The early Meso-Americans influenced the Aztecs in many ways and shaped their way of life. The Aztecs obtained many things, good and bad, from the Meso-Americans, but was it beneficial to them? I think they were influenced in both beneficial and non-beneficial ways. One way I think the Aztecs were influenced in a positive way was the way Meso-Americans valued religion and their gods. The Meso-Americans were Christian, but also had Indigenous religion and believed in many gods including Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Smoking Mirror, and Tlaloc. These beliefs and values of religion and god transferred over to the Aztecs. The Aztecs were influenced by the Meso-Americans building pyramid-shaped temples to honor the gods and decided to build their own. …show more content…
The Meso-Americans had a hierarchical society, which means that their society had the common social structure of the renaissance (king, noble class, priests, and commoners). They were a strong government with a powerful central authority. They perfected the use of militaristic practices to help them build an empire. The Aztecs were influenced by the government and social structure of the Meso-Americans and decided to build their own. This benefited the Aztecs as they developed a successful, consistent, and simple society that thrived. They had a powerful leader and military, and because of this, they built an empire and conquered many areas. An argument from an opposing side might debate that having one leader with full power of a government is not beneficial to the society's people as one person making all the decisions could be dangerous to people in and out of the society. I believe that this is false as having one person lead an empire is not only more simplistic and easy, but more beneficial as everyone is on the same page and follows the same rules. Also, an opposing argument may state that their social structure is not fair to the people in the lower classes. I believe that this is not the case as their social structure is very balanced and simple, allowing their society to thrive. Also, it is said that people of lower classes have benefits as they do not have