![]() ![]() But in 20, archeologists working at the Templo Mayor excavation site in Mexico City discovered proof of widespread human sacrifice among the Aztecs-none other than the very skull towers and skull racks that conquistadors had described in their accounts. ![]() Reading these accounts hundreds of years later, many historians dismissed the 16th-century reports as wildly exaggerated propaganda meant to justify the murder of Aztec emperor Moctezuma, the ruthless destruction of Tenochtitlán and the enslavement of its people. They then tossed the victims’ lifeless bodies down the steps of the towering Templo Mayor.Īndrés de Tapia, a conquistador, described two rounded towers flanking the Templo Mayor made entirely of human skulls, and between them, a towering wooden rack displaying thousands more skulls with bored holes on either side to allow the skulls to slide onto the wooden poles. Aztec priests, using razor-sharp obsidian blades, sliced open the chests of sacrificial victims and offered their still-beating hearts to the gods. When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his men arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in 1521, they described witnessing a grisly ceremony. And as you all know, her plan fails, the child is born and there is no hope of any of them winning.An Atztec human sacrifice atop the Mesoamerican temple pyramid. Coyolxauhqui was angered by that and hatched a plot to kill her mother before she has the chance to give birth to the baby that would surpass his siblings. However, it was rumored that the child growing in Coatlicue's womb would be the most powerful yet and be the favorite. ![]() Yes, all 400 of them were Coatlicue's children. So, Coyolxauhqui was angry because prior to the birth of this child, she was the most powerful of all her mothers children. I do know for certain the answer to the second question. So, it's common for a pregnancy to occur in myths without a logical explanation. The maya have a creation story where the woman eats a piece from a tree and becomes pregnant with twins. For example the Iroquois people have a creation story where a virgin is made pregnant. There are also a lot of other cultures who have a stories of a pregnancy that doesn't occur naturally. I don't really know the answer to the first question, though I am assuming it is a similar story to how greek woman were made pregnant. For instance, they buried an Olmec mask made of jadeite, as well as others from Teotihuacan (a city northeast of modern-day Mexico City known for its huge monuments and dating roughly from the 1st century until the 7th century C.E.). The Olmec mask was made over a thousand years prior to the Mexica, and its burial in Templo Mayor suggests that the Mexica found it precious and perhaps historically significant. Some offerings demonstrate the Mexica’s awareness of the historical and cultural traditions in Mesoamerica. Many of these offerings contain objects from faraway places-likely places from which the Mexica collected tribute. Other deposits related to warfare and sacrifice, containing items like human skull masks with obsidian blade tongues and noses and sacrificial knives. Some offerings contained items related to water, like coral, shells, crocodile skeletons, and vessels depicting Tlaloc. Over a hundred ritual caches or deposits containing thousands of objects have been found associated with the Templo Mayor. Her head and limbs are separated from her torso and are organized in a pinwheel shape. For the Mexica, nakedness was considered a form of humiliation and also defeat. Otherwise, Coyolxauhqui is shown naked, with sagging breasts and a stretched belly to indicate that she was a mother. ![]() Monster faces are found at her joints, connecting her to other female deities-some of whom are associated with trouble and chaos. Golden bells decorate her cheeks, feathers and balls of down adorn her hair, and she wears elaborate earrings, fanciful sandals and bracelets, and a serpent belt with a skull attached at the back. Snake balustrade and undulating serpent, photo: Lauren Kilroy-EwbankBut by far the most famous object decorating the Huiztilopochtli temple is the Coyolxauhqui monolith, found at the base of the stairs. Originally painted and carved in low relief, the Coyolxauhqui monolith is approximately eleven feet in diameter and displays the female deity Coyolxauhqui, or Bells-on-her-face. ![]()
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