Aztec rituals of sacrifice. Blood sacrifice or appeal to heaven? Blood for the Gods
While browsing the Internet for the query “Aztec sacrifices,” I found one very interesting sentence: “Human sacrifices, which formed the most important part of Aztec religious rites, were practiced in order to supply the gods with energy...”. I entered this sentence into the Google search engine and found that it was repeated in dozens, if not hundreds, of different sites. I looked for who the author of this “masterpiece” was, and discovered that the authors were Galina Zheleznyak and Andrey Kozka, Kharkov “researchers-anomalists”. Well, I looked at the beginning of their book “Secrets of Vanished Civilizations”, and saw tales about Lemuria, Eduard Shure, Helena Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner and his “Akashic Chronicles” (at least not “poop”) and other esoteric rubbish. By the way, this book itself is presented on the site in the “Esoteric” genre.
It is on the basis of such esoteric “opuses” that children in schools make presentations, students write essays...
However, let’s look at one chapter of this “opus”, which specifically talks about human sacrifices among the Aztecs.
The authors write that “in 1428, Itzcoatl (1428-1440) came to power. Emperor Itzcoatl and his nephew (or brother) Tlacaelel, who was also the emperor’s adviser, for the first time officially legalized the practice of sacrifice. Identifying the main Aztec god Huitzilopochtli with the Sun, they obliged people periodically feed the heavenly body with fresh human blood so that it does not stop its path of movement across the sky."
So, what do we see here? The practice of sacrifice, it turns out, was legalized only on the eve of the Spanish invasion. And before that, the most revered religious ideas in the Valley of Mexico were those that went back to the Toltecs and were based on the cult of the god and cultural hero Quetzalcoatl, who did not require bloody sacrifices.
“Itzcoatl destroyed the old pictographic manuscripts in which the Aztecs and their deities were assigned a modest role in the history of the Valley of Mexico. In their place, new manuscripts were written that exalted the importance of the Aztecs and kept silent about the primitive tribal past.”
So, all the old Aztec manuscripts were destroyed by the Aztecs themselves, and not by the Spaniards? I can't believe it.
“Human sacrifices, which formed the most important part of Aztec religious rites, were practiced in order to supply the gods with energy and thereby delay the inevitable death of the human race. Sacrifices, the Aztecs believed, were necessary to maintain a sustainable life cycle - human blood nourishes the Sun, causes rain and ensures earthly existence Some forms of sacrifice were limited to bloodletting through the thorns of the maguey plant, but often the priests killed the victim by ripping open the chest with a knife and tearing out the heart."
This is where it no longer fits into any gates. Where is it, in what culture was human sacrifice an important part of religious rituals? This has never happened anywhere. The most important part of religious rites are initiatory practices (initiations); Yes, they are sometimes associated with causing pain, but never with murder. Another important part of the rituals are techniques for achieving altered states of consciousness necessary for ecstatic communication with a deity (or spirit). Healing and prophetic practices are closely related to these techniques.
In general, it is immediately clear that the authors understand nothing either about traditional paganism or - in general - about religion. The explanation they pulled out of thin air, in fact, does not explain anything. What kind of “gods” are these, which need to be “supplied with energy”? Do they have internal combustion engines there?
The authors write that “the Aztecs had ritual cannibalism: the heart of the sacrificed person was eaten by the priests, and the body by members of the aristocratic families during solemn feasts. Almost every day a holiday of some god was celebrated, so human blood flowed continuously.”
However, Wikipedia with the article “Aztecs” reports that “a person was not always sacrificed; animals were often sacrificed. They also sacrificed things: they were broken in honor of the gods. The cult of Quetzalcoatl required the sacrifice of butterflies and hummingbirds. Self-sacrifice was also practiced, people during special ceremonies they inflicted wounds on themselves, performing ritual bloodletting; they wore special spikes that constantly wounded the body. Blood occupied a central place in the cultures of Mesoamerica. There are many myths in which the Nahua gods sacrifice their blood to help humanity. In the myth of the Fifth Sun, the gods sacrifice themselves. so that people can live."
Wikipedia also reports on the discrepancy between reality and what is said in the Mexican-Spanish codes.
"The Aztec chronicles describe how about 20,000 captives were sacrificed over four days to build the main temple. However, it is unclear how the city's population of 120,000 people was able to capture, house and dispose of so many captives, especially considering that Ahuitzotl sacrificed them with his own hands. This equates to 17 sacrifices per minute for four days. Some scholars believe that the number of victims could not have exceeded 3,000 and that the number of deaths was inflated for military propaganda purposes.
Other figures are taken from Bernal Diaz del Castillo (Spanish). Bernal Diaz del Castillo ), a Spanish soldier who wrote his reports for 50 years after the conquest. When describing tzompantli, a place with the skulls of victims, he counts about 100,000 skulls. However, to accommodate such a number of skulls, the tzompantli would have to be several kilometers long instead of the described 30 meters. Modern reconstructions count between 600 and 1,200 skulls. Likewise, Díaz stated that the tzompantli of Tlaltelolco, as important as that of Tenochtitlan, contained 60,000 skulls. According to the book by William Ahrens William Arens), 300 skulls were found during excavations.
There are no chronicled depictions of the human sacrifices of the time immediately before the arrival of Cortez; all known depictions were painted a few years after the start of the Conquest, although the destruction of the Aztec records by the Spanish may have been the reason for this. However, there are similar images in stone and wall paintings and ritual objects used in sacrificial rites, although they, like archaeological evidence, do not confirm such a number of sacrifices as 80 or 100 thousand.
There are large discrepancies between what has been written on this topic and what is known reliably."
Vitaly Kolomin
question:
Hello, very often the extermination of the Mexican Indians is justified by the Aztecs’ brutal sacrifices of captured opponents. How fair is this point of view? Did the Aztecs really execute 20,000 people at a time?
