1. TEOTIHUACAN, TOLTEC & AZTEC

2. Teotihuacan
In central Mexico, about 30 miles from present day Mexico city, there was an ancient city that flourished about 100BC-650AD. (This overlaps with the time that the Maya flourished in southern Mexico, but Teotihuacan was farther north)

3. Teotihuacan
They did not use writing, so we do not know what they called their city, or the details of their beliefs.
The Aztecs, who saw the ruins of the city after it was abandoned, called it “Birthplace of the gods, Teotihuacan.

4. Teotihuacan
It had magnificent temples, the largest pyramid temples in the Americas. At its height it had about 100,000 people, the largest city in the Americas during its times. These include the Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon.
The Pyramid of the Sun is the 3rd largest pyramid in the world. It has the skeletons of children in the corner of each step.

5. Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan was abandoned about 650AD, for unknown reasons, maybe overpopulation & environmental change.
It’s culture probably had a huge impact on the Aztec who saw its ruins several hundred years later.

6. TOLTEC (about 800AD-1200AD)
Group who invaded central Mexico from the north, about 800AD
Ruled by a military class, and were highly militaristic.
Established a capital called Tula in central Mexico
Conquered nearby people in central Mexico & built an empire that lasted until about 1200AD
Spoke Nahuatl, the same language spoken by the Aztec, who came later.

7. TOLTEC
Worshipped a god called Quetzacoatl-who was depicted as a feathered serpent
Other Mesoamericans had also worshipped a “feathered serpent god”, but had different names for him
They passed the worship of this god on to later cultures, including the Aztec

8. TOLTEC: capital was TULA
Like the Maya who came before them, they
built pyramid-shaped temples.
Practiced human sacrifice.
Played the same ball game as the Mayans, often called “pok-a-tok

9. The Toltec Empire lasted from about 800AD-1200AD
Located in the same general area as the later Aztec Empire.
It influenced the Aztecs, who came later, and passed many cultural ideas down to them.

10. Aztecs/ Mexicas
The Aztecs migrated into northern Mexico from the north in about 1200AD, soon after the collapse of the Toltec. They stopped for a while, and then one group of them continued south.
The dominant group within the Aztecs were called the Mexicas, and this name is often applied to all the Aztec
At first, the Aztecs were a weak tribe but eventually established a great empire.
Aztecs were influenced by the culture of the Toltecs, who had themselves been influenced
by the culture of Teotihuacan and by the Maya.

11. The Aztec Empire eventually covered much of central Mexico.

12. The Aztecs were originally a nomadic tribe.
According to legend, their chief god Huitzilopochtli had commanded them to search for an eagle devouring a snake, perched atop a cactus, and settle there.
After two hundred years of wandering, they found the promised sign on a small island in the swampy Lake Texcoco. It was there they founded their new capital, Tenochtitlan, in about 1325 AD

13. AZTEC
The Aztecs were disliked by nearby tribes. They were looked upon as great warriors but fanatical, especially following their chief god Huitzilopoctli.
According to a legend, which may have some truth to it, the chief of the Aztecs asked a neighboring tribe to send a princess to be a bride for his son.
The princess came, but instead of marrying the chief’s son, she was sacrificed to Huitzilopoctli. When her own tribe found out, they were furious, and there was a war.

14. * In about 1325AD, the Aztecs established their main city, Tenochtitlan.
* Throughout the 1400's, he Aztecs fought wars against the nearby tribes, conquered them, and built an empire.
* Conquered peoples paid tribute or taxes to the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire was ruled by an emperor, whose palace was in the capital, Tenochtitlan.

15. By 1500, the Aztecs ruled much of central Mexico and ruled millions of people

16. The Aztec established their capital, Tenochtitlan, in about 1325AD, on an island in Lake Texcoco. By 1500 ADit had a population of 200,000

17. TENOCHTITLAN-capital of the Aztec
Built on a central island in Lake Texcoco
3 main causeways (bridges built up from the bottom of the lake with dirt & gravel) to the mainland.
A city center with temples & markets & palaces
As the population grew, they made artificial islands called chinampas in the lake, on which they grew vegetables

18. CHINAMPA
A chinampa was an artificial island made by driving stakes into the lake bottom, fencing in an area with matting, and filling it with mud.
Then gardens were grown on the chinampas.

