Aztec Warriors As A Time example essay topic

The Aztecs was one of if not the most powerful empire to ever be created. The Aztec Empire lasted from 1100-1522, during that time the Aztecs had several rulers, expanded and took over more and more land and became very powerful. They made Alliance with some other groups around them but also made many enemies. In 1519, Cortez and his crew from Spain landed in Mexico. It was a new threat to the Aztecs and unfortunately for them the Spaniards were the main reason that the Aztec Empire collapsed. The Aztecs had a beautiful culture and they lived very interesting life's.

They had a very strong believe in religion and had many beliefs. The Aztec's life was filled with sports, school, clothing, food, law and the military. For Schooling the children of the noble class attended a calmecac, a school for noble children that was attached to the temples. Girls and boys went to separate calmecac schools. The children learned to live prudently, to govern, and to understand the history and ways of their elders, under strict priestly guidance. Learning in the calmecac was essential for advancement within the imperial administration.

The Macehualtin (literally "workers": tradespeople, peasants, and builders) children attended a local school, called telpochcalli. There they were taught basic occupational skills, the elements of warfare, and good citizenship. The children learned the fundamentals of their history and religion. Some Macehualtin children who were bright were sent to a calmecac, where they would have more emphasis placed on scholarship in preparation for advanced careers. At fifteen (15), boys attended either a calmecac or a cuicacalli. The calmecac was run by priests who taught religious and administrative subjects.

Calmecac pupils also had extra religious duties, as well as lessons in history, astronomy, poetry, and writing. The cuicacalli was more of a military school. All boys were trained in war and there was great rivalry between the schools, often leading to fights. In addition to their schooling all boys also had to work hard on their family's land.

Aztec girls were mainly taught at home and began spinning at four (4) and cooking at twelve (12). Their education was basically a training for marriage, although noble girls spent a year at twelve (12) or thirteen (13) helping in the temple, and some became professional priestesses. Women took little direct part in public life, but had a lot of influence behind the scenes. Aztec fathers and mothers raised their children with care, making sure the children knew their responsibilities and mastered the necessary life skills.

They warned the children against the vices of gambling and theft, gossip and drink, and when the children misbehaved, the punishment was painful. One form of punishment had the parent holding their child over a chili pepper fire and forcing them to inhale the chili pepper smoke. For Sports the Aztecs had two different games - tlachtli and patolli. Tlachtli was a ball game that was played between teams using rubber balls.

The court was shaped like a capital I and it was 60 meters long by 10 meters wide. One person on each team would have to shoot the ball into a vertical hoop high over their heads with their knees without using their hands. The hoop was placed on opposite walls at the midpoint of the court. In a way this game combined modern day soccer and basketball. Whichever team made the first basket won the game. Sometimes it took hours to complete a game.

The other game, patolli, was a gambling game that was played with pebbles and dry beans. In this game you are given six pieces to play with and you have ten jade pebbles to gamble. The board you would play on is an "X" divided into squares. Each player has a home base in the middle of the "X". Now you must decide how many jade pebbles you want to gamble on the whole game. You are given five cacao beans with white dots painted on them.

These will be used as dice. If you get one white dot you move one square, if you get two white dots you move two squares and so on, but if you get all five white dots you move ten squares. The pieces must move clockwise. To begin the game you must throw a one.

When you make it back to home base, you take that piece off the board, your opponent owes you one jade pebble. You keep playing until one player has lost all of his or her beans. When it came to Aztec Dress the Aztec women wore a skirt wrapped around their hips and waist. Men wore loincloths often wearing a sleeveless poncho or a cloak over it.

All men carried a small pouch under their cloak or poncho that was slung over the shoulder. They used it to carry coca leaves to chew which were like tobacco leaves. They also carried amulets for good luck. The bright colors and the natural shine of tropical bird feathers made them very desired when it came to trading them. The birds were hunted and kept in captivity for their feathers. The feathers were plucked and then woven into beautiful designs or they were used for head dresses.