Best regards, Vitaly Kolomin
reply from 03/22/2017:
First, about the number of victims. The figure of 20,000, not at once, but over the course of a year, is given by the popularizers Zenon Kosidovsky in the book “When the Sun Was a God,” where the chapter is appropriately titled “The End of the Eaters of Human Hearts” and the Czech Marek, better known as Keram in his bestseller “ Gods, tombs, scientists" (chapter "Book of Steps"). Naturally, they do not provide any links to sources or at least scientific works, so I myself am interested in where they got these numbers from. The followers of the Californian demographic school of the middle of the last century, Cook and Borah, estimate the population of Central Mexico before the arrival of the Spaniards at 25 million (?!), and the annual number of victims made throughout Central Mexico (including, for example, Oaxaca) at 250,000. Thus Thus, in Tenochtitlan with a population of 300,000 people, according to their own extremely dubious estimates (we do not have pre-Hispanic population censuses, much less censuses of victims), they had 15,000 human casualties per year. These figures could only have arisen from Borah and Cook with their unique method of counting, “multiplying by 5” the population figures during the colonial period (see Cook S.F. and W.Borah "Indian food production and consumption in population history (1500-1650)/ Essays on population history: Mexico and California vol.3, Los Angeles, University of California Press.1979). Meanwhile, even the conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo in the 208th chapter of his famous “True History of the Conquest of New Spain” from the words of the first missionaries Franciscans (sic!) states “that in Mexico City [i.e. Tenochtitlan] and some lake settlements [of the dry Lake Texcoco] more than 2,500 people were sacrificed. That is, according to third parties.” (and this term applies only to the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan and some settlements on the shores of Lake Texcoco) brought in a little more than 2,500 people a year (see B. Dias del Castillo Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana. Barcelona: Bibliotea Sopena, 1975, c.806). But this figure also raises doubts, because in Sahagun’s descriptions of annual rituals we are talking about either single specially selected victims, or several men and women. At the same time, we do not know the exact number of inhabitants of Tenochtitlan.
True, we still have terrible stories about the consecration of the main temple of Tenochtitlan, when, according to the Dominican Diego Duran, writing in the 70-80s of the 16th century, in 4 days... 84,000... people were sacrificed. If we take into account that the sacrifices lasted only 4 days and took place in 20 cult places and without stopping, it turns out that 47 people were killed in one hour... with flint knives for 96 hours. For reference, even a modern mechanized device with saws and knives is not capable of such a pace. I am afraid that the system of counting by twenty played a significant role in the number of victims in Mesoamerica, thanks to which the number of victims could be greatly increased if desired. Another question is why was this necessary? It remains open.
In addition, regardless of whether the Aztecs made 20,000 casualties at a time, for the conquistadors the war against them was in any case “just” as a crusade against the pagans. This is exactly how Hernán Cortés himself imagined his expedition, placing a cross and the motto “Hereby conquer!” on your banner along with the Madonna. Let me remind you that the Reconquista, i.e. the wars against infidel Muslims, who did not sacrifice people, ended only in 1492, when Columbus made his first voyage.
Sincerely, Anastasia Kalyuta
Talakh Viktor Nikolaevich is an independent researcher, specialist in the field of culture, languages and scripts of the peoples of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, translator of primary sources on ancient American history from Spanish and Mayan.
reply from 03/25/2017:
The talented popularizers Kosidovsky and Keram did not come up with the figure of 20 thousand people annually sacrificed by the Astecs at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. It is cited by a number of researchers, in particular, Michael Garner (1977), Marvin Harris (1986), Victor Davis Hanson (2001). In turn, for them it is not the fruit of speculation, but the result of the interpretation of one original source - a fragment of a Mexica hand-drawn historical chronicle describing the dedication of the main temple of Tenochtitlan in the year 8-Reed (1487). The corresponding fragment is known in two versions: on page 39r of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis and page 83r of the Vatican Code 3738 (aka Codex Rios).
In both cases, under the date 8-ACATL (“8-Reed”), a pyramid is depicted, topped with a double temple, below it is an altar, and even lower is a pictographic record of the toponym TETL-NOCHTLI (Tenochtitlan), i.e., “sacrifice at the main temple in Tenochtitlan." On the left is the ruler on the throne under the pictogram ATL-HUITZOTL, “Ahuitzotl”, i.e. the then Astec Tlatoani Ahuitzotl. Around the altar are three figures of warriors dressed as captives prepared for sacrifice. Near them are pictograms: top right - TZAPOTE, "Zapotec", bottom right - CUEXTECA, "cuextec/huastec", bottom left - MAZATL-TECUHTLI TZIUH-COATL, "Mazatecuhtli from Ziucoaca". Finally, in the lower right corner there are numbers (they differ in two versions): 8000 + 8000 +400 x 10, i.e., 20,000 (“Code Telleriano-Remensis”) or 8000 + 8000 +400 x 9, t .e., 19600 (“Code Rios”). However, the difference is obviously the result of a mistake by the Codex Rios copyist, who missed one “herringbone” indicating the number “400”. This figure is precisely what is usually interpreted as the number of captives sacrificed either at the consecration of Greater Teocalli, or during the year 8-Reed. The first interpretation is contradicted by a commentary written in Spanish on the image in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis: “1487. 8-Acatl. The year ''Eight Reeds'' and 1487 according to our count, finished making and perfecting the great Ku in Mexico. The old people say that they sacrificed four thousand people this year, brought from regions that were subjugated by the war.” The figure of 4 thousand killed during the four days of the “festival” seems close to reality, although it should be borne in mind that the massacre carried out by the Astec rulers at the consecration of the Greater Teocalli was an exceptional event. As for the interpretation of the figure of 20 thousand as the annual number of those sacrificed, such an understanding does not necessarily follow from the figure: it may be the number of enemies captured rather than sacrificed, which is not the same thing, and not necessarily per year, and for a number of years ending in 1487. Objective archaeological materials seem to indicate in favor of a moderate scale of human sacrifice: tzompantli (repositories for sacrificed skulls) in Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco are designed for hundreds, at most thousands of skulls, and, moreover, they must have accumulated there over a fairly long period of time. Taking this into account, a number of historians (such as Christian Duverger, Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, Leonardo Lopez Lujan) believe that 300–600 ritual murders were committed in Tenochtitlan per year. Mexicans Maria del Carmen Nieva Lopez and Pablo Moctezuma Barragán generally deny the practice of human sacrifice among the Nahuas, but this seems to be an exaggeration on the other hand.
Does ending the practice of human sacrifice justify the Conquest? The famous Mexican historian Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl believed that the Spaniards were an instrument of retribution for the murders of thousands of innocents. Joseph Brodsky also believed that he was justifying, remember his “To Eugene”:
No, better than syphilis, better than the mouths of the Unicorns of Cortez than this victim. If the eye is destined to be pecked out by crows, It is better if the killer is a murderer, and not an astronomer.
