Belmont Academy
Department
Of
History
S1 HISTORY
INVESTIGATION
INFORMATION BOOK:
THE AZTECS
Department of History
S1 History Investigation – The Aztecs
In this booklet you will find information about The Aztecs
to help you with your History Investigation.
You should already have decided what topics you wish to
investigate and you should use this information along with
the other sources you can find in textbooks or in the
library to research your topics.
The booklet is divided into six chapters:
1. Aztec Religion and Gods
Pg 2-4
2. Aztec Food
Pg 5-6
3. Aztec Dress and Appearance
Pg 7-9
4. Aztec Warfare
Pg 10-12
5. Aztec Entertainment
Pg 13-14
6. Aztec Writing and Communication
Pg 15-17
You should Record information from the evidence you
have in this booklet by taking notes and using these notes
along with other things you discovered to help you answer
the questions you set yourself to do when you Planned the
Investigation. When all of this has been completed you will
Present your findings.
AZTEC RELIGION AND GODS
Religion was a very important part of Aztec life and it affected everything they did. The
Aztecs worshipped many different Gods and each God had a role to play in how the Aztecs
lived their lives.
The Aztecs believed that the Gods watched them constantly and would become angry if the
people did not carry out their wishes and honour them by having festivals and sacrifices at the
correct times. Only if the Gods were happy would the sun rise and fall, the rain make the
crops grow and Aztecs armies win battles. All of these things were necessary if the Aztecs
were to survive.
Below is information about the main Aztec Gods:
Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli was one of the main Aztec Gods. His name meant ‘Left-Handed Humming
Bird’ or ‘Humming Bird of the South’. The Aztecs, particularly the warriors in Aztec society,
considered themselves to be his chosen people. His mother, Coatlicue, was the Earth Goddess
and had given birth to the moon and stars.
As well as being a warrior God, Huitzilopochtli represented the sun. The sun was involved in
a battle against the darkness of night, which was never-ending. Each morning the sun was
born again and each night his combat with the moon and stars happened. The Aztecs were
terrified that Huitzilopochtli would grow weak. To them, this meant that the sun would not
rise and that they would die.
To give Huitzilopochtli nourishment and keep him strong the Aztecs fed him human hearts
taken from slaves or captured warriors. These victims were sacrificed to the Gods at the top
of Aztec temples. Every year the Aztecs fought a special war called the ‘War of the
Flowers’ to capture victims they sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli.
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl was the son of the two most ancient Aztec Gods. After fighting with his brother
Tezcatlicopa, Quetzalcoatl created mankind so the Aztecs saw him as a very important God.
Quetzalcoatl was also the Aztec God of Learning, of crafts and of the wind. His name meant
‘plumed Serpent’ and he is usually shown with a human face in the open jaws of a feathered
snake.
Tlaloc
Tlaloc was the Aztec rain God and his name means ‘He who makes things grow’. He was
the God necessary to send rains to make the crops grow. Usually Tlaloc liked people but if he
was angry then he might send floods, lightning, frost, sleet or rain which could ruin crops,
and the Aztecs would starve.
The Aztecs sacrificed little children to Tlaloc in the first and third months of the year. Their
tears symbolised the falling rain and the more they wept the better the chances would be of
rain coming. In the sixth month of the year the Aztec priests bathed in Lake Texcoco for four
consecutive days to honour Tlaloc and they drowned criminals in the water to make Tlaloc
happy.
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca was the brother of Quetzalcoatl. He was also his big rival. Tezcatlipoca could
both give and take away life. He was eternally young and always invisible but he could see
everything that happened in the world. He was the God of the night sky and his face was
painted black to show that he was night God.
Other Aztec Gods
a. Chachiuatlicue
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Goddess of the Waters
b. Chicumecoatl
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Goddess of ripe maize (used to make food)
c. Coatlicue
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The Earth Goddess, mother of the moon and stars
Aztec Priests and Sacrifices
Priests and priestesses were very important in Aztec society. They made the calendars and
kept the time, which gave them great power because they alone knew the best time to
perform the ceremonies and sacrifices.
The Priests looked after the great temples in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital (today this is
Mexico City) and in the other cities in the Aztec Empire. They claimed to be able to forecast
the future and that they could talk to the Gods. Aztec priests were not allowed to marry and
they had to follow a very strict daily routine – praying at the temple four times a day and five
times a night. They would even give small amounts of their own blood to Huitzilopochtli, the
Sun God, to feed him.
