Aztecs

Aztecs

Christine Lui & Mackenzie Hedge

Who were the Aztecs?

The Aztecs were the seven Chichimec tribes in northern Mexico who controlled the valley of Mexico and much of central America. Tenochtitlan-Tlatlelco was the capital city of the Aztecs, now known as Mexico City.

Temples & Religion

• Aztec temples were called Toecalli which means God houses.
• They look a lot like pyramids. Not their shape but the material used and the size.
• Some monuments were made to specific gods.

• Ancient Aztec religion was a complex interaction of gods, dates, directions, and colors.
• According to their religion, it took the gods 5 tries to create the world.
• Tezcatlipoca was the first creator and he was turned into a jaguar and destroyed the world after he was knocked from his exalted position by rivals.
• The ancient Aztec religion was highly focused on keeping nature in balance.
• They believed that the after life was based mostly on how you died.

Aztec

Art

• Aztec music was a constant and important part of life.
• It was a way of passing on culture.
• Many of the songs were sacred hymns that would commemorate the deeds of great rulers or gods.
• There was also Cantares or "ghost songs."
• More lighthearted songs and songs of everyday life were also included in the Aztec music.

• The Aztecs used many instruments including drums, rattles, flutes, trumpets, and other horns.
• Some of the types of drums they used were: Ayotl (Drum made from a turtle shell), teponaztli (horizontal log drum, played with mallets), and a huehuetl (upright skin drum.)
• Rattles were filled with beads or pebbles

Calendar Stone

• The artist carved the Aztec calendar stone in 1479.
• It was 3 feet thick, 12 feet across, and weighed almost 25 tones.
• It was made from basalt-a solidfied lava.

• The first calendar was called xiuhpohualli
• This was a 365 day year with 18 months, each 20 days long, and 4 (5 day) weeks in each month.
• There were also 5 "unlucky" days added to bring the total to days to 365.

• The second Calendar was called the tonalpohualli.
• This was considered a sacred calendar.
• There were 20 signs and 13 numbers. 20x13=260, the total number of days in the sacred year.
• Everyday was ruled by a god and each of the weeks (13 days) was ruled by a god.

Government

• Ancient Aztec government got its structure from units of society that existed long before the Aztec empire was founded.
• First was the family unit, as the basic structure of society and the government was built up from there.
• Next was the calpulli. Families didn't individually own land, the land was owned by a group of families called calpulli.
• In the cities, each calpulli would have a leader and those leaders would form another council called the city council.
• In the leading city of Tenochtitlan, the city leaders led the empire. The leader was known as the Huey Tlatcani, or great speaker. He was worshiped as a god.

Summary

The Aztecs are the seven Chichimec tribes that can be found in the northern part of Mexico. These people built temples for a place of worship. They also used art and music to symbolize their religion. With music they had the way of passing on culture. The calendar stone was a piece of art built to keep track of the days of the year. In the government, they based the rankings on the families and society.

World History Hr 1

"Aztecs" http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/aztec.html (11/29/11)

"Aztec History" http://www.aztec-history.com/ (11/29/11)

"Power Points on Aztecs" http://www.aztecs.mrdonn.org/powerpoints.html (11/29/11)

"The Aztec Calendar"

http://www.azteccalendar.com/azteccalendar.html (11/29/11)

"Who were the Aztecs" http://archaeology.about.com/od/aterms/g/aztec.htm (11/30/11)

Bibliography

Music

Jewelry

• Their jewelry was made with a rich variety of materials.
• One common form of Aztec jewelry was the ear plug (also called ear spools.)
• Men would often wear ornaments in the noses and jewelry hanging from a slit in their lower lip.

Heuy Tlatcani

City Council

Calpulli

Family

Calpulli

Family

Calpulli

Family

(cc) photo by Jakob Montrasio