The Aztecs A case study

The Aztecs are an ancient culture that had many customs and rituals that by modern standards are considered barbaric. Their culture was made up of different social classes, and was primitive yet very advanced. They were located in the mainland of Mexico, and their empire was quite vast over that area. Their culture began around 1100, and ended around 1520.

The exact numbers of the Aztecs is not known due to the age of their culture, but judging by the size of their empire it was quite large. The only figure I could find was that in 1519 there were more than 1,000,000 people living in the civilizations boundaries. The reason that I was drawn to this culture was some of the practices that they had. The most interesting being the human sacrifices to the gods, and the large ball game that they played that sometimes went on for days without a stop.

The Aztecs lived primarily in a fertile volcanic valley of Mexico where they built their capital city named Tenochtitlan. The land in which they lived was a plateau seeing that most of the surrounding was mountainous. The soil in the settled areas was very rich and good for growing crops, due to the volcanic eruptions that occurred. The valley of Mexico was the heartland of

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Above the tlamacazton were the “fire priests”; these were the priests responsible for human sacrifice rituals. Once young people were married they assumed adult roles, and responsibilities. The Aztec religion was a complex blend of traditions, unified by emphases on blood, sacrifice, and debt payment. The head priest was known as a Quetzalcoatl, who presided at the top of the Templo Mayor pyramid, and other buildings. Heart sacrifice was also practiced, which was believed to a higher sacrifice to the gods. Nobles were allowed to wear gold and carved precious stones in their lower lips to show their high rank. Almost all of the art depicted religious symbols that were very important to the culture.

The Aztec religion was based largely on a debt that humankind owed to the gods, which could only be paid back through sacrifice and blood letting.

Aztec homes also differed by social class, peasants built their huts around the edge of the city. It was odd to the Spaniards to find that one of the delicacies of the Aztecs was dog. The higher classed people, however, enjoyed eating turtles and crabs imported from the coast. Thousands of years of soil erosion had produced deep, rich soils in the valley and a system of shallow, swampy, salt lakes in its center.

Approximate Word count = 2413
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

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