There are numerous civilizations and beliefs that stand out from the Mesoamerican era. European conquistadors on Mexican land. The feathered being holds various names, but most of us know it as Quetzalcoatl. I find it fascinating that even centuries after the disappearance of the Aztecs, the modern Western world knows about the Quetzalcoatl. We are gonna look at how and why the feathered serpent came to be one of the most important gods in Mesoamerican cultures.
The cult of the serpent in Mesoamerica is ancient. The roots of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, can be traced all the way back to the Olmec civilization, which existed from around 13th to the 5th centuries BC. A representation of the feathered serpent can be found on a famous
…show more content…
He began to be associated with Ehecatl, the wind god, who represents the forces of nature, and is also associated with the Venus morning star. Quetzalcoatl became a representation of the rain, the celestial water and their associated winds. He eventually was transformed into one of the main gods of creation. By the time of the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl would be considered the originator of the arts, poetry and all knowledge. The feathered figure would become inseparable from the image of one of their most important gods. blended with other deities of their own beliefs. However, the Quetzalcoatl we will be talking about only emerged several centuries later, during the Late Classical …show more content…
We can identify elements found within the carved representations of Quetzalcoatl themselves. The feathers that surround the serpent’s head tell us that it is in fact the feathered-serpent. The feathers themselves represent the flowering crops to depict that he is the god that brings the harvest to the city. of represents infinity and the swirling cosmos as he is a creator god and the morning star Venus. In a more general sense, the Temple is thought to have represented a big part of the daily life of the civilization of Teotihuacan. If all the heads on the faces of the pyramid were left untouched, the combined four faces would have totalled 260 Feathered-Serpent an indication of what day it
A well-known Meso-American deity, Huitzilopochtli, is the Aztec god of war and human sacrifice. It is written that he had a constant battle with evil within himself and required human sacrifice for nourishment. It is believed that Huitzilopochtli’s mother, Coatlicue, an Aztec earth goddess, conceived him after she kept a ball of hummingbird feathers in her bosom that had fallen from the sky. Huitzilopochtli’s sister, Coyolxauhqui, plotted to kill her mother after discovering the shameful way she had become impregnated. When his mother was decapitated, Huitzilopochtli burst from the womb and killed his sister Coyolxauhqui ...
During 1325 a newly homeless Aztec tribe who were chased away by the angry ruler/father of a princess they sacrificed to the sun god, were traveling through swamps . they saw a small island with an eagle perched on a cactus eating a snake. This was told to be a sign of where the tribe was to create their new home. This new city was named Tenochtitlan. Soon this will become the capital of the Aztec empire. Tenochtitlan started out with only a temple to worship the war god Huitzilopochtli, and huts for the tribesmen.
In 1510, Montezuma turned his attention to a series of revolts and revolutionary flare-ups in the Aztec territories. These battles only increased the size of the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs also continued their Flower Wars with the Tlaxcatlecans to provide human sacrifices to their god Huitzilopochtli. Around the same time, Montezuma’s oracles passed information that there were strangers in the midst. In fact, his astrologer priests foretold of the coming of Quetzalcóatl, a white bearded god who was believed to eventually reclaim their empire. Reputed claims of Whit...
The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican people that lived in the area of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th century. It is said that Aztecs came from a place called Aztlan. Aztlan was the Aztec's homeland, nobody knows exactly where it was, but it is believed that Aztlan lies somewhere to the north of Mexico. Some experts claim that Aztlan is a mythical place. According to Aztec legends Huitzilopochtli, their god of war and of the sun, told them to leave Aztlan and to wander until they saw an eagle on a cactus budding out of a rock and eating a snake. The Aztecs traveled many years to find the legend that Huitzilopochtli had told. They left Aztlan in the 12th century. They built their settlements in the Valley of Mexico by Lake Texcoco. There were other Indian tribes living in the area when the Aztecs arrived. The Aztecs called their settlement Tenochtitlan. By the time they settled after two centuries of voyage they called themselves by a different name, the Mexica, but the term Aztec has been used as a ...
The Aztec religion was a polytheistic religion and was a combination of many beliefs and practices of other Mesoamerican cultures and religion.Religion was very important to the Aztec and they had temples for the Gods they worshipped.They worshipped this Gods Huitzilopochtli is the God of war, Quetzalcoatl is the feathered serpent and is the God of morning and evening, Tonatiuh is the sun God, and Patecatl is the God of healing and fertility.The Aztec
The Toltec civilization was one of the greatest Mesoamerican civilizations, prospering between 900 to 1150 CE. The Toltecs preceded the legendary Aztec civilization in Mesoamerica, who regarded them as their “great intellectual and cultural predecessors” (ancient.eu). They played a key role in maintaining the Mesoamerican culture that was passed down by several older civilizations including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, and Mayan civilizations. Much of what is known about the ancient Toltecs is derived from Aztec along with other Mesoamerican texts which document even older oral descriptions of historical events. The accuracy of these events, especially that of the Aztecan documents, has been questioned due to the tendency of the civilization to hyperbolize the feats of the Toltecs by combining historical truths with cultural myths. However, it cannot be argued that the Toltec civilization was vital in preserving the culture and ideology of the Mesoamerican region.