It was the job of the senior priests to perform the human sacrifices to appease the Gods. The
victims were given drugs to prevent them resisting as they climbed the steps of the pyramids
where the priests were waiting to cut out their hearts and offer them up to the Gods.
The Aztecs also believed in magic. The number 20 was a magic number because it was the
number of fingers and toes a person had. There were 20 named days in the Aztec calendar
and each day was dedicated to a special God. On these days miracles could happen if the
Gods were pleased.
AZTEC FOOD
In Aztec times the capital city, Mexico – Tenochtilan, was rich in vegetables and these
formed a central part of the Aztec diet.
Maize was the staple food of the Aztecs. Corn was ground into flour and the dough was made
by adding water. The dough was then grilled on a flat stone over a fire to make tortillas, a
thin pancake. Maize was also made into a kind of porridge called atole which was seasoned
with pimento (a pepper) or sweetened with honey or syrup from the sap of the maguey plant.
Another favourite maize dish was tamales – envelopes of steamed maize stuffed with
vegetables or meat. However, frogs, snails, and tadpoles were also used to fill tamales.
Mexico = Tenochtitlan was built on a lake and all kinds of water creatures were available.
Fish and shrimp gave the Aztecs protein and rich people could afford to have turtles and
crabs brought in from the Pacific coast. The Aztecs also ate the eggs of water flies and insect
eggs they skimmed from the water’s surface.
The Aztecs did eat meat if they could catch the animals which provided them with meat.
Waterfowl like duck and geese were eaten and hunters who went outside the city could find
deer, rabbits, hare, pigeons and the peccary, a pig-like animal. Turkeys were kept
domestically and used for food and one of the most popular Aztec dishes was roast dog! The
dogs were a special hairless breed, which were unable to bark and which are now almost
extinct. These dogs were specially fattened fro the pot by forced feeding and dog flesh fro
most people was considered to be a luxury and eaten only on very special occasions.
The average Aztec family rose at dawn and worked without eating until ten o’clock, when it
was time for the first meal of the day. For most this was a dish of maize porridge.
The main meal was taken during the hottest part of the day. The Aztecs prepared their food
by roasting, grilling or boiling it. An average main meal would be tortillas or maize cakes
with beans or a spicy sauce of tomatoes or chilli peppers. The Aztecs enjoyed eating very
spicy or highly seasoned food. Before going to bed a bowl of gruel (porridge) was eaten.
Water was the drink of the orindary people but rich Aztecs could afford to buy chocolate,
which was very popular and considered a luxury. Our word for chocolate is taken from the
Aztec word ‘chocolatl’. Cacao nuts were pounded and boiled in water with some maize flour.
The oil was skimmed off and the mixture strained into a vessel or container. It was then
whipped into a stiff froth and flavoured with honey, vanilla or spices before it was drunk,
usually cold.
The Aztecs did not know of beer or alcohol as we do but they did have an alcoholic drink
called octli. Octli was made from the fermented sap of the maguey plant. However Aztec law
frowned upon drinking if it made people get drunk. Aztecs also smoked tobacco and before
the Spaniards brought tobacco back to Europe in the sixteenth century Europeans had never
seen a tobacco leaf.
Most Aztec cities had a market place where people could buy their food and the larger cities
had several markets. People used their trip to the market as a chance to meet their friends and
gossip. Certain Aztec towns were famous for their specialities.
Alcoma
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edible dogs
Azcapotzalco
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birds
Cholula
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feathers used in ceremonial and military dress
The main market was in Mexico – Tenochtitlan itself, 60,000 people could shop there in it’s
arcades. An Aztec market was organised into sections. People could visit one section for food
and the others were for clothing, cooked food, building materials, household goods and much
more.
Trade in the market was by barter – exchanging things with each other. This was done
because the Aztecs did not have a money system as we understand it. For expensive things
people accepted units of exchange like copper axe blades or gold dust. Cocoa beans could
also be used as small change but sometimes dishonest people used counterfeit wax beans
which people could not recognise from the real thing.
AZTEC DRESS AND APPEARANCE
Physical Appearance
The Aztecs were short and stocky people. The men were rarely more than 5’6” tall and the
women were on average shorter than men. Their hair was black, coarse and straight. Men
usually wore it cut in a fringe over the forehead while women ket their hair grow long and
loose. However, on festival days it was braided with ribbon.
Facial hair was considered unpleasant but Aztec people did not naturally have heavy facial
hair growth. Mothers would put hot cloths on the faces of their young sons to stifle hair and
prevent it from growing.
