Aztec Ruins in Mexico City
Felicia and I are in Mexico City exploring historic sites. This post is largely based on our visit to Aztec civilization ruins and artifacts at Templo Mayor in the Zocalo district and the National Museum of Anthropology in Chapultepec. Templo Mayor was a sacred compound in the Mexica or Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan before it was destroyed by Spanish conquistadors under the command of Hernando Cortes in 1517. Tree rings from the remnants of an oak tree were used to help date the site. The ruins were rediscovered in 1978 and excavations have uncovered much of the compound. The site includes a museum that explains the history of the Templo Mayor and contains artifacts recovered from the site. To see all of the photographs click on the link.
I have visited Machu Pichu in Peru and Mayan ruins in the Yucatan. Some things that stood out at Temple Mayor were the use of cement in construction on floors and walls, dependence on volcanic rock, internal rooms, a combination tunnel and brick pathway for channeling water, and stone arches.
In the museum at Templo Mayor there is a giant circular stone monolith of Coyolxauhqui was the first discovery at the site and represents the Aztec goddess of the moon. There is a wall of ceramic skulls and exhibits of human and animal skulls and skeletons from religious rituals. Among the most dramatic statues in the museum are life size depictions of two gods. One is a ceramic sculpture of Mictlantecuhtli, the God of Death, who inhabits Mictlan, the underworld. The sculpture dates from the 15th century. There are also Eagle and Jaguar warriors who guard entry to sacred temples.
In The Conquest of New Spain, Bernal Díaz describes Aztec culture and the city of Tenochtitlan. For Spanish soldiers, it was an amazing site that far exceeded anything they had seen in either Europe or the Americas. In the introduction to his book, Díaz wrote “What I myself saw, and the fighting in which I took part, with God’s help I will describe quite plainly, as an honest eyewitness, without twisting the facts in any way. I am now an old man, over eighty-four years of age, and have lost both sight and hearing; and unfortunately I have gained no wealth to leave to my children and descendants, except this true story, which is a most remarkable one, as my readers will presently see.”
When the Spaniards arrived in Tenochtitlan, they “followed the causeway, which is eight yards wide and goes so straight to the city of Mexico. Wide though it was, it was so crowded with people that there was hardly room for them all. Some were going to Mexico and others coming away, besides those who had come out to see us, and we could hardly get through the crowds that were there. The lake was crowded with canoes. At intervals along the causeway there were many bridges, and before us was the great city of Mexico. We were met by many more Caciques and dignitaries in very rich cloaks. The chieftains wore different brilliant liveries, and the causeways were full of them. Montezuma had sent these great Caciques in advance to receive us, and as soon as they came before Cortes they told him in their language that we were welcome, and as a sign of peace, they touched the ground with their hands and kissed it.”
Díaz described Montezuma’s palace in great detail. It was “stocked with every sort of weapon; many of them were richly adorned with gold and precious stones. There were shields large and small, and a sort of broadsword, and two-handed swords set with flint blades that cut much better than our swords, and lances longer than ours, with five-foot blades consisting of many knives . . . The Mexicans kept many idols whom they called their fierce gods, and with them all kinds of beasts of prey, tigers and two sorts of lion, and beasts rather like wolves and foxes and other small animals, all of them carnivores, and most of them bred there.”
Díaz also described human sacrifices to the gods of the Aztecs and skilled Aztec craftsmen. “They strike open the wretched Indian’s chest with flint knives and hastily tear out the palpitating heart which, with the blood, they present to the idols in whose name they have performed the sacrifice . . . I must now speak of the skilled workmen whom Montezuma employed in all the crafts they practised, beginning with the jewellers and workers in silver and gold and various kinds of hollowed objects, which excited the admiration of our great silversmiths at home. There were other skilled craftsmen who worked with precious stones and specialists in feather-work, and very fine painters and carvers.”
Among the things that most impressed Díaz were the marketplaces and the design of the city. “We were astounded at the great number of people and the quantities of merchandise, and at the orderliness and good arrangements that prevailed, for we had never seen such a thing before. The chieftains who accompanied us pointed everything out. Every kind of merchandise was kept separate and had its fixed place marked for it. Let us begin with the dealers in gold, silver, and precious stones, feathers, cloaks, and embroidered goods, and male and female slaves who are also sold there. Some are brought there attached to long poles by means of collars round their necks to prevent them from escaping, but others are left loose. Next there were those who sold coarser cloth, and cotton goods and fabrics made of twisted thread, and there were chocolate merchants with their chocolate.”
In Tenochtitlan “We saw the fresh water which came from Chapultepec to supply the city, and the bridges that were constructed at intervals on the causeways so that the water could flow in and out from one part of the lake to another. We saw a great number of canoes, some coming with provisions and others returning with cargo and merchandise; and we saw too that one could not pass from one house to another to that great city and the other cities that were built on the water except over wooden drawbridges or by canoe. We saw shrines in these cities that looked like gleaming white towers and castles: a marvelous sight. All the houses had flat roofs, and on the causeways were other small towers and shrines built like fortresses.”
You can only imagine the glory of the Aztec civilization that Díaz described as you visit Templo Mayor and other sites in Mexico City.
