
each neighborhood. Here, children learned
history, myths, religion and Aztec ceremonial
songs. Boys received intensive military training
and also learned about agriculture and the
trades. Girls were educated to form a family, and
were trained in the arts and trades that would
ensure the welfare of their future homes.  The
calmécac was for the children of the nobility,
and served to form new military and religious
leaders.  
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The Aztec Pantheon (The Gods)

• The Aztecs had a politheistic concept of the
  universe and worshiped many gods. Although
  stories and legends were told about all of them,
  they were representations of natural phenomena
  and were not represented in human, but in
  symbolic, form.

Coatlicue (7)
Tlaloc (5)
Ometecuhtli (2)
Coyolxauhqui (4)
Tonatiuh (6)
Huitzilopochtli (3)
Quetzalcoatl (1)
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Quetzalcoatl was a major deity. This divine
being was most often pictured as a feathered
serpent (quetzal bird coatl serpent).
However, the god also was remembered as taking
the form a man. According to Mexica myth,
Quetzalcoatl created the cosmos and humankind.
Because of disputes with other gods, Quetzalcoatl
was forced to flee, but was expected to return
some day. He also instigated the system of
universal death and rebirth. When Hernán Cortés
appeared off the coast of Mexico in 1519, many
Aztecs believed that he could be the returning
god Quetzalcoatl. He was the son of Creator God
OMETECUHTLI. His brother is XOLOTL and his
daughter is COATLICUE. He also makes the odd
appearance as EHECATL.
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The Aztec Pantheon (The Gods)

• The Aztecs had a politheistic concept of the
  universe and worshiped many gods. Although
  stories and legends were told about all of them,
  they were representations of natural phenomena
  and were not represented in human, but in
  symbolic, form.

Coatlicue (7)
Tlaloc (5)
Ometecuhtli (2)
Coyolxauhqui (4)
Tonatiuh (6)
Huitzilopochtli (3)
Quetzalcoatl (1)
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Also known as OMETEOLTLOQUE, OMETECUHTLI, TLOQUE
NAHUAQUE, CITLATONACOMETECUHTLI Two in One
Creator God. OMETECUHTLI and his wife OMECIHUATL
symbolize the duality and primordial forces of
nature... The entire universe is their
temple. Their four sons HUITZILOPOCHTLI,
QUETZALCOATL, TEZCATLIPOCA and XIPE-TOTEC were
also pretty big in the creation department.
Often depicted as a half-man and half-woman
figure, or vice versa, not untypical of the
genderlessness of Aztec gods.
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The Aztec Pantheon (The Gods)

• The Aztecs had a politheistic concept of the
  universe and worshiped many gods. Although
  stories and legends were told about all of them,
  they were representations of natural phenomena
  and were not represented in human, but in
  symbolic, form.

Coatlicue (7)
Tlaloc (5)
Ometecuhtli (2)
Coyolxauhqui (4)
Tonatiuh (6)
Huitzilopochtli (3)
Quetzalcoatl (1)
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HUITZILOPOCHTLI The mighty Aztec War God, born
of COATLICUE after she was impregnated with a
ball of feathers. He looks like a humming bird,
but demanded endless sacrifice. Up to 70,000
hearts could be sacrificed in one go. After
hearing nasty family gossip about his mother, he
teamed up with a fire serpent and went on a
murderous rampage. His brothers, the
CENTZONUITZNAUA, were killed, and his step-sister
COYOLXAUHQUI was given a head start in her new
career as Moon Goddess, sans body. Meanwhile,
conflicting reports suggest that HUITZILOPOCHTLI
was really the Sun God, son of OMETECUHTLI and a
nice friendly Creator of Life.
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The Aztec Pantheon (The Gods)

• The Aztecs had a politheistic concept of the
  universe and worshiped many gods. Although
  stories and legends were told about all of them,
  they were representations of natural phenomena
  and were not represented in human, but in
  symbolic, form.

Coatlicue (7)
Tlaloc (5)
Ometecuhtli (2)
Coyolxauhqui (4)
Tonatiuh (6)
Huitzilopochtli (3)
Quetzalcoatl (1)
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• COYOLXAUHQUI Daughter of COATLICUE, she is the
  Moon Goddess. She caused a lot of domestic bother
  after disapproving of her mother's bedroom
  liaison with a ball of feathers. But from
  COATLICUE's pregnant womb sprang new brother
  HUITZILOPOCHTLI, who was somewhat over-protective
  of his mum and dismembered COYOLXAUHQUI. He then
  flung her head into the sky, where it became the
  moon.

