What symbols do you see in this image?
Who are the people depicted in the
transparency and what are they doing?
What is in the center of the picture?
Have you seen this symbol before?
What might the thick blue lines represent?
What do you think the artist was trying to tell
us?
)
Entered valley of Mexico in the 13th century
(we don’t know why)
Considered vulgar by neighbors
Served as mercenaries for neighbors
Drove to live in a snake-filled wasteland.
adapted – used snakes for food, found a way to
till the soil and used the rocks to build houses
from.
Eventually fled to marshes of Lake Texcoco
after Coxcox declared war on them for
sacrificing his daughter
Used chinampas – floating gardens – to
grow food
 Created canals for trade and
transportation
 Found food in lake like algae
and ducks

DRAWBRIDGES
FOR protection
Aqueducts for
freshwater
Clean
Temples, plazas
The floating city
3 causeways joined Tenochtitlan to the
shores of Lake Texcoco
Canals served as roads for canoes
City contained 80,000 – 250,000 people
ISLAND IN LAKE TEXCOCO = capital
with causeways to mainland
TENOCHTITLAN 200,000- 250,000 in city
(4x pop. of London in 1500)
Bustling markets
At great market 60,000 people gathered
daily
Used the barter system
Cacao beans sometimes used as
currency
Architectural
wonders
Double
pyramid
dedicated to:
patron god
of Aztec –
Hummingbird
large skull rack held thousands
god of rain of human skulls
Noble’s houses were very
elaborate
SKULL RACK
TEMPLE MAYOR
Major temple
1978 found in
Mexico City
After building Tenochtitlan, Aztecs
destroyed all records of their past
created a more favorable history
Priests taught that the Aztecs were
nomads who built Tenochtitlan on a spot
designated by the gods
What do you see happening in this picture?
Life was uncertain – all at mercy of nature
Used sacrifices to satisfy gods
100’s of named gods and goddesses
spirits or forces
many were transformations
Feathered Serpent
Quetzal bird and snake
Quetzal god
Rain god
Tlaloc
War god
Huitzilopoctli
(wee-zil-o-poch-tli
War god – needed to be fed every day
Tonalli = animating spirit
is located in the blood
blood concentrates in the
heart when scared
Without sacrifice all
MOTION Stops
Sun would not rise
World would come to an end
sacrifice kept world in balance
Royal Family
Emperors chosen from royal family based on
merit
Royal wives were greatly respected (and often
there were many – Nezahualpilli of Texcoc had 2000
wives and 144 children. Moctezuma II had at least 1000
wives)
All members were expected to be dignified
and brave
Nobles
Priests, military officers, government leaders
Nobility not inherited; earned on battlefields
or in pursuit of priesthood
Held special privileges; fine clothes, beautiful
homes, jewels, servants
Merchants
Provided Tenochtitlan with imported goods
Traveled great distances (into Central
America) to negotiate deals
Commoners
Farmers, laborers, craftsmen, servants,
vendors
Lived in wards (called calpullis -later called
barrios by Spanish)
Serfs
Worked in fields or estates of the wealthy
Had freedom, but considered inferior to
commoners – not considered citizens
Slaves
Had some legal rights; it wasn’t horrible to
be a slave or to have been a slave
People could sell themselves into slavery to
pay off a debt or a crime – could earn way
out of slavery and climb the social ladder