On the other hand, let us turn to what is commonly called the “dry language of numbers.” In the territory that, after the establishment of the dominance of the Castilian Crown, began to be called New Spain, by 1519, of course, not 25 million people lived there, as Woodrow Borah and Sherburne Cook assumed, but no less than 7 - 8 million people lived there. In 1595, there remained (including European settlers and their descendants) 1.37 million people in the same territory. Imagine that out of every five of your relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, or just passers-by on the street, only one remained... No, most of the dead were not killed by conquistadors, and did not even die from backbreaking labor on plantations and mines - they turned out to be victims of diseases brought from Europe and drunkenness. Can this be somehow justified? Let everyone judge this for themselves.
Kalyuta Anastasia Valerievna - candidate of historical sciences, researcher of the highest category, Russian Ethnographic Museum.
reply from 03/26/2017:
First of all, I would like to thank our Ukrainian colleague Viktor Talakh for his valuable additions to my answer to the question and such a lively reaction.
True, from my point of view, the “talent” of Kosidovsky and Keram lies precisely in the use of untested and unconfirmed, but sensational facts in their writings for a wide range of readers. This “talent” is characteristic of a large number of journalists who popularize scientific knowledge, and I think that it does much more harm than good. In this case, they did not even bother to look into the primary sources to check the messages of such uniquely thinking authors as Michael Harner and Marvin Harris, the creators of a very bold theory about the background of human sacrifice among the Aztecs. However, priority here must be given, after all, to Harner as the first author to publish a work on the “true” reason for human sacrifices.
I deliberately did not mention them, so as not to depart from the purely arithmetic side of the question, but now I see that their “cultural materialism” cannot be dispensed with. In 1977, Michael Harner in American Ethnologist vol.4, N.1, pp. 117-135 published a relatively short article, “The Economic Basis for Aztec Sacrifice,” in which he argued that the lack of protein food due to the lack of livestock among the ancient population of Mexico, combined with frequent droughts and crop failures, prompted the Aztecs ... to cannibalism disguised as human sacrifices. The fact is that some of the remains of the victims were actually eaten as a container for sacred energy. In his assertions, Harner relied on the notorious 25 million population of Central Mexico on the eve of the Conquista and the 250,000 victims per year “estimated” by Cook and Borah. A year later, in 1978, his conclusions were “confirmed” and “added” for a wide range of readers by Marvin Harris in an article with the loud title “Cannibal Kingdom”, included in the notorious collection “Cannibals and Kings” Cannibals and Kings. New York, Random House, 1978, pp. 147-166. Harris argued that the Triple Alliance was a unique case in history of a cannibal empire, where a perpetually starving population could, through human sacrifice, enjoy an occasional taste of meat. In addition, this situation stimulated the expansionist policy of the Triple Alliance, since the victims were mainly prisoners of war, and the morale of young soldiers, because the coveted meat was received by the captor and relatives. I note that neither Harner nor Harris were specialists in pre-Columbian civilizations and, as we see from Talakh’s explanation, they interpreted the messages of the so-called colonial codes very freely. Huitzilopochtli group.
In 1990, Bernardo Ortiz de Montellano, a Mexican-American researcher, published Aztec Medicine, Health and Nutrition in English, drawing on his knowledge of the flora and fauna of Central Mexico, as well as a closer examination of colonial sources and careful calculations blasted the conclusions of Harner and Harris to smithereens. However, such is the persistence of the myth that the figures of 20,000 victims per year and 80,000 victims at the consecration of the main temple of Tenochtitlan have passed into the works of popularizers like Kosidovsky, and in our digital age have spread across the Internet.
As for the drawing and commentary in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, there is still one option for its interpretation. The consecration of the temple was attended by 20,000 believers, who, as was customary, “sacrificed” themselves, bleeding from the tongue, limbs and genitals (see Gonzalez Torres Yolotl El sacrifcio humano entre los mexicas Mexico: FCE, INAH 1985 .p.252).
As for the ethical assessment of human sacrifice, this has nothing to do with anthropology at all.
Andrew McKinley
:::Articles and materials
Articles and materials
:::Sacrifice is an integral element of spiritual and religious beliefs in Meso- and South America, as it is the basic idea of the creation of life and its endless existence. In this regard, the peoples of Mesoamerica - the Mayans and Aztecs - valued sacrifices above all else, and the Incas, considering them no less important, still gave them a sharply different form in comparison with the two Mesoamerican societies under consideration. Sacrifice was an important form of gratitude and payment of debt to the deities worshiped in these communities. The Aztecs and Mayans had a similar set of deities with some notable characters, such as the Mexica war god Huitzilopochtli. The Incas had a completely different set of gods with whom they interacted in different ways than the Aztec and Mayan, but sacrifices were also performed.
What is sacrifice?
Sacrifice is a complex and important practice that varies in form and has value for each of the three communities in question. The Aztecs and Mayans are believed to have adopted sacrificial practices from the Toltecs and Olmecs, respectively. Since both the Toltecs for the Aztecs and the Olmecs for the Mayans had some kind of semi-divinity, it is not difficult to understand why they associated the practice of sacrifice as something handed down to them by the gods, and this became their main way of demonstrating their religious zeal. Most often, sacrifices took two distinctive forms - the Aztecs and Mayans sacrificed other people. They mutilated other people, and also killed them quickly or using some kind of ritual. The second form of sacrifice was self-sacrifice. They inflicted either partial mutilation on their body, or even removal of body parts: elongation of the earlobe, lips, or flattening of the forehead. The most striking and often depicted method of self-sacrifice was the letting of one's blood. For the Incas, sacrifices, like many other things in their empire, were a matter of state. In the Inca state, both people and animals were sacrificed in honor of the gods. This celebrated religious holidays and recorded special events in the life of the Sapa Inca (Besom, 2009). Self-sacrifice was not practiced in the Inca community, but people often made offerings of food and other objects to their gods and ancestors. It was quite common for members of a community or family to make offerings to the souls of those they knew whom the state had sacrificed during one of the many holidays.