The tradition of weaving and spinning was practiced by all women. They were expected to weave for their families' needs and to contribute woven goods as payments and taxes to the rulers. The woven goods were made from cotton and maguey fibers. The rulers wore the cotton woven things and the peasants had to use the maguey fiber. The peasants were not allowed to dress lavishly. When it came to food, Maize, a type of corn, was the Aztec's main food source.

The Aztecs also ate tomatoes, avocados, a tole (a type of porridge), tortillas made from maize, and tamales, a kind of envelope made from steamed maize stuffed with vegetables or meat. Aztecs also ate chocolate. In their culture chocolate was reserved for warriors and nobility. A drink of cacao mixed with ground maize was believed to provide stamina and was used in sacred rituals. Chocolate was a drink for the elite.

The Aztecs ate twice a day and the main meal was eaten during the hottest part of the day. Some of the edible things available in an Aztec market were fruit, vegetables, spices, flowers, edible dogs, and birds. The Aztecs had an alcoholic drink called octli. An octli gatherer would take the sap out of the maguey plant and put it in a large jug. Then they would let the sap rot and then they would drink it. Octli was reserved strictly for nobles, royalty, and warriors.

Any nobleman who abused (got drunk from) the divine drink of the Aztecs would be put to death. A good vendor of maguey sap boiled it until it was like honey, while a bad vendor would water it down. For Laws and Politics The Tlatoani, or the Great Speaker, had many duties in the political situation. He was the head of the law courts, priesthood, and the army.

He would also speak to the Aztec gods. The Aztecs had harsh punishments. The criminals were taken to a court where there was a group of judges who would decide the punishment if he was guilty. Sometimes the emperor would pronounce the sentence. In this way the Aztec judicial system was somewhat like ours today. The emperor would act as a judge and specially chosen members of the community would act as a jury.

The Aztecs had no professional army but they had professional military officers. When a boy was born his umbilical cord was cut off and dried and then buried on a battle field signifying that his life would be dedicated to warfare. Every able bodied boy was trained to fight. Soldiers were ordinary people. A vital part of everyday life for the Aztecs was warfare. All able body men were trained to be warriors.

In readiness for adult life boys learned about fighting and weapons at school. To fight in battle was considered a duty and an honor. Warriors helped teach in the calmecac. The warriors took the students to the wars and taught him how to take a prisoner captive. A boy became a man after he captured his first prisoner. The Aztec's courage and strength helped them build their empire and establish themselves as the fiercest of all the tribes in the Valley of Mexico.

They easily defeated attacks from neighboring tribes. Declarations of war were greeted with joy; it was seen by Aztec warriors as a time to show their skills in battle. Soldiers dressed in costumes designed to scare their enemies such as the jaguar warriors who wore ocelot skins and eagle warriors who wore a helmet shaped like the beak of a bird of prey. Ordinary troops wore costumes decorated with patterns and had war emblems made from feathers and leather. A site was chosen for the battle and the armies met. The fighting began after insults and more cries were called out and drums and conch shell trumpets were played.

Then the fighting began. The battle was usually short and ended with the surrender of the weaker side and the taking of prisoners. The plan was to disable an opponent by striking at his leg so he could be easily taken prisoner. Thus, the battles left very little casualties. After the battle the enemies' town was looted and the people were captured. Prisoners were the real war trophies since they were used as sacrifices in religious festivals.

Soldiers sometimes demanded death as their right after they had been captured. A soldier became part of a family and was treated like a son until it was time for him to be sacrificed. Aztec jaguar and eagle warriors were members of the nobility. Their elaborate costumes were worn to show the wearer's strength and importance in the Aztec society.

The warrior's leather or wooden shield was decorated with brightly colored feathers. Below the warrior's shield hung leather strips to protect his legs. Their wooden clubs were edged with extremely sharp blades of obsidian. A thong held the club to their wrists.

