Ancient Aztecs Tenochtitlan Around 700 years ago, the aztec people left Aztlan in northern mexico and came to the valley of mexico led by their chief Tenoch. Tenoch had a vision from Huitzilopochtli. This god told tenoch to lead his people to an island in the middle of a lake. He was told to look for an eagle with a serpent in it’s mouth perched on a cactus in the middle of a lake. The city that was built was called Tenochtitlan and was built in 1325.

Tenochtitlan It was very hard to build Tenochtitlan because the Aztecs only had a small piece of land in the surrounding marshes. The Aztecs made the swampy, shallow lake into chinampas. They made islands by piling up mud from the lake bottom. They used them as their city foundations. To start with they built a few thatched, mud huts, and some small temples.

Human Sacrifices For warriors, the ultimate honor was to be slain in battle or to volunteer for sacrifice in a major ritual. Prisoners were often used for less important rituals. Victims would ascend the steps of the pyramid, wearing a sacrificial mask (see left), where priests would then stretch them across a convex stone and rip their hearts out with a sharp knife. As they saw it, the continual offering of blood through human sacrifice ensured the perpetuation of the universe.

Human Sacrifices As a farming people, the Aztec knew the forces of nature and worshiped them as gods. Most important was their sun god, Huitzilopochtli. The Aztecs also used him as their god of war. They believed that their 'good' gods should be kept strong to keep away the 'bad' gods. They kept them strong by making human sacrifices

Huitzilopochtli The Aztec's main god was HUITZILOPOCHTLI. It was he who told the Aztecs where to build their city. He was the Sun god who they fed with human sacrifice. He was the god of war .... an important god

Tezcatlipoca The god of the Great Bear constellation and of the night sky. Tezcatlipoca's animal disguise was the jaguar, the spotted skin of which was compared to the starry sky He knew what men did and thought and was the protector of slaves. He rewarded goodness by giving riches and fame, and he punished wrongdoers by sending them sickness (e.g. leprosy) or by giving them poverty and slavery.

Tezcatlipoca Every year, during the fifth month, the priest selected a young and handsome war prisoner. For one year he lived in princely luxury, pretending to be the god. Four beautiful girls dressed as goddesses were chosen as his companions. On the appointed feast day he climbed the steps of a small temple while breaking flutes that he had played. At the top he was sacrificed by the removal of his heart! What a price to pay!

Quetzalcoatl (From quetzalli, "precious feather," and coatl, "snake"), the Feathered Serpent, was one of the major gods of the Aztecs. As the morning and evening star, Quetzalcoatl was the symbol of death and resurrection. With his friend, Xolotl, a dog- headed god, he was said to have descended to the underground hell of Mictlan to gather the bones of the ancient dead. He smeared those bones with his own blood, giving birth to the men who inhabit the present universe. Quetzalcoatl was the god of morning and the evening star.

Tlaloc Tlaloc was the Aztec rain god His name means He Who Makes Things Sprout. Tlaloc was the eighth ruler of the days and the ninth lord of the nights. Tlaloc was greatly feared. He could send out the rain or provoke drought and hunger. He hurled lightning upon the earth and unleashed the devastating hurricanes.

Tlaloc It was believed that he could send down to the earth different kinds of rain which would help crops grow or destroy them. Certain illnesses, such as leprosy, and rheumatism, were said to be caused by Tlaloc.

Chalchiuhtlicue Before the Sun that now shines brightly over Mexico came into being, there had been other suns; four in all. Each sun died away in turn before our present Sun appeared. The fourth Sun, Chalchuitlicue, had been a water goddess, copper- coloured and dressed in emerald green. For hundreds of years she provided light and warmth; and in that time the first men and women appeared on Earth.

Everyday Life- The Chinampas Many 'ordinary' people lived on Chinampas. These were islands, made by piling up plants and black sticky mud from the lake. The edges of the chinampa were held in place by wooden posts. Trees were planted to help hold the soil together. People moved about between their chinampas and the causeway to the city in canoes which they hollowed out from trees

Everyday Life Growing Food The chinampa was a very busy place. Turkeys were kept in small 'gardens' with a hut to go in at night. Dogs ran around freely. When the dogs were fully grown they were often killed and EATEN The women grew flowers on the chinampa to sell in the market. The men grew the corn. They dug the soil with a 'digging stick' .. a wooden spade! When the corn was ripe, it was put into corn 'bins' until taken to market or eaten later in the year

Everyday Life Sickness The apothecaries sold many different herbs. There was tobacco and copal which was burned to purify the house of a sick person: yellow chillies, which were good for stomach upsets; cuiapatli, which helped women who were having babies; peyotl, which made you sleep. Ointments were rubbed on the skin. If they had a sore spot, it was rubbed with squashed black beetles; for sore throats, there was rubber and honey to rub on. Rubber was also good for painful ears and mouths.

Everyday Life Fishing The fishermen used dug out canoes and their nets were made of strands of grass woven together. They also speared the fish. The spears were made of shafts of wood, with three sharp points of stone. The fishermen waited until a fish was beneath their canoe, then quickly threw the point of the spear at it.

Everyday Life Cooking Each Aztec home had a hearth where the fire burned. It had three stones around it. On top of these stones rested the COMAL. The comal was a flat disc of hard clay. It was heated by the fire beneath. When the comal was hot it was ready to use for cooking. Here the woman is making tlaxcallis on it.

Everyday Life Clothing Aztec people were real craftspeople. The women were expert weavers. They bartered in the market for COTTON which was brought into Mexico by traders. They spun this, then wove it on looms in their own homes. Many of the clothes that they made had intricate patterns and often pictures birds, fish and flowers.

Aztec Writing The Aztecs did not use letters to write with they used small pictures called glyphs instead of words. They would joined a few glyphs together to make a sentence. Sometimes they would tell a whole story in one complicated picture.

Aztec Writing In this picture three warriors are crossing the lake in two canoes towards another land. They are surrounded by crocodiles and serpents. The journey probably took them 3 days!! The glyphs for rabbit, deer and death are in the sky