Blood for the Gods
Bloodletting was a form of self-sacrifice in which a piece of the body was cut off or a puncture was made to cause bleeding. In this case, the blood was usually collected in some container. Bloodletting was a non-lethal form of sacrifice. Bloodletting could be done individually, as a way of thanking the gods, or it could be part of a larger ceremony or celebration. It could have been part of a mandatory ceremony for certain people of special importance who so appeased one or another god. Among the Mayans, bloodletting was performed by cutting or piercing, but more often, unlike the Aztecs, it was still cuts and tearing. The Maya used a diverse set of tools to do this (Munson, Amati, Collard, Macri 2014). For them, bloodletting was an extremely important event, which is why it can often be found in their iconography. Thus, a typical iconographic image of self-sacrifice through bloodletting among the Classic Mayans was the image of a person piercing his tongue or penis (Munson, Amati, Collard, Macri 2014). And among the Preclassic Mayans, piercing of ears and penises more often appears in the iconography (Munson, Amati, Collard, Macri 2014). Tools used for this purpose included bone awls and stingray spines for piercing, as well as obsidian and flint blades for cutting (Munson, Amati, Collard, Macri 2014). It was not uncommon for rope to be used with one or more of the tools mentioned above. One of the most famous images of the act of bloodletting is the panel where Lady K'ab'al-Shook, wife of the Shield Jaguar the Great, is shown bleeding herself. She threads a rope through the hole in the tongue, studded with stingray spines on both sides. This was a popular ceremony among the Classic Maya and many images of K'ab'al Shook have been found. Lancets and bowls with ceramic pots were used to collect blood. More often, however, these were stylized ritual bowls made of stone or ceramics. Diego Landa (Munson, Amati, Collard, Macri 2014 Pg. 2) wrote the following about bloodletting: “They donated their blood, sometimes cutting them into pieces and leaving them as marks. At other times they pierced their cheeks and also their lower lips. Sometimes they put scars on certain parts of their bodies, and they also pierced their tongues diagonally, passing straws through them and experiencing terrible pain, in other cases they made a long narrow cut in the foreskin, as they did with their ears. Among the Aztecs, self-sacrifice was also common, but it was no longer so vivid. They practiced bleeding their own blood, but preferred the blood of other people and practiced it on a more serious level compared to the Mayans.
Mayan sacrifices
For the Mayans, sacrifices were a part of life. The Mayans saw the world as a mixture of physical matter and spiritual energy (Munson, Amati, Collard, Macri 2014). This was reflected in religion and politics, which were interconnected in Mayan society. Sacrifice was an important means of demonstrating faith. If a state could sacrifice other people, it was a sign of its power, and if enemies were captured, sacrifice was also a means of absorbing their power and influence (Willey 1990). When the Mayans performed human sacrifices, they often performed a ritual ceremony that culminated in the beheading of the victim. In some cases, instead of beheading, a more ceremonial sacrifice was required and then the hearts were mainly removed from the bodies of the victims. Very often it is this practice that attracts the attention of the media and cinema because it is extremely dramatic. For the Maya, removing hearts from the chest was not typical, perhaps because it was quite difficult. Unlike the films, which show the priest supposedly cutting through the chest and tearing out the heart, to effectively remove it, one must make an incision under the chest near the stomach, and then from inside get to the heart and in this way rip it out. Or use any tools for this as a lever in order to push the ribs apart and, breaking them, get to the heart. In this case, the victim will be alive and it is necessary to take into account its shaking, which greatly complicates the process. Thus, everything indicates that beheading is the best method of sacrifice. In addition to trust, the Mayan rulers were considered the descendants of the gods, which is reflected in their titles when the title “Sacred Lord” was used before the name. Sacred lords were expected to bleed and mutilate themselves for the prosperity of those they ruled, since their blood nourished the divine universe and was the element that made them the ruling class (Bower 1986). Self-sacrifice was done to gain good fortune during military campaigns and was a means of communicating with the gods for advice. Before starting a military campaign, the Sacred Lords pierced their penis with a stingray spine, or with a needle made of jadeite or obsidian. It is speculated that in some cases the excessive hemorrhage resulted in hallucinations through which the Sacred Lords were able to speak to the gods and learn the truth (Bower 1986). Sacrifices were performed in temples in honor of spirits and deities, but in addition to the religious and political aspects, it was also part of sporting events. Sporting events were held on the ball court, and the game itself, worthy of its own study, had religious significance and was a form of entertainment, as well as symbolism linking it to mythological events (Lloyd 2004). Unlike our sports games, the Mayan ball game, according to some people, ended for the losing team either with the death of all the players on the sacrificial bed, or only the captain (Zaccagnini 2003). They could actually play, but they could also imitate the game, including it in a ceremony with sacrifices (Lloyd 2004). Captured foreign kings were highly valued players in these dramatized versions of the games—people could watch their own king defeat a foreign ruler and ritually usurp his power and influence (Zaccagnini 2003). Mayan sacrifices were an integral part of their life, defining the social, political and religious sphere of society.