The Aztecs and their enemies used spears, slings, bows, and arrows to fight at close range. Razor sharp blades were chipped from obsidian and mounted on weapons. A freshly made obsidian blade was sharper than the Spaniards steel swords. But, obsidian blades soon lost their edge and were easily broken.

The Spaniards used steel swords, guns, and cannons that could take out many Aztecs at a time. The Aztecs wore close-fitting breastplates and used wooden shields for protection. The Spaniards armor was better suited for fighting in Europe, the Aztecs' lightweight breastplates were sometimes substituted for their hot and heavy metal armor. The Aztec Technology was very advanced even back then and help the empire grow larger and more powerful. The Aztecs used two different calendars, one measured time, while the other was used to fix religious festivals. The time-measuring calendar was used to fix the best time for planting crops, while the religious calendar told when to consult the gods.

In the time-measuring calendar, one year had 365 days divided into 18 months. Each month had 20 days, and there were 5 extra days at the end of the year, which were thought to be bad-luck days when disasters were most likely to happen. The fundamental Aztec calendar, the religious calendar, was a 260-day cycle, called the tonalpohualli, or the "count of days". Both calendars ran together and the same day in each fell at the same time once every 52 years. Thus, Aztec time was divided into 52-year cycles, similar to our current 100-year cycles called centuries. Different days belonged to different gods, so days could be good or bad depending on which god's day it was.

A child born on a bad day received its name on a good day, to rule out all harmful effects of the bad day. At the center of the Aztecs' calendar stone is the sun god, Tonatiuh. He is surrounded by symbols of the five world creations. The symbols of the 20 days of the solar month are depicted on the stone. Also, eclipses of the sun were foretold by the calendar stone. For Medicine the Aztec doctors used many herbal remedies both to cure and prevent illness.

They knew cures for all sorts of things. For fevers they suggested to take regular steam baths, and they thought that the heat would clean and relax them and also sweat out the evil spirits that were poisoning them. For earaches, Aztec doctors suggested putting liquid rubber in their ears. For broken legs doctors tied splints to the leg, but for legs that were cut, doctors sprinkled ground-up obsidian glass on the wound to help it heal. For colds, doctors suggested putting a drop of collected dew (from the fields) into each nostril twice a day. Aztec doctors understood a great deal about the human body.

There were plenty of bodies to practice on with all the wars and sacrifices. Farming was one of the most important things to the Aztecs staying alive. Tenochtitlan was built on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco. The Aztecs didn't have any farmland, so they devised a way to create their own farmland, called chinampas. The Aztecs wove giant reed mats and placed them on top of the water. They made a fence around the mat and placed mud, silt, and rotten vegetables on it.

Then willow trees were planted on all sides of the chinampas. The willow trees grew very quickly and their roots bound the soil to keep it from washing away. The Aztecs planted corn, tomatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, and squash. The plants' roots would grow to the bottom of the lake so they would have an endless supply of water. The chinampas were manmade islands created by piling up mud and vegetation from the bottom of the lake. The size of the chinampas didn't matter, what mattered was if two canoes could pass between the chinampas.

The mud that the Aztecs used to build the chinampas was rich in minerals and ideal for growing crops. Tomatoes, avocados, and chili peppers were unheard of in Europe until Spanish explorers brought some back from Aztec lands. The Aztecs didn't use any plows or any wheel-driven vehicles at all, they only needed and used a simple wooden digging stick and a wooden hoe for growing and harvesting crops. Fishermen made fishing nets from the fibers of the maguey cactus and used them to catch fish, turtles, ducks, and frogs.

The Aztec culture is a very interesting and beautiful culture filled with arts, language, music and dance. Aztecs had many types of art and artists like stone-workers, who carved statues; scribes, who painted pictograms; potters, who would make pots for various things; and feather-workers, who would create beautiful head dresses among other things. The stone-workers would create statues from rocks and would create objects made from green jade, black obsidian, and transparent crystals. Stone-workers were trained from an early age and the skills they learned were passed on from worker to worker. To carve a statue they would use simple tools made out of wood, rock and bone. The scribes would draw the pictograms that would record events.