19. Ancient Aztecs tending to chinampas

20. The Aztec calendar consisted of a 365 day solar calendar and a 260 day sacred calendar. It worked the same way as the Mayan calendar, although the days had different names.
These two cycles together formed a 52 year cycle, sometimes called the "Calendar Round".

21. Typical Aztec Temple
An Aztec temple typically had
Four sides with stairs going up,
A shrine at the top for sacrifice.

22. Aztec languae The Aztec spoken language was Nahuatl.
The Aztecs had a written language, but it was not a complete written language like that of the Maya.
It was used primarily to record calendar dates, to record numerical information, and to record the names of people places and historical events.
No continuous texts have been found like those of the Maya.

23. Logograms
In addition to calendar and numeric signs, a number of highly pictorial logograms were used to write down personal names, names of places, and historical events.
For example, there are many records of the Aztec army conquering other cities documented in the Codex Mendoza.
To show that a city has been conquered, the city's name is written next to the "conquered" glyph which is a temple (pyramid) in smoke and flames with its top toppling over.

24. . In the following example, the ancient cities Colhuacan and Tenayucan were shown to be conquered. And to drive the point home, Aztec warriors are shown with captives taken from these conquered cities.

25. Chilapan means "Above the River of Chiles" and graphically is composed of two glyphs. The red (presumably hot) chile pepper glyph is the logogram CHIL, which represents the Nahuatl root chil-li ("chile"). The other glyph is a stylized cross-section of a river which is the logogram for APAN, standing for the Nahuatl root apan ("river").

26. Religion was central to the Aztec life
The sun god Huitzilopochtli was especially important.
The Aztecs believed that the sun god needed daily "nourishment" - that is, human blood and hearts - and that they, as the "people of the sun," were required to provide the sun god with his victims.
Generally, prisoners of war were offered as sacrifices.
Thousands of prisoners were sacrificed to the Aztec gods. Some historians estimate about 20,000 persons per year were sacrificed.

27. Aztec historians recorded that in 1487, at the great pyramid of Tenochitilan, executioners sacrificed four lines of prisoners, each two miles long.
But before they were ritualistically killed, the victims were forced to climb up the pyramid's two hundred and thirty seven steps. At the top were two killing rooms, with priests wielding sacrificial knives.
Sacrifices were necessary to satisfy their hungry sun-god who demanded blood as payment for creating the world.
Some historians belief the human sacrifice involved cannibalism.
According to Aztec beliefs, the sacrifices were necessary to satisfy their hungry sun-god who demanded blood as payment for creating the world. If his gory fee were not paid, the sun would go out.

28. The ritual was performed at the top of a high temple
Four men held down the victim.
The priest cut out the victim’s heart
Then the body of the victim rolled down the steps.

30. Aztec Religion
An Aztec tzompantli, as illustrated in A tzompantli is a type of wooden rack used for the public display of human skulls, typically those of war captives or other sacrificial victims. .

31. Aztec tzompantli

32. Huitzilopoctli Sun God
Shown with a hummingbird head and a turquoise fire serpent

33. Quetzalcoatl Shown as a feathered serpent
God of the wind and intelligence

34. Auto-sacrifice was an indication of humility and an act of purification for whoever undertook it as an act of penitence.
Widespread throughout the entire population, this practice was performed by piercing certain fleshy parts of the body, such as the earlobes, lips, tongue, chest, calves, et cetera, with obsidian blades, agave thorns or bone perforators made from eagle bones. Once the implement was covered with blood, it was inserted in straw balls. Then the straw balls were placed in ceremonial boxes as an offering to the gods.

35. Myth of the 5 Suns
Jaguar Sun - Inhabitants were giants who were devoured by jaguars. The world was destroyed.
Wind Sun- Inhabitants were transformed into monkeys. This world was destroyed by hurricanes.
Rain Sun - Inhabitants were destroyed by rain of fire. Only birds survived (or inhabitants survived by becoming birds).
Water Sun - This world was flooded turning the inhabitants into fish. A couple escaped but were transformed into dogs.
Earthquake Sun- We are the inhabitants of this world. This world will be destroyed by earthquakes (or one large earthquake).

36. The Aztec Empire came to an end in 1520, when they were conquered by the Spanish.