Personal Cleanliness
The Aztecs were very clean people and they bathed frequently in the rivers and lakes. Soap is
made from chemicals and the Aztecs did not know of soap as we do but they did have
substitutes. One was from the roots of certain plants which could produce a lather. Aside
from cold water baths, most buildings had a steam bath room similar to a sauna which they
used for personal hygiene and for religious rituals.
Cosmetics
The Aztecs had a skin colour which was naturally brown or bronze coloured but it was
fashionable for women to make their facial complexion yellow. To do this they rubbed their
cheeks with yellow earth or earth mixed with a cream containing axin, a waxy-yellowish
substance obtained by crushing and cooking the bodies of certain insects.
Aztec women enjoyed using cosmetics and perfumes, with rose water and incense being very
popular. They also used a kind of chewing gum made of chicle (a gum from the sapodilla
tree) mixed with axin and bitumen to sweeten their breath.
Men painted their faces and bodies on ceremonial occasions and it is possible that they
tattooed their bodies. Both men and women used pottery stamps to decorate their faces with
tattoos.
Dress
In Aztec times a person’s wealth determined the way they could dress. Rich Aztecs could
afford to wear very elaborate and colourful clothing and this showed off their status in Aztec
society.
The average male wore a loin cloth, a strip of fabric that went around the waist, between the
legs and was knotted so that one end hung down in front and the other behind. Boys began
wearing loincloths from the age of four. Anyone who could afford it also wore a rectangular
cloak which was wound around the body knotted, because buttons and metal pins were
unknown to the Aztecs. Rich men had several cloaks and would display their wealth by
wearing several at a time. Noble or important Aztecs dressed in cloaks woven with geometric
or striped designs which were dyed in bright colours and ecorated with animal and floral
motifs(patterns).
The main female garment was a skirt which reached almost to the ankles and which was held
at the waist by an embroidered belt. For everyday use the skirt was a length of plain white
cloth but for festivals women put on their best skirts, highly coloured and embroidered with a
variety of patterns.
Less well-off people went barefoot but soldiers and richer Aztecs wore sandals with soles
made of leather or vegetable fibre. The sandals were held in place by straps which passed
between the big and first toes.
JEWELLERY
Aztecs loved colourful display and jewellery was an important feature of the way they
appeared. Children had their ear lobes perforated and the holes were filled with tiny plugs
which were replaced with larger ones as the child grew older. In this way the lobes were
gradually stretched until the ears could take full-sized ear spools.
Beads were made of rare stones or gold in the form of crabs, scorpions, birds or sea shells and
necklaces were hung with bells which tinkled when the wearer moved. Poorer people wore
ornaments of a similar kind but substituted shells or less expenxive stones for the kind worn
by the wealthy.
The Aztec nobility and important warriors also wore highly coloured feathers in their
clothing and headdresses. Items made from the feathers of exotic birds were seen as status
symbols.
While all the Aztecs wore jewellery of some description not everyone was allowed to wear
certain kinds of jewellery. Most people were not allowed to wear a crystal nose plug and only
nobles were allowed to wear gold and precious stones in their lower lips to show they were of
high rank.
AZTEC WARFARE
War for the Aztecs was necessary. Their relationship with the other tribes in Central America
was based on dominating them by military force. This kept the Aztecs in a position of power
throughout the region. They exacted tribute, a forced payment, from any tribe they defeated.
This meant that tribes had to make payments of all kinds like food or slaves to the Aztecs. If
the tribe refused to pay tribute the Aztecs would go to war with them again.
The Aztecs also needed regular wars to keep providing their Gods with the human hearts and
blood necessary to keep them happy. It was therefore necessary that the Aztecs captured
many prisoners to sacrifice them. The Aztecs even fought the ‘Wars of Flowers’ against
other tribes whenever they needed slaves. The aim was to provoke a war with another tribe
and to take as many prisoners as they could. When the Aztecs’ priests felt they had enough
victims the fighting ended.
Numbers of soldiers
The Aztecs dominated Central America and had some tribes whom they counted as allies.
They formed a ‘Triple Alliance’ with the tribes of Texcoco and Tlacopan and between them
the three tribes could field as many as 200,000 warriors. However, such an army would
always be commanded by an Aztec general.
Uniforms and Appearance
The Aztecs did not have uniforms for their soldiers although certain types of warriors
belonged to special categories of fighting men. Most ordinary soldiers wore body armour
made from quilted cotton soaked in brine. The usual form of this was a tight-fitting suit
which was padded about 4cm thick. This made it very effective against lances and arrows.
