Ancient Mexico
Mayan, Incan, and Aztec
Civilizations
By: Mrs. Meredith Sanders
Teotihuacan
4 well-known
buildings in this
ancient city:
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Moon
Temple of Quetzalcoatl
Temple of the Jaguars
Olmecs
 They were the first
major Indian Tribe.
 Olmec means “rubber
people.”
 Two major cities were
San Lorenzo and La
Venta.
 They used a form of
picture writing; had a
number system and
calendar.
“Rubber people”
 The Aztec
Indians gave
the tribe this
name because
the Olmecs
supplied them
with sap from
rubber trees.
Mayas
 Appearance: Short in
height, straight black
hair, painted their
bodies, had tattoos,
valued crossed-eyes
and flat foreheads
 Three eras: preclassic, classic, and
post-classic
 Mayans used glyphs in
their writing.
Glyphs
Their glyph writing (picture) expanded
largely using about 800 different
glyphs.
Mayan Religion
 Worshipped many different gods
 Each day, month, city, and occupation had its special





god or goddess
Had a variety of religious festivals and celebrations
Most ceremonies includes human sacrifices
In many ceremonies, the priests cut themselves to
get blood to present to the gods
Their religion taught that there were 13 layers of
heaven above the earth & 9 underworlds below
Worshipped the dead
Human Sacrifices
The Mayas had 3 methods of giving the human
sacrifices:
1.
2.
3.
The priests took the victim to the altar at the temple
and cut the heart out of the living victim and
presented it to the god.
The priests tied the victim to a wooden pole and
threw spears and arrows at the victim’s chest in the
area of the heart.
They threw the victim into a sacred well. If they
survived the fall and did not drown, the priests
pulled them back out of the well; believing that the
god spared that victim.
Worshipping the Dead
 They believed the dead became one
with the gods.
 They worshipped their ancestors at
many religious ceremonies.
 They also built pyramids over the
sacred remains of their dead rulers.
Aztecs
 This ancient tribe
wandered for many
years
 Founded their greatest
city, Tenochtitlan (this
is the site of modern
Mexico City)
 They belonged to a
large family group
called calpolli, meaning
“big house” or clan.
Calpolli
 Each calpolli elected its own officials to run its

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
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business. They were a true democracy and voted
on decisions.
Women did not have a vote.
Calpolli expected all of its able-bodied men to
fight any wars. The men considered it an honor
to fight for their clan.
The family arranged for all marriages. A young
person could only marry someone outside the
clan.
A woman who married now joined her husband’s
clan.
The
End
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