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The Aztec Pantheon (The Gods)

• The Aztecs had a politheistic concept of the
  universe and worshiped many gods. Although
  stories and legends were told about all of them,
  they were representations of natural phenomena
  and were not represented in human, but in
  symbolic, form.

Coatlicue (7)
Tlaloc (5)
Ometecuhtli (2)
Coyolxauhqui (4)
Tonatiuh (6)
Huitzilopochtli (3)
Quetzalcoatl (1)
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TLALOC Fertility God. Not nice. His favourite
incense is the fuming stench of burning rubber.
His priests killed and ate babies to promote
rain, which only appeared if the babies cried
before death. What was necessary to make it stop
raining we won't even try to imagine. He is
depicted in a mask with goggling frog eyes and
outrageous buck teeth. Married to
CHALCHIUHTLICUE, who obviously likes that kind of
thing. His big sister was salt of the Earth
HUIXTOCIHUATL
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The Aztec Pantheon (The Gods)

• The Aztecs had a politheistic concept of the
  universe and worshiped many gods. Although
  stories and legends were told about all of them,
  they were representations of natural phenomena
  and were not represented in human, but in
  symbolic, form.

Coatlicue (7)
Tlaloc (5)
Ometecuhtli (2)
Coyolxauhqui (4)
Tonatiuh (6)
Huitzilopochtli (3)
Quetzalcoatl (1)
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TONATIUH Sun God. Looks after warriors,
particularly those who die in his service, and
rules the present Age of the world. He needs
revitalising each morning with fresh hearts still
pumping blood. Best stick to orange juice. But
he wasn't always so demanding. In fact he started
off as the lowly non-entity NANAUTZIN, and only
got to his present position through good luck and
fortitude. The leap from Scabby God of Nothing to
Sun God of Everything went straight to his head
and he refused to move unless all the other Gods
sacrificed themselves to him. TLAHUIZCALPANTECUHTL
I the Dawn God was so insulted by this arrogance
that he fired an arrow at him. But he missed.
TONATIUH fired back and turned TLAHUIZCALPANTECUHT
LI to stone.
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The Aztec Pantheon (The Gods)

• The Aztecs had a politheistic concept of the
  universe and worshiped many gods. Although
  stories and legends were told about all of them,
  they were representations of natural phenomena
  and were not represented in human, but in
  symbolic, form.

Coatlicue (7)
Tlaloc (5)
Ometecuhtli (2)
Coyolxauhqui (4)
Tonatiuh (6)
Huitzilopochtli (3)
Quetzalcoatl (1)
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COATLICUE Goddess of Earth and Fire. Wears a
skirt of writhing snakes and a necklace of human
hands and hearts. Also has claws and a double
snake head. She's known as the Mother of the
Gods, and her offspring shot to the top of the
pantheon. Her sons were QUETZALCOATL and XOLOTL,
her daughter was COYOLXAUHQUI, and she also gave
birth to HUITZILOPOCHTLI in very suspicious
circumstances.
A Coatlicue effigy in Mexicos Museum of
Anthropology
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The Aztec Pantheon (The Gods)

• The Aztecs had a politheistic concept of the
  universe and worshiped many gods. Although
  stories and legends were told about all of them,
  they were representations of natural phenomena
  and were not represented in human, but in
  symbolic, form.

Coatlicue (7)
Tlaloc (5)
Ometecuhtli (2)
Coyolxauhqui (4)
Tonatiuh (6)
Huitzilopochtli (3)
Quetzalcoatl (1)
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Aztec Myth on the Creation and Time

• cosmogonyideas on the creation of the world
• cosmologythe composition of the universe
• The First Creation of the Universe
• Ometeotl created a divine couple. They lived in
  the 13th level of the heavens and bore 4 deities,
  each identified with a color
• Tezcatlipoca (red) Tezcatlipoca II (black)
  Quetzalcoatl (white) and Huitzilopochtli (blue)
• The Cyclical Creation of the Suns (each sun was
  an era of one of the gods
• 1)Earth sun (676 years 2)Wind sun (676 years)
  3)Fire sun (312 years) 4)Water sun (676 years)
• Fifth Sun was the current era. The Sun Stone or
  Aztec Calendar represents this time