There has been evidence of over two hundred human sacrifices in just one general area of Mesoamerica. Not just in an area of a city – but a “building”. Many pyramids, temples, and art forms such as sculptures were made and used just for the purpose of sacrifices and blood-letting rituals. Such violent rituals are shown in art and architecture to show the effect of symbols on the humans of Ancient Mesoamerica. The question that will be uncovered is, how far did the Mesoamericans go? To what extend do symbols effect Mesoamerican art and architecture? These effects could of course lead to the stronger subjects, specifically human sacrifices. The extent of symbols on the architecture and art therefore is reflected as the extent it had on ancient Mesoamericans. It will first be evaluated how Architecture is made to reflect their beliefs on the lives of their gods. Second, how architecture and art can depict symbols will be revealed, and lastly it will be discussed how architecture and art shows the effect of symbols on ancient human lives and interactions. Finding these things will answer the research question by revealing how much effort believers would make to please their symbols, how Mesoamericans believe their gods to be, and how far they would go with tradition or rituals.
The Aztec civilization was a very complex society that was feared and known well for their various gory sacrifices done to please their many gods in their polytheistic religion. The much feared civilization began by the exile of one of the two Toltec leaders, which lead to the decline of the Toltec state that was later replaced by Mexica, or the Aztecs. According to the Aztecs, the land chosen to build their main city was chosen by the portrayal of an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. Through military might, the Aztecs managed to become the most powerful civilization in the mid-fourteenth century. They maintained their power through military might and the fear they caused other civilizations because of the human sacrifices they performed on their captured victims.
Tezcatlipoca was one of the most important gods in the Aztec pantheon. Originally adopted from the Toltecs, Tezcatlipoca is with the horned owl and the jaguar, the latter of which he is known to shapeshift into its form at will. This explains his association with the first day of the thirteen-day Aztec calendar which is represented by a jaguar. In addition to his shapeshifting ability, Tezcatlipoca also appeared as several different gods who were aspects of his identity. Complicated, right? We’ll explain that part in a later section. Ultimately, Tezcatlipoca was an __omnipresent__, able to be in all places at once, god known for his mercurial temperament, bestowing good or bad fortune on a whim.
Aztec citizens are well known as being a vicious type of humans that would go to extremes for their Gods’ including Human sacrifice and Cannibalism. Human sacrifice was not new when the Aztecs started, the act of Human sacrifice actually began in the Olmec Civilization. Although, the Olmec civilization started the ritual, most people think of the Aztecs as being the innovator of Human Sacrifice. This thought began because of how often the Aztecs would Sacrifice, the vast amounts of those sacrificed and how planned the sacrifices would be. The Aztec actually had a lunar calendar that planed the whole years Human sacrifices and there celebrations. Aztecs would have a calendar
The Aztecs people of Central Mexico have been a controversial culture studied by many archeologist and anthropologist alike. The Aztec had an empire in central Mexico when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. The Aztecs had a very controversial practice not seen in many cultures around the world and that is a human sacrifice.
The statue was important to not only the Aztecs but to the Spanish as well for Catholics seen she as being related to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Coatlicue is seen as wearing a serpent skirt given the name of her meaning of the serpent skirt. Serpents meant childbirth and blood to the Aztecs which is why it is important that she wears a serpent skirt as it represents the childbirth of Huitzilopotchi and the blood from the decapitation of her head from the two serpents. In the Aztec culture, man trained to for battle while woman were the child bearers. Those who died during childbirth were believed to have become goddesses which relates to the Aztec myth. The Coatlicue’s face has been carved in many monuments to keep in touch with the earth since she was the goddess of earth and fire. The Aztecs were the largest army in Mesoamerica and took in many prisoners of war. They believed in ritual sacrifice so that their god would not desert them and their world would not come to an end. Thought to have been through four different worlds already, they believed to have lived in the final world that the gods sacrificed themselves for. The prisoners captured by the Aztec were mostly
However, that is not true. Just like all human cultures, there have been struggles for power, great wars, and flourishing arts. One such example was the conquest of neighboring civilizations by the Aztecs. For most civilizations of the Valley of Mexico, Coatlicue was already a central deity in their lives. However, for the Aztecs, she was special in particular for being mother of Huitzilopochtli, the patron god of Tenochtitlan and also god of the sun and war. While mainly the Aztecs worshiped Huitzilopochtli, his connection with Coatlicue became his main origin story because of how conquered civilizations would respond favorably with what deities they are familiar with. The story goes that Coatlicue was impregnated with a feather. Her 400 sons and her daughter, Coyolxauhqui, sought to kill their mother for this before Huitzilopochtli burst forth in full armor to defend her. In this story, Coatlicue is represented as vulnerable and needing to be saved, but this also demonstrates how the Aztecs respected her and honored her for being the one who gave birth to their most beloved god. In fact, the stone statue of her was found at the Templo Mayor, which housed a temple of Huitzilopochtli. Further evidence of this relationship is found in the Florentine Codex, which was the work of the Spanish friar Bernardino de Sahagún. This codex
One group following these rules is the Aztec Indians. According to the priests of their religion, a new god had been born. His name was Huitzilopochtli, or the Hummingbird Wizard. He or...
It is believed that the shape of the pyramid was an important religious statement. Some scholars believe that this is true while others still debate the possibilities. We can assume that the Egyptians were trying to symbolize the slanting rays of the sun. It is also believed that the sloping sides on the pyramid were intended to help the soul of the king climb to the sky and join the gods.