Aztec sacrifices
The practice of sacrifice among the Aztecs was associated with war. And this, undoubtedly, happened at the request of the Mexica, who were the dominant force in the Triple Alliance. The actual emperors, the rulers of the Mexica, had the opportunity to forcibly implant their militarized gods in the territories they controlled. The Mexica war god Huitzilopochtli was a prime example of this militarization of the gods and he personally needed to make separate sacrifices. Huitzilopochtli was the patron god of the Mexica. The Aztecs had a good regulation of how it was necessary to appease the gods - each god demanded a certain type of sacrifice and for this it was necessary to sacrifice or mutilate a certain number of victims. The Aztecs used sacrifice as a tool to demonstrate political power and did this through bloody terror, to call a spade a spade. Visiting [Aztec] high-status dignitaries no doubt saw those sacrificed in a horrific manner on top of the Templo Mayor. After all, the Aztecs practiced sacrifice by removing the heart (Smith 2012). Human sacrifices played a greater role in the Aztec Empire than among the Mayans. The victims were first ceremonially washed and then brought to the pyramid temple where the sacrificial knife was kept (Smith 2012). Here the victim was held by four priests while a fifth priest used a sacrificial knife to remove the heart (Smith 2012). The removed heart was dedicated to the sun. The body was then thrown down the stairs, leaving a trail of blood, and the head was cut off to be placed in a special frame for skulls (Smith 2012). Dedicating sacrifice and blood to the sun was a common practice among the Aztecs and has its roots in their mythology. In Aztec mythology, two gods were burned alive to become two suns. One was the true sun, and the second was the moon, and when they first rose into the sky, they froze, bringing suffering to everyone on earth. And then all the gods sacrificed their blood so that the two suns began to move across the sky. And only when the gods had shed all their blood, only then did the suns begin to move. Only the bloody sacrifice of the gods allowed the world in which we live to exist, and only constant sacrifices will allow our world to continue to exist in the future. There are two versions of this myth. According to one version, the gods themselves donated their blood, according to another, Quetzalcoatl killed all the gods, and thanks to the sacrificed blood, the suns began to move. I believe that the two versions of this myth tell us about two variations of sacrifices. The sacrifices of the gods by Quetzalcoatl, the wind god, formed the basis for human sacrifices by tearing out their hearts (Amlin 2013). On the other hand, the self-sacrifice of the gods speaks of the necessity and self-sacrifice of people. Regardless of whether the donation of the blood of the gods was voluntary or not, the Aztecs believed that humanity was infinitely in debt to them and was obliged to pay it. The idea of blood debt formed the basis of self-sacrifice and human sacrifice. It was the idea of blood debt that led the Aztecs to believe that the sacrifice of their own blood and the blood of other people literally made the sun move. Aztec priests were required to perform bloodletting ceremonies every night to ensure that the sun would rise the next day (Smith 2012). The Aztecs used maguey spines for bloodletting. Typically the earlobes and tops of the ears were pierced, but tongues, thighs, the arm from elbow to shoulder, chest and genitals were also often used (Smith 2012). A key distinguishing characteristic of the Aztec form of sacrifice was the concept of ishiptla. Ishiptla was something that affected the impersonator of the deity, the representative of the god (Smith 2012). Such sacrifices were prepared well in advance, sometimes up to a year before the sacrifice, and were treated as if they were gods during preparation (Smith 2012). Impersonators were highly revered and accompanied with honor until their death (Smith 2012). Many of them were selected from captured warriors, and this is the kind of death that every warrior craved. Very similar to this method of sacrifice were the mock fights organized by the Aztecs, which were a demonstration of the military aspects of society. This type of sacrifice was necessary to pacify Xipe Totec and can be compared to gladiatorial fights in Rome. True, gladiators in Rome had a chance to survive in battle, and those who were prepared for sacrifice to Xipe Totec were given swords with feather blades, and they themselves were tied with a long rope to a stone and Mexica warriors, fully equipped with weapons and armor, were released on them. Such a death, like Ishiptla's, was considered honorable and desirable (Smith 2012). The victims in such mock battles were often enemy warriors, and by sacrificing them in this way, the one who captured them could increase his prestige (Smith 2012). Xipe Totec had to offer other kinds of sacrifices. The priests of Xipe Totec skinned victims in such a way that they could then sew the skin into clothing that they wore (Smith 2012).
Sacrifices among the Incas
The Incas made sacrifices to celebrate religious holidays, to mark any events in the life of the Sapa Inca, and also for the purposes of fortune telling and healing. The Incas offered food and items made of precious metals as sacrifices to the gods and spirits of their ancestors. Among the Incan gods, like the Aztec, sacrifices were regulated, as was the case with every Wak'a. Animals, particularly the lama and kuy, were often sacrificed before human sacrifice. Inca victims could have been men of the age to become warriors, or they could have been captured warriors themselves (Besom, 2010). The most common victims among the Incas were the kapak hucha. Kapak hucha were children between the ages of 4 and 10, selected from the entire population of the empire for their superior physical characteristics (Besom, 2009). Kapak hucha were not supposed to have any physical defects, moles or scars, not even freckles (Besom, 2009). Another important requirement for kapak hucha was their virginity. This is probably why they were selected at such an early age - the younger the person, the purer he is and the better the gods will be appeased. In addition, the priests who were to perform the sacrifices were required to fast, bathe, and abstain from sexual activity before the ritual began (Besom, 2009). Kapak hucha girls were often raised by mamakona before the sacrifices, while boys were usually sent straight to Cuzco (Besom, 2009). When the Kapak Hucha entered Cuzco, the population of the city immediately showed them respect and reverence. Many were sacrificed directly in Cuzco, but a significant number were sent to the Wak'am located throughout the empire (Besom, 2009). The Kapak Hucha and their retinue were not allowed to travel on imperial roads, but were forced to cross rough terrain in as straight a line as possible. Everyone who met them along the route had to fall on their faces as a sign of respect for the kapak hucha and remain in this position until the procession passed by (Besom, 2009). Upon arrival in Cuzco, the kapak hucha were displayed to the Sapa Inca and then distributed around the Qoricancha by the priests. Methods of killing usually included strangulation, incl. with a rope, hitting the crown or back of the neck, as well as tearing out hearts, slitting throats and drowning (Besom, 2010). Sacrifices were supposed to appease the gods and protect against failures and disasters. Another method of sacrifice was burial alive. Apparently, this was a fairly common method of sacrifice - a hole was dug using only sharp sticks, then a kapak hucha was placed in it and offerings were laid out around the victim, after which the hole was filled up (Besom, 2010). It was assumed that all victims, regardless of the methods of killing, should have approached the moment of death happy and satisfied - until the last kapak hucha they were fed richly, forced to drink corn beer and chew coca leaves, and they met their death heavily drugged and intoxicated (Besom, 2010). Probably because it was easier for the priests to sacrifice heavily intoxicated people. Those sacrificed by the Incas were often deified immediately after death and then honored in annual ceremonies. Sometimes relatives accompanied the kapak hucha to the place of sacrifice; the child could be brought here by his mother and this was not something unusual (Besom, 2009). The death of children could benefit their families not only metaphysically, for example, there is a known case when the younger brother of a kapak hucha, a girl named Tanta Karua, was made a priest of the sister’s cult and he had to answer questions addressed to the spirit of the girl (Besom, 2009). Blood among the Incas did not play such a significant role in sacrifices as it did in Mayan and Aztec societies, but it cannot be said that it was completely insignificant. The blood of the kapak hucha was used as paint to paint a stripe on the face of the idol, which was drawn from ear to ear (Besom, 2009). Among other reasons why the Incas performed sacrifices, the following stand out: healing, fortune telling and reverence for the earth. On the tops of particularly high mountains, naturally formed mummies of people are found, which were brought here as special offerings. Sapa Inca often performed infant sacrifices so that the oracles would tell him important information about the state (Besom, 2010). There was another belief about sacrificial exchange. With such a sacrifice, one life was exchanged for another. When Sapa Inca fell ill, several kapak hucha were sacrificed so that by their death they would ensure his recovery (Besom, 2010). For the Incas, sacrifices were a solution to many problems, be it illnesses, disasters or someone's machinations; many sacrifices were also performed as preventive measures.