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The Aztec Calendar (Sun Stone) The Sun Stone is
the graphic representation of Aztec myth. The
stone weighs 25 tons and measures 12 feet in
diameter. It was originally located in a temple
in the center of Tenochtitlan. It is a calendar
that represents the 365 days of the Aztec year
Aztec Calendar (Sun Stone) with its
original coloring
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In the center of the Calendar is the face of
Tonatiuh, the fifth sun. Around his face are the
four other suns whose worlds were destroyed by
jaguars, strong winds, the fiery rain, and
finally by a great flood, respectively.
The four previousSuns
The Aztec Calendar as it appears today
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Aztec art and architecture exemplified by the
Great Temple (Mexico City) The CD Sacred
Sites has much information about this current
archeological site.
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The Incas While the Aztecs were expanding in
central and southern Mexico in the 16th century,
another great peoplethe Incahad created the
largest empire in the Americas
Inca lands included parts of modern-day Colombia,
Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile.
Expansion of the Inca Empire
Maximum growth 1530 AD
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Imperial Inca Culture From their capital city
of Cusco, in the heart of Andes at 11,000 feet
above sea level, the Incas controlled an empire
of desert (the coast), mountain (the Andes), and
forest (areas of the Amazon rain forest). As in
the case of the Aztecs, military expansion and
conquest increased the size of Inca influence and
spread their language (also still spoken today),
Quechua.
The Koricancha, or Inca Temple of the Sun
(foundation) and the Spanish Church Santo Domingo
built over the sacred Inca site, in Cusco
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The Incas believed in many different gods, the
principal of which were the Sun (Inti) and the
creator god Viracocha. The Inca ruler married
his sister and both were considered divine and
descendents of the Sun deity.
Temple of the Sun Ollantaytambo
Mask representing Inti
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Other important gods dwelled in the mountains,
and from the high peaks (called Apus) these
mountain gods controlled the rain, the harvests,
the number of llamas born, even the destiny of
women and men living in their region. Although
the Inca did not practice human sacrifice on the
scale of the Maya or Aztec, researchers have
recently found dozens young women and boys who
were killed to placate local mountain deities.
Book by Johan Reinhard on Juana, the
ice maiden
A young boy sacrificed on Chiles Mt. Plomo
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Llamas, alpacas, vicuñas The only large
domesticated animal in the Americas was the llama
and her cousin the alpaca (vicuña is another
variety of llama but are not domesticated). These
animals were considered sacred by the Inca and
sacrificed to the gods. In addition, the sturdy
llama could carry up to 80 pounds, provide meat,
leather for sandals, and dung for fertilizer.
The Incas had herds of llama said to be over
50,000.
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The Quipus The Incas did not have a writing
system and were yet able to hold together the
largest empire in the Americas. One
record-keeping device that did help the Incas in
their imperial tasks was the quipu. The quipu
consisted of a series of strings and knots, of
different lengths and colors. Based on a decimal
system (as our own, with the concept of zero),
the quipus allowed Inca rulers could keep tract
of population counts, numbers of llamas, the
amount of corn and potatoes in storage, and other
records. Tens of thousands of quipus existed at
the time of the Spanish invasion, and the
Spaniards destroyed most of the quipus that they
found (only 600 remain today).
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Recent research on the quipus shows that even
more information may be locked up in its knots
and cords. Gary Urton of Harvard University has
studied the way the knots are tied and other
characteristics of the quipus he contends that a
lost language system could be present which
recorded the history, myths, and poetry of the
Incas. Additional study of the quipus will be
needed to verify this interesting new theory.
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Both the Aztecs and the Incas maximized the area
under their control for agricultural production.
The Aztecs were able to create floating fields
(chinampas) in Lake Texcoco, while the Incas
utilized the slopes of the Andes to carve out
additional farmland (terraces).
Remnants of the Chinampas
Terracing in the Andes
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The art and Architecture of Machu Picchu Once
again, open the CD attached to The Voices of
Latin Culture and visit Machu Picchu, the hidden,
sacred city of the Incas. Machu Picchu is one of
the most famous historical sites of the world and
has only been known to scholars and tourists
since 1911. Learn about its history and take a
tour of its most important monuments, listen to
some music from the Andes on traditional
instruments, and take the quiz at the end of the
section to see how much you remember.
Machu Picchu
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The following questions should be answered
concerning the Aztec king and poet Nezahualcoyotl
from The Voices of Latino Culture (113 116) .
Nezahualcoyotl

• What does the role of the poet show up to be,
  according to the poem you have read?
• What imagery does the poet use?
• What constitutes his cosmovision?