First the scribe would sketch a rough outline, then they would add the details. The Aztecs would use vegetables, insects, shells, and minerals to create colors and oil could be added to make colors brighter. The Aztec potters didn't use a potter's wheel. They shaped the clay with their hands or carved it. The Aztecs would often design the inside of the pot and paint it.

They usually only used two colors. The elaborately designed pots were for the rich or the ruler. The feathers that were used for elaborate things such as a headdress which were made from tropical birds. The feathers were worked into designs. The Aztec feather workers would make clothing out of feathers from all sorts of tropical birds for nobility and royalty.

The Aztec language was called N'ahuatl. The Aztecs developed a system of pictures which they used as sort of an alphabet. They had hundreds of different symbols to use in their vocabulary. Nouns were easy to draw - they drew a cat as a cat and drew a fish as a fish and so on. They joined them together to form sentences, and used them to write down stories and keep records. Words that joined the nouns into sentences were extremely difficult to draw.

The art of writing was very specialized and also difficult to learn. Scribes needed to know a lot of extra information that wasn't written down because the pictograms only gave a clue to the full meaning. Aztec picture writing was mainly done by priest or scribes. They were the only ones who could read the pictures. The Aztecs wrote about their history and religious ceremonies.

They also wrote poetry. First the scribes sketched the outline with charcoal. The pictures were then brightly colored with vegetables, minerals, insects and shells. Aztecs also had books called Codices. The books were long strips of paper that folded like an accordion. At each end of the strip was a piece of wood that would act as a cover.

Both sides of the paper were written on and it could be read top to bottom or left to right. They were normally 20 centimeters wide and 50 meters long. They were made from deerskin or tree bark. Music and dance were a significant part of Aztec life. Music and dance were closely linked to religion.

The most common instruments were rattles, whistles, trumpets, flutes, copper bells, and shells. Everyone took part in dances performed especially for the gods, including peasants. An Aztec 'orchestra' was usually made of different types of rattles and different types of drums. Aztec children between ages 12 and 15 were taught to dance, sing, and play musical instruments. Specific Aztec instruments were used for specific things. The trumpet sounded long, deep notes while the percussion created hypnotic rhythms.

The big temple drums could be heard for several kilometers. Their wind instruments included pan pipes, whistles, and flutes. Hundreds of people took part in their dances. Their dances were like plays, they would describe something from the past or act out scenes about their gods. In 1519, Hernan Cortez and his men from Spain landed on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The Aztecs greeted the Spaniards with food, gold, and women.

The Spaniards set up camp at Veracruz. Tales of 11 tall wooden towers reached Tenochtitlan from the east coast. They were Spanish ships. Aztec spies learned that these men were called Spaniards and the news was immediately taken to Moctezuma II. He decided to send gifts of gold to the Spanish leader Hernan Cortes. Spaniards burned their ships and set off on horses to Tenochtitlan.

Cortes set out from the Gulf Coast with 400 Spaniards, 16 horses, and several cannons. On his way to Tenochtitlan Cortes persuaded many enemies of the Aztec people to join him as he marched through their lands. Cortes soon reached Lake Texcoco and was greeted by Moctezuma II. Moctezuma II and Cortes met and almost became friends. The Spaniards and their native allies were invited to stay in one of the palaces by Moctezuma II.

On November 8, 1519, Cortes began to fight battles. Cortes took Moctezuma II hostage and tried to control the city of Tenochtitlan. When Cortes went to get more soldiers many Aztec nobles and priests were murdered at a religious festival by the Spaniards that Cortes had left behind to keep order. Moctezuma II told his people, the Aztecs to make peace with the Spaniards, but these were not the words of a brave ruler so the Aztecs elected Cuitlahuac, his brother, as the new ruler.