Conclusions and comparison
The differences between Mayan and Aztec sacrifices were contextual. Both the Mayans and Aztecs used sacrifice for religious, political, and social purposes—in both societies it helped consolidate the power of the ruling class. However, among the Aztecs, sacrifices in honor of each god were strictly regulated; they required a certain ritual and an exact number of victims. The Mayans did not have such strict rules and often one form of sacrifice could be replaced by another. Large-scale human sacrifices were characteristic of the Aztecs, while the Mayans were more characterized by self-sacrifice through self-mutilation and bloodletting. The tools that were used for this also differed - the Aztecs used maguey spines, and the Mayans used stingray spines and bone needles. Unlike the Mayans, the Aztecs, due to their commitment to human sacrifice, developed many methods of sacrifice (including skinning and ritual cannibalism). The following phrase best explains the difference between them - the Mayans lived to shed blood, and the Aztecs shed blood to live. In the case of the Incas, we have a completely different story here, as they were not fixated on blood or blood debt, instead they believed that death appeased the gods and served as a guarantee against failure. The Incas did not practice bloodletting as a form of self-sacrifice. The Incas were the only ones who paid attention to the purity of the victim before the sacrifice. In the Aztec Empire, there was a preparatory process and fasting, but physical purity was not a necessary element of the sacrifices. Another main distinguishing feature of Inca sacrifices was the focus on child sacrifices, kapak hucha. And this set them apart from others. They were also the only ones of the three communities who deified and worshiped the sacrificed. In the Aztec Empire, there was some degree of deification of future victims until the moment of their death, but after that they were not treated in the same way as the Incas, when they became literally semi-divine entities, at least some of them. The Incas' methods of killing victims were more varied than those of the other two societies. Only the Incas buried victims alive, and neither the Aztecs nor the Mayans used such a method of killing as drowning. The Incas had more methods of sacrifice, the more extensive their empire was. An interesting similarity between the three communities is the practice of extracting hearts. Although the Incas and Mayans were not so keen on this method in comparison with the Aztecs, at the same time it is found in their ritual practice. The practice of human sacrifice unites these communities, and although the means and motives of the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans varied significantly, they all performed human sacrifices to appease their gods and protect their people from an unpredictable future. Sacrifice was an essential and integral part of the religious and social life of Meso- and South America. In one Inca prayer the following words are said: “Oh, merciful creator! You who are on the edge of the world” - in them we see how the gods were simultaneously revered and feared (D’Altroy, 2015). Fear and respect were prevalent in these communities and these feelings led to the practice of sacrifice as a way of expressing gratitude for creation and as a means of preventing the destruction of humanity.
Used materials
2013, The Five Suns, A Sacred History of Mexico, Online Youtube Video, ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITstgdnmp6Y)
2009, Of Summits and Sacrifice: An Ethnohistoric Study of Inka Religious Practices University of Texas Press, Austin.
2010, Inka Sacrifice and the Mummy of Salinas Grandes, Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 21, No. 4, pg. 399-422, New York.
1986, Blood and Sacrifice, Society for Science and the Public, Washington DC.
D'Altroy Terence N.
2015, The Incas, Blackwell Publishing, West Sussex, UK.
1984, Human Sacrifice at Tenochtitlan,
2013, Ancient Inca, Cambridge University Press, New York.
2004, Saving a Mayan Game of Sacrifice, Online Publication.
Munson Jessica, Viviana Amati, Mark Collard, Martha J. Macri
2014 Classic Maya Bloodletting and the Cultural Evolution of Religious Rituals: Quantifying Patterns of Variation in Hieroglyphic Texts, Plos One, Online Publication.
Smith Michael E.
2012, The Aztecs, Wiley-Blackwell, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
1989, Maya Bloodletting and the Number Three, Trustees of Indiana University, Indiana.
Willey Gordon R.
1990, Ancient Maya Politics, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. Cuy is the Quechuan name for guinea pig.
Mamakona - virgin priestesses of the Incas.
Coricancha - “Golden Temple” in Quechua, the main temple of the Inca Empire.
The Aztecs practiced drowning children during dry periods. Before being sacrificed, children were forced to cry - the Aztecs believed that this would help bring rain.
If the people of the past knew that the time would come when the major religions would become monolithic, they probably would not have seen the need for meaningless human sacrifices. However, human sacrifice was common throughout the world, and varied in scope. And the manner in which they were carried out is horrifying.
1. Thugs from India
Bandits in India are commonly referred to as "thugs", a word synonymous with the Indian word "crook". This group was spread throughout India and varied in number from a few to hundreds. The thugs typically posed as tourists, and offered travelers company and protection. They then carefully watched their victims for several days or even weeks, waiting for the moment when the victim would be vulnerable to attack.
They performed their sacrifices in the latest “ritual fashion.” They believed that blood should not be shed, so they either strangled or poisoned their victims. It is estimated that over a million people died at the hands of Indian thugs between 1740 and 1840, and several mass graves have also been discovered in which the Thugas are believed to have made ritual sacrifices to their goddess Kali.
2. Victims of The Wicker Man
This type of ritual sacrifice was invented by the Celts, according to Julius Caesar, and involved the mass burning of people and animals in a structure that was shaped like a giant man. The Celts made sacrifices to their pagan gods in order to ensure that the year would be fertile, or to ensure victory in war, or in some other endeavor.
The first thing the Celts did was place animals in the “wicker man.” If there were not enough animals, they placed captive enemies, or even innocent people, there, covered the entire structure with wood and straw, and set it on fire.
Some people believe that the "wicker man" was invented by Caesar in order to portray his enemies as complete barbarians and gain political support. But in any case, the “wicker man” was, and remains, an incredibly frightening form of sacrifice.
3. Mayan sacrifices in sinkholes
© National Geographic The Mayans are well known for all kinds of ritual sacrifices. Offering living people to the gods was an important part of their religious practice. One such practice was the sacrifice of people in sinkholes where the Mayans jumped. The Mayans believed that such sinkholes were gateways to the underworld, and that by offering sacrifices to local spirits they could appease them. They believed that if the spirits of the dead did not calm down, they could bring misfortune to the Maya, such as drought, as well as disease or war. For these reasons, they often forced people to jump into sinkholes, and some of them did so of their own free will. Researchers have discovered numerous sinkholes in South America literally littered with human bones, clearly indicating the extent to which the Mayans practiced religious human sacrifice.
