Some art is pictures made from stone or its turned into pottery. Feathers were often used in art and clothing. An important of the Aztec life was music and dance. Most religious ceremonies included music and dance. Spinning and weaving was something that all women knew how to do.
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The Aztecs were polytheistic, meaning they worshiped many gods. Even though there were many gods there were three main ones, Huitzilopochtli (the war and the sun god), Tezcatlipoca ( the chief god) and Quetzalcoatl (god of civilization, priesthood and learning). These may be the 3 main gods but the most important of the 3 is the sun god, Huitzilopochtli. This is because to the Aztecs the sun god is basically the life source for them. All the religious ceremonies and celebrations were held in a temple called the teocalli. To please their gods and to offer them gifts the Aztecs used the method of human sacrifice. There are many types of sacrifices but the thing about human sacrifices is that priests thought nourishing the gods with blood and beating hearts was better.
Montezuma I was the fifth emperor of the Aztec empire. Under his rule the empire had some major expansions and he made two good alliances with some neighboring empires. Montezuma II was the ninth emperor of the Aztec empire. During his reign the empire reached its climax. It was also under his reign that there was contact between Spain for the first time. It is also under his reign that the empire fell under the rule of the Spanish. To support their growing empire the Aztecs came up with clever ways to farm. They had irrigation systems causing them to have rich soil for farming. Since the Aztecs lived on an island in the middle of a lake and they soon ran out of farmland. The Aztecs soon came up with the idea of chinampas. These were little floating islands the Aztecs made by woven reed mats and on them was mud from the bottom of the lake that is rich with nutrients. The main way of trading was cacao beans. Athletics were also an important part of life for the Aztecs. One of the Aztec games was called tlachtli. The rules and objective of this game was pretty simple. Tlachtli was basically a combination of basketball and soccer. There were two baskets at the end of a long court that isin the shape of a capital "I" approximately 60 yards long and the objective is to put a rubber ball using your knees into the basket. Even though Patolli isn't exactly a sport it was still a game played very often by the Aztecs. This game is a board game that is played on a board that is shaped like an x. Patolli is a game of gambling and it is played by throwing cacao beans with dots painted on them to determine which space is landed on. When you get to your home base you may remove that piece and you get what your opponent gambled. Laws today are pretty complex and there's a lot of them. During the times of the Aztecs the laws were simple, the punishments were harsh though... some even punishable by death. When being tried the emperor would be the judge and, just like today people from the community were selected to be like a jury. Even though there were no police officers to enforce the laws back then, the people enforced and supported the laws.
In society nowadays men and women are mostly equal. They both have jobs and they have the same rights. In Aztecan society the males were "above" females. In daily life a woman would stay home and raise the children, cook the meals, clean the hut, and spin to make clothes. The men on the other hand were an important part of society. They were trained to go to were, they were educated and depending on their social class they had different jobs. Men would also be the dominant ones in religion or at the temple, women usually didn't participate.
Back in ancient Aztec times being a kid is not the same as it is today. Kids nowadays little kids play with their toys and everything and they probably don't have a care in the world. Back then the boys would go train at a military school at age 6 and become warriors. The girls would help their mothers clean and later become housewives. At the age of about 15 the boys attended a school that taught Aztec religion and history.
Technically there are only 3 general social classes, which are the slaves, commoners and the nobles. I have broken it down even more. At the top of the pyramid was the king, ruler of the city state.
Next came the nobles, which were the kings advisers and administers, After came the artisans, such as craftsmen, goldsmith and sculptors. Pochtecas were long distance merchants and they came after the artisans in the social hierarchy. The lowest social class was the commoners. |