![]() ![]() ![]() His shrine sat on top of the pyramid of Templo Mayor in the Aztec capital, and was decorated with skulls and painted red to represent blood. This intrinsically tied up the “hunger” of gods with the Aztec penchant for ritual war. He was also the Aztec god of war and the Aztec sun god, and of Tenochtitlán. Image Credit: John Carter Brown Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Huitzilopochtli, as depicted in the ‘Tovar Codex’ Unlike many other Aztec deities, Huitzilopochtli was intrinsically a Mexica deity with no clear equivalent in earlier Mesoamerican cultures. His nagual or animal spirit was the eagle. Huitzilopochtli was the father of the Aztecs and the supreme god for the Méxica. Huitzilopochtli – ‘The Hummingbird of the South’ Here are 8 of the most important Aztec gods and goddesses. The Aztec gods were divided into three groups, each supervising one aspect of the universe: weather, agriculture and warfare. ![]() It is clear, then, that mythology and religion played a key role in Aztec culture. To this day, this story of their great migration from their legendary home of Aztalan is pictured on the coat of arms of Mexico. And so the city of Tenochtitlán was founded. Believing this vision was a prophesy sent by the god Huitzilopochtli, they decided to build their new home on that exact site. The story goes that they saw an eagle holding a rattlesnake in its talons, perched on a cactus. In 1325 AD, the Aztec people moved to an island in Lake Texcoco to set up their capital, Tenochtitlán. In fact, scholars have identified more than 200 deities within Aztec religion. ![]() Today, historians refer to the huey tlatoani as Emperors since they oversaw all aspects of the far-reaching Aztec Empire.The Aztecs believed in a complex and diverse pantheon of gods and goddesses. Since the huey tlatoani was concerned with the affairs of the overall empire, the cihuacoatl in Tenochtitlan carried out the administration of the city itself. For instance, the huey tlatoani oversaw the tribute system present in the Aztec Empire, the military and any wars that were carried out, and the expansion of the empire to new regions. They primarily ruled over the Aztec Empire as a whole. The huey tlatoani played an important role in Aztec history and the expansion of the Aztec Empire. The leader of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan and the one who ruled over all of the other altepetls in the Aztec Empire was called the ‘ huey tlatoani’ or ‘Great Speaker’. This person also came from the higher classes and assisted the tlatoani by organizing different aspects of the altepetl. The second in command of the altepetls was referred to as the cihuacoatl. Also, tlatoani served in their position for life. As such, authority over an altepetl usually stayed within a single powerful family and passed down through hereditary lines. In general, each tlatoani were from the higher classes and had links to the royal families present in the society at that time. The tlatoani was an important figure in Mesoamerica city-states because they essentially controlled and organized the government, military and economy of the altepetl. Each altepetl was ruled by a leader referred to as a ‘tlatoani’, which translates to as ‘Speaker’. ![]()
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