4. Victims in buildings
One of the most terrible practices of humanity is the custom of burying people in the foundations of buildings in order to strengthen them. This practice has been adopted in parts of Asia, Europe, and North and South America. It was assumed that the larger the house, the more victims there should be. These victims ranged from small animals to hundreds of people. For example, Crown Prince Tsai in China was sacrificed in order to more reliably strengthen the dam.
5 Aztec Human Sacrifice
The Aztecs believed that human sacrifice was necessary to keep the sun moving across the sky. This means that thousands of people were sacrificed every year. The Aztecs had huge pyramidal structures, with steps leading to the top, on which was a sacrificial table. There people were killed, and their hearts were torn out of their chests and raised to the Sun. The bodies of the people were then thrown down the steps to the cheering crowd. Many bodies were fed to animals, others were hung from trees, and cases of cannibalism were also known. In addition to sacrificing at the pyramids, the Aztecs also burned people, shot them with arrows, or forced them to kill each other, just like gladiators did.
6. Sacrifices of African albinos
The worst thing about African albino sacrifices is that they are still widely practiced in Africa today. Some Africans still believe that albino body parts are powerful occult objects that can be useful in witchcraft. They hunt for various body parts, they are collected due to their high occult value. For example, albino hands are believed to bring financial success, a tongue is believed to bring good luck, and genitals can cure impotence. Belief in the magical potential of albino body parts has led to the murder of thousands of people, both adults and children. Many albinos are forced to hide because they fear for their lives.
7. Inca Child Sacrifices
The Incas were a tribe in South America. Their culture was heavily influenced by their religious practices, which heavily involved human sacrifice. Unlike other tribes and cultures that allowed the sacrifice of slaves, captives or enemies, the Incas believed that sacrifices should be valuable. For this reason, the Incas sacrificed the children of high-ranking officials, the children of priests, leaders, and healers. Children began to be prepared several months in advance. They were fed, washed daily, and were provided with workers who were obliged to fulfill all their whims and desires. When the children were ready, they headed to the Andes. At the top of the mountain there was a temple where children were beheaded and sacrificed.
8. Lafkench tribe
In 1960, the strongest earthquake in history hit Chile. As a result, a devastating tsunami occurred off the Chilean coast, killing thousands of people and destroying huge numbers of homes and property. Today it is known as the Great Chilean Earthquake. It caused widespread fear and various speculations among the Chilean people. The Chileans came to the conclusion that the god of the sea was angry with them, and therefore they decided to make a sacrifice to him. They chose a five-year-old child and killed him in the most terrible way: they cut off his arms and legs, and put it all on poles, on the beach, overlooking the sea, so that the god of the sea would calm down.
9. Child sacrifices in Carthage
Child sacrifice was very popular in ancient cultures, probably because people believed that children had innocent souls and were therefore the most acceptable sacrifices to the gods. The Carthaginians had a sacrificial pit with fire into which they threw children and their parents. This practice outraged the parents of Carthage, who were tired of their children being killed. As a result, they decided to buy children from neighboring tribes. During times of great disaster, such as drought, famine or war, the priests demanded that even young people be sacrificed. At such times, it happened that up to 500 people were sacrificed. The ritual was carried out on a moonlit night, the victims were killed quickly, and their bodies were thrown into a fiery pit, and all this was accompanied by loud singing and dancing.
10. Joshua Milton Blahy: Naked Liberian Cannibal Warlord
Liberia is a country in Africa that has experienced decades of civil war. The civil war in the country began due to a number of political reasons, and we witnessed the emergence of several rebel groups fighting for their interests. Very often their guerrilla warfare was surrounded by superstition and witchcraft.
One interesting case was that of Joshua Milton Blahey, a warlord who believed that fighting naked could somehow make him invulnerable to bullets.
His madness did not end there.
He practiced many forms of human sacrifice. He was well known as a cannibal, and ate prisoners of war by slowly roasting them over an open fire, or by boiling their meat. Moreover, he believed that eating children's hearts would make him a braver fighter, so when his army raided villages, he stole children from them in order to harvest their hearts.
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The Aztec Empire began around the mid-1350s. in Mexico. It consisted of three city-states, which at its height had a population of 5 million people. The capital of the Aztecs, the city of Tenochtitlan (which today is called Mexico City), had a population of 200,000 people. Their culture was complex, rich and multifaceted, with a strong economic system. They created a 365-day farming calendar. The Aztecs also had a very strong army which helped feed their bloodthirsty culture.
Here are some details about her...
- They preferred to capture rather than kill
Unlike many other ancient warriors, the Aztecs did not want to kill their enemies on the battlefield. Instead, they wanted to capture them. The death of the enemy during the battle was actually considered the clumsiness of the warrior, who could not capture him alive in order to return with him to the famous capital of Tenochtitlan.
Since capturing the enemy was quite a difficult task, it became a measure of the warriors' skill. This also served to advance his career and increase his authority. For example, to become a Jaguar or Eagle warrior, the warrior needed to capture four enemies.
- They practiced human sacrifice
The Aztecs had a complex pantheon of gods. They had hundreds, if not thousands of gods, and the gods were responsible for everything. The gods influenced the sun to rise or the rain to fall. The Aztecs also believed that the gods needed to feed on blood. One of the ways to feed the gods was bloodletting, for which people made cuts on their faces. People in society had to sacrifice their blood to the gods. Another way the Aztecs fed their gods was by killing enemy warriors. This is why capturing living enemies was so important. They were needed for sacrifices to the gods.
The practice of hunting and capturing enemy soldiers was called flower warfare. Sacrifices were always needed, so the Aztecs constantly waged flower wars with their neighbors. The War of the Flowers was fought in other city-states in Central America, but the Aztecs actively raided the nearby cities of Tlaxcala.
How many people were sacrificed during one ceremony? The number can vary from one to several thousand. The sacrifices were taken to the top of the pyramid and placed on the altar. The priest made an incision under the ribs, and then put his hand into the wound and penetrated into the chest cavity. Then he would abruptly rip out the victim's heart, and yank it out while it was still beating. The body of the sacrificed person was pushed down the steps of the pyramid.