The special categories of warriors were the Jaguar and Eagle knights who dressed in a skin
of the animal they represented. This made them appear very fierce and these warriors were
considered to be the bravest of the Aztec soldiers.
Weapons
The shields the Aztecs used were made of wood and decorated with bird feathers and the
Aztecs had a variety of weapons they took into battle with them:
Spears
The Aztec spear was a javelin, a lightweight throwing spear. It was propelled by an atlatl, a
spear thrower. This device gave the thrower added range to his throw because it extended his
arm. The point of the spear was made of obsidian. Obsidian was made of volcanic glass
which the Aztecs obtained from areas around extinct volcanoes and it was very, very sharp.
The lances could be from six to ten feet long.
Swords and Clubs
The Aztecs carried a two-handed sword made of hardwood and edged with sections of
obsidian. Such swords could inflict terrible wounds on an opponent. However, the sharpness
of the obsidian did not last and it had to be replaced. The Aztecs also used a variety of heavy
wooden clubs and a hatchet with a copper blade set into a thick wooden shaft.
Bows, Arrows and Slings
Slings were made from plaited cotton and could hurl stones the size of eggs at an enemy.
Being struck by a stone from a sling might not kill an opponent but it could put them out of a
fight. The Aztecs also used bows and arrows. Bows were usually five feet long and fired
arrows tipped with bone or obsidian.
How the Aztecs fought
A battle between an Aztec army and its opponent would begin with a great deal of noise as
each army tried to intimidate the other by shouting insults, clashing weapons against shields,
blowing whistles and beating drums. At a signal from the commander the archers and slingers
fired their weapons, the spearment hurled their javelins and the two armies rushed at each
other for hand-to-hand combat.
On the battlefield the commanders gave orders to their troops by drumbeats or blasts on clay
whistles. Aztecs tactics were quite simple. They tried to outflank their opponents. This
means to get behind an opponent or attack them from the side. Sometimes an Aztec army
feigned (pretended) to retreat and when their enemies pursued them they led them into an
ambush or a trap of camouflaged holes which the enemy fell into.
Casualties in Aztec battles were not high because the object was not to destroy an enemy
army but to defeat them and capture the warriors. These would then be sacrificed to the Gods.
An Aztec warrior gained no glory in killing opponents but was rewarded in proportion to the
number of enemy soldiers he had captured.
AZTEC ENTERTAINMENT
In any society people like to entertain themselves and the Aztecs were no different. They had
a variety of ways in which they kept themselves entertained, ways in which they are not very
different from our society today, like watching sport and listening to music.
Sport
The most important sport was the ball game tlatchli. It was played in a court laid out in the
form of a capital I. The central section measure 200 feet in length and about 30 feet in width.
In the middle of the court the two walls had a stone ring about ten feet off the ground with a
hole just big enough for a hard rubber ball to pass through. The players were only allowed to
hit the ball with their hips, knees and elbows. They wore protection to prevent the ball from
injuring them and against falls to the stone floor of the court. Players hit by the ball could
suffer internal bleeding and even death if the blow was a severe one.
The main aim was to keep the ball up in the air. Goals were difficult to score but if a player
did score his team won the game immediately and the scorer could claim the clothes and
possessions of the spectators. Only nobles or professional players employed by nobles were
allowed to play tlatchli. People who watched could get very excited about the games and
often placed bets on the outcome.
Tlatchli performed another function in Aztec society as well as being a sport. The Aztecs
lived their lives according to religion and, to them, the ball court represented the universe and
the ball represented the sun, the moon or one of the planets. As well as being a sport, tlatchli
fitted into the Aztec system of religious beliefs.
Paolli
Patolli was the favourite game of ordinary Aztecs. It was a board game like backgammon
played on a mat painted with a design like a saltire cross. The cross had special markings to
represent safe or unsafe territory and the game was played using twelve counters which were
moved around the mat.
The counters were moved after black beans marked with numbers were thrown to decide how
far the player could move his counter. Patolli also had a religious significance but it was a
game most people got very easily hooked on. Some players wagered (bet) all they had on a
result and some unlucky losers who lost everything could be sold into slavery as a result.
Volador
The ceremony of volador was another Aztec entertainment which had religious connections.
A tall pole was set up with a moveable platform and four men dressed as birds attached
themselves to the corners of the frame. At a signal they leapt off the platform and as the rope
unwound the platform rotated and caused the four birdmen to ‘fly’ around the pole.
Music and Dancing
Music, singing, dancing and theatrical performances were amongst the favourite Aztec
entertainments. The different tribes within the Aztec empire all had their own styles of
singing and dancing.
