The Templo Mayor

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The polished, naturalistic visage of an effigy mask of Coyolxauhqui conveys the significance of transnational and transhistorical cultural exchange to the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan. The mask, discovered at the Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan, is displayed in the exhibition “Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas” at the J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles. Its presence emphasizes both the importance of the Aztec ceremonial center at Tenochtitlan and the significance of the mythology of Coyolxauhqui to the Mexica. The spatial narrative at the Templo Mayor is rooted in the Coyolxauhqui story. Vanquished warriors were ritually sacrificed at the Templo Mayor, and then tumbled down from the top of the Templo to the Coyolxauhqui stone, …show more content…

The Coyolxauhqui stone is a crucial part of the narrative of the Templo Mayor. At the Templo, vanquished soldiers were sacrificed daily. After being slaughtered, they were thrown from the summit of the Templo to the bottom, tumbling down the structure of the Templo, which was built to mirror the Serpent Hill of the Coyolxauhqui legend. In the mythology of Coyolxauhqui, she is angered by her mother, Coatlicue “Serpent Skirt,” after she becomes pregnant with a child who is a potential threat to Coyolxauhqui’s inheritance. Coyolxauhqui then musters her four hundred brothers to fight against her mother. But before she is able to slay Coatlicue, her new brother, Huitzilopochtli, springs from Coatlicue’s womb, fully grown. He then dismembers Coyolxauhqui and throws her to the bottom of Serpent Hill. The daily sacrifice at the Templo Mayor was meant to mimic this mythology. Because Huitzilopochtli was a Mexica culture hero, this daily imitation of his victory creates a spatial narrative of conquest at the Templo Mayor. This ritualistic and spatial narrative functions to justify the territorial narrative of the Aztec empire. The importance of this narrative to the Mexica highlights the gravity of the Coyolxauhqui mask being an emulation of Olmec art style. By paying homage to a predecessor culture with a symbol that functions to justify their empire, the Mexica are emphasizing the importance of a cultural antecedent in their present. It is also imperative that they are relating their cultural heritage to their possession of an empire, and the subjugation of their tributary states. Not only did an emulation of their cultural antecedents matter in terms of their contemporary culture, but it also was relevant towards their status as rulers of an

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