- Scary Macuahuitl
The most destructive weapon used by the Aztec warriors was the Macuahuitl, which means “hungry tree.” The Aztecs were advanced in many ways, but they did not have metal weapons. Instead, they used a macuahuitl, a flat wooden bat with razor-sharp volcanic stones (obsidian) embedded around the edges of the bat.
Apparently the weapon was powerful enough to kill a person. According to an account from the Spanish invasion, an Aztec warrior even used a macuahuitl to decapitate a horse with one blow.
- Versions of the afterlife were... different
In the afterlife, most religions tend to reward people for the way they lived. However, it was a little different in the Aztec religion because the deciding factor on whether a person would live in the afterlife was how the person died. The Aztecs had four different afterlifes.
There was one afterlife in the West. Warriors who proved their loyalty to the Aztecs and participated in wars many times ended up here. They were here helping God Huitzilopochtli fight against darkness so that the sun would rise every day. Deceased warriors stayed in this afterlife for four years before returning to earth, like hummingbirds or some other exotic birds.
Another afterlife was in the east, where women who died during childbirth ended up, and some warriors who also died during the war or were victims ended up here. They helped prepare the sun for their journey to the underworld.
The Southern Afterlife hosted people who died because they were struck by lightning, drowned, or died from leprosy or other disease. In that afterlife they had plenty of food.
And finally, the afterlife in the north was called Mictlan. It was for people who died an ordinary death, from old age. In this afterlife, souls had four years to complete eight levels of difficulty, which included climbing an obsidian mountain, traveling through a forest of beasts that fed on human hearts. At the ninth level, the souls of these dead finally found their peace.
- Every man was trained to fight.
The Aztecs did not have official army status. Instead, each man received military training. But their training began quite late, compared to many other warrior cultures. Aztec boys lived with their families until adolescence and did manual labor around the house. From that time on, they learned the necessary skills that helped them become good warriors. However, boys of noble birth probably began their education much earlier, sometimes as early as six years of age.
When the boys turned 13 years old, they were sent to study in the capital, at a training ground called Chalmekach. There they were taught to read and write. They taught the calendar and studied astronomy. When they turned 15, the boys went to the Tempococalli warrior training, where veteran warriors taught the boys.
- Aztec Warrior Levels
The Aztec army had three different levels. The first level consisted of Jaguars and Eagles. There wasn't much difference between them except for their outfits.
Above the Jaguars and Eagles in the hierarchy were the soldiers who managed to capture five or six of the enemy. Such warriors were called Otomis. At this level, warriors received their own shield and macuahuitl. Above stood the most elite fighting force in the Aztec army, cutters and close. They received this name because they shaved their heads but kept a long braid of hair on the left side of their heads and wore yellow uniforms. To become a Shearer, a warrior must capture at least 20 people. The Shorn Ones took a vow that they would not retreat during battles.
- They used psychological warfare
Jaguars and Eagles, despite the fact that they were the same in level, they dressed completely differently. As you can guess, they dressed like their namesakes. The eagles were decorated with feathers and wore wooden helmets that were made in the shape of an eagle's head. Jaguars, on the other hand, wore jaguar skins, and a helmet similar to a jaguar's head.
The Aztecs believed that this form of warriors would have a psychological effect on the enemy. Sudden attacks by fast-moving and agile animals should frighten their opponents. In addition, during the attack, the Aztecs beat drums and shouted a lot, instilling even more fear in the enemy.
- God of fire and wisdom, Huehueteotl
Human sacrifice was important to the Aztecs. Some of the most notable sacrifices were made to Huehueteotl, the God of fire and wisdom.
There were two different methods of sacrifice, and both were horrific. The first method is that the victim was thrown into a pit full of hot coals, while priests dressed in black robes danced ritual dances. Then the living victim was pulled out of the pit with hooks and placed on the altar. The blistered chest was then opened and the heart was removed. Another method of sacrifice was carried out once every 52 years. After removing the heart, the priest lit a fire in the victim's chest. If the fire was good, it was believed that the empire would prosper for the next 52 years. However, if the fire did not engage, then this served as a sign that the monster Chichimime would soon come and he would use the darkness to hunt and eat all people.
- Totek Xip, and even more cruel rituals
The most exciting ritual performed by Aztec warriors was the tribute to Totec Xipu. It was the God of spring and agriculture, who also helped the transition of boys into men.
Totek Xip was celebrated every spring in March. During the celebrations, three disgusting rituals were performed. During the first ritual, the heart was removed from the victim, as usual. Then she was skinned. The skin was dyed yellow, and the priests wore the skin, which they called teocuitlacuemitz (“golden robes”) for 20 days. Shedding skin was a symbol of how the earth changes color from winter to spring. The second victim was tied to a frame and shot with arrows. The man slowly bled to death while the event participants sang hymns.
The third sacrifice was called the "gladiatorial sacrifice." Near the temple dedicated to Totek Xip, a captured warrior was forced to drink octli, an alcoholic drink. He was then given primitive weapons and protection. During the show, this captive had to fight off four fully clothed and heavily armed Aztec warriors, two Jaguars and Eagles.
If the Aztecs wounded a victim, he was taken to the altar, where his heart was torn out. However, if the victim fought off two Eagles and two Jaguars, then the captive was also given an alcoholic drink. The battle continued until the prisoner was wounded, and then he was sacrificed.
- Fall of the Aztecs
It is known that many of the sacrifices were carried out by Aztecs from the nearby city of Tlaxcala. Interestingly, the Aztecs were an unusually powerful civilization and could easily have captured Tlaxcala, but did not. Instead, they more or less used the city as a “farm” for human sacrifice. For reasons that should be obvious, the people of Tlaxcala hated the Aztecs, which ultimately helped the Spanish defeat them.
When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and 400 soldiers landed in Mexico, they entered into an alliance with the people of Tlaxcala. The Aztecs brought the Spaniards to their capital, mistaking Cortez for the God Quetzalcoatl because of his white skin. This allowed Cortez to get closer to the Aztec leader Montezuma II and his immediate circle. Despite the significant numerical advantage, the Spaniards' weapons were much better than those of the Aztecs and they quickly took the highest echelon of the Aztec civilization hostage. The nobles and Montezuma were executed. Eventually, the Aztecs recovered from the loss of their leaders and decided to pursue the Spaniards who had left the capital. However, the Spaniards, together with the warriors of Tlaxcala, defeated the Aztecs on August 13, 1521. It is believed that almost a quarter of a million Aztecs died during the Conquest.
sources
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