Moctezuma II was pelted with stones for continually begging the Aztecs to make peace with the Spaniards. Moctezuma II fell, and the Spaniards carried him back to the palace and he was never seen again. Although many Spaniards were lost in battle, the Spaniards had won. The Aztec capital was finally destroyed on August 31, 1521.

The final attack of Tenochtitlan was led by the Spaniards who had 400 men with 150,000 native allies. They returned to destroy Tenochtitlan house by house and built Mexico City on top of the destroyed city. The Spanish introduced horses, cattle, sheep and pigs to the American continents. They brought sugar and other grains, and fruit. They took potatoes, tomatoes, beans and maize back to Europe. That's how the Aztec civilization ended.

I saved the Aztec Religion for last because I chose it has my main focus in this paper. The Aztecs had many beliefs. They believed the sun fought darkness every night and rose to save mankind. They believed the earth was flat.

They believed that if they fed the sun blood, it would rise. They also believed in 13 heavens and 9 hells. The Aztecs respected their gods very much. They put their greatest efforts into making strong, beautiful temples to please their gods.

Their arts had a part in their religion. They drew pictures that told about their gods. They recorded religious events with hieroglyphics and even number symbols. The Aztecs worshipped about 1,000 gods!

But they worshipped the sun god the most. Religious ceremonies took place in a temple called a teocalli. This temple had sacred pools for ceremonial cleansing, gardens, living quarters for a priest, and racks to hold the skulls of victims. Religion played a great part in Aztec life.

Sacrifice was one of the main events in the Aztec religion. Priests made human sacrifices to make the sun god happy. Aztecs fought in wars to capture men to sacrifice. On God's Feast Day, they killed their slaves for the gods.

Human sacrifices were offerings to the sun and earth so that food would grow. On the night of the O' Nothing Days, O' priests would dress up as the supreme gods and wait on the top of an extinct volcano. When the evening star reached the top of the sky, the priests would stretch the captive over an altar, or a special stone. Then the high priest would light a fire on the victim's heart and tear it out.

After the heart is cut, the priest would hold the heart to the sun, then put it in a sacred dish. Finally, the bodies were rolled down the temple stairs to lie in a heap. Even after that, most victims were happy to die because they thought they would go straight to heaven. The Aztecs strongly believed in the afterlife. It was the way the Aztecs died rather than the way they lived that determined whether they would go to the sun god or go to the dark and dismal underworld. If a person died a normal death, his or her soul would have to pass through the nine lives of the underworld before reaching Mictlan, the realm of the dead.

A warrior who died in battle or a woman that died in childbirth would go straight to the sun god in the sky. The head of the gods was Huizilopochtlid, god of war and god of sun. This god had told the Aztecs to wander until they found an eagle with a serpent in its mouth perched on a cactus growing from a rock. When they found this, they claimed the area around it, which is now known as Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs worshipped Tlaloc, the rain god, in the main temple. This god was very important to farmers because drought was a threat in the area.

Quetzalcoatl was a feathered snake who represented arts, crafts, and self-sacrifice. Priests and priestesses were very important people. They acted as doctors, and taught science, art, writing, music, dance, history, and counting. They also had to know astronomy and astrology. They had to perform difficult ceremonies. Religion played an important part in Aztecs' lives, and human sacrifice was used to pay homage to their gods.

The Aztec empire lasted for a very long time and maybe if it weren't for the Spanish Conquest it would still be alive today. The Aztec's life, culture, technology, and religion is extremely interesting and wonderful. It was a pleasure learning so much information about the Aztecs. Not only were the Aztecs powerful enough to defeat most of their enemies in war but they were also much smarter than other groups from their time and were able to adapt to the land they lived on. The Aztecs believed heavily in their religion and their life's were based around it. It's a well-known fact that the Aztec empire is one of the most powerful and successful empires of all time.