The Aztec Emperor and his important nobles had music played in their own households and
whilst individuals sang and played for private enjoyment most Aztecs heard music and
singing as part of festivals. Religious festivals were full of music and chanting and this gave
people entertainment but, more importantly, brought them closer to their Gods. This is similar
to the way people sing hymns in a church today. Easter or Christmas hymns are seen as
special for Christians and it would have been the same for the Aztecs. Communal dancing –
many people dancing together – also took place during festivals.
An Aztec orchestra had no stringed instruments but was made up of drums, rattles, gongs
and flutes. Music was not written down so no Aztec tunes have survived to be heard today.
Special academies existed in the capital Tenochtitlan where young people were taught by
trained instructors how to sing.
Aztec poetry was written to be recited against a musical background and around two
thousand hymns, poems and songs do survive today. The Aztecs wrote using hieroglyphics
but there is no evidence of an Aztec literature in the form of novels or plays in book form that
can be read.
Other Entertainment
Music, dancing, mimes, poetry reading and plays performed by professional actors could all
be found in an Aztec city. As well as these, Aztecs could also watch comedy performed by
clowns and dwarves and see the skills of jugglers and acrobats but this would not be in the
form of a circus as we understand it.
AZTEC WRITING AND COMMUNICATION
Since the Aztecs had a very large empire to maintain and supervise written communication
was very important to them. Taxes had to be collected, lawsuits between villages or
individuals recorded and the emperor’s reports or instructions be passed around the empire.
Each religious temple also owned a library of religious and astrological books which gave the
priests information to check as they conducted their work and the emperor’s officials also
kept records of his business. However, the Aztecs had no written alphabet. They
communicated by using a series of pictures or hieroglyphs put together in a special book
called a codex. These told the story of the message the Aztecs wanted to be known.
Aztec paper
Such a high use of documents meant that the Aztecs had to have a constant supply of the raw
materials needed to make paper. Aztec paper was made from the inner bark of different kinds
of fig tree. This is how it was done:
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The bark was soaked in a limey water and the fibres were separated from the pulp
This was then laid on a smooth surface, doubled over and beaten
A vegetable gum was then added and the fibres beaten into a thin sheet.
The fibres were smoothed and dried out. After that it had become paper.
The paper was then given a coat of a white chalky varnish or size. Size wss a gluey
substance. This prepared the paper for writing to be put on it. The hieroglyphics were drawn
on this background.
An Aztec hieroglyph artist usually sketched the outlines of the illustrations in black then
added the main colours like red, blue, green and yellow. The colours were sometimes mixed
with oil to make the characters shine.
The Scribes
The people who created a codex were called Scribes. They were given specific responsibility
for the area they specialised in. Some scribes were Historians, who recorded the things which
happened to the Aztecs while others kept records of the law, family records or who owned
land where the borders of the Aztec empire were. Priests recorded all the matters to do with
the Gods, the temples and festivals, whilst learned men recorded the Aztecs’ scientific
knowledge.
The Codex
A Codex was a picture record the Aztecs used. The paper was stuck together in a series of
strips up to eleven metres long. Then it was folded like a concertina instrument and the scribe
drew on both sides.
The Codex was a kind of pictogram, miniature drawings which communicated information
or ideas. These were not placed in sequence one after another but were part of a larger scene.
An Aztec codex was not read, because there was no writing on it. It was deciphered like a
picture puzzle. The hieroglyphics provided clues to the message the scribe had drawn. The
information was read from top to bottom and from left to right.
The Aztecs had not discovered the rules of perspective in drawing so a figure in a codex
seemed out of proportion to the other objects around it. However, the Aztecs deliberately
drew things larger to show their importance. A victorious King, for example, would be shown
to be larger than his defeated enemy. The lower part of the picture represented the ground and
the upper part of the sky. Distance was shown by placing the furthest away figures at the top
of the page and the nearest at the bottom.
Aztec writing had its limitations. In our alphabet each letter represents one of the basic
sounds of the language. The advantage of having an alphabet is that the whole range of the
language can be accurately expressed by a few symbols which are easy to learn and write
down.
The Aztec system of hieroglyphs worked well when there were easily-recognised objects to
communicate. It was straightforward to show how much in taxes a tribe owed to the Aztecs
but it was more difficult to communicate other ideas, like what people thought about things.
Reading and writing were specialised skills which Aztec’s scribes had. These skills were
necessary to send and decipher messages. The average Aztec’s education did not teach her or
him to read or write. These were not necessary for ordinary people in their everyday lives.