The Aztecs
Page 38
5. The quote is from Durán (1994:477). There is a large literature on the calendar stone and the other monumental sacrificial stones, and many of the important papers have been assembled as chapters in Villela and Miller (2010). The work of Emily Umberger (1998, 2002) has been especially important in tracing the associations of these monuments with individual emperors and events; see also Graulich (1992d).
6. The major work on the Tenochtitlan imperial sculptural style and its occurrence in the provinces is that of Umberger (1996a, 1996b, 2002). Her ongoing analysis of the sculptures of Calixtlahuaca is only partially published: see Umberger (2007). As illustrated in figure 6.10, Calixtlahuaca was also home to a local style of stone sculptural reliefs with political themes.
7. The best English-language introductions to Aztec literature and poetry are the books of León-Portilla (1963, 1969, 1992). See also Bierhorst (1985, 1992, 2010).
8. Sahagún (1905–1907:v.6:f.122), translated by León-Portilla (1969:27).
9. Aztec song, translated by León-Portilla (1969:68)
10. Cantares Mexicanos (1985:f.35v), translated by León-Portilla (1963:77).
11. Cantares Mexicanos (1985:f.16v), translated by León-Portilla (1963:78).
12. Cantares Mexicanos (1985:f.26r), translated by León-Portilla (1963:73).
13. Although dated, Martí (1968) is the most complete introduction to Aztec musical instruments, and Martí and Kurath (1964) cover both music and dance. The research of Arnd Adje Both (2002, 2005, 2006, 2007) has greatly transformed the study of Aztec music; see also León-Portilla (2007). I discuss music instruments from domestic contexts in Smith (2002).
14. Durán (1971:295).
13 Final Glory, Conquest, and Legacy
1. For Tzintzuntzan see Pollard (1977, 1993).
2. Processes of long-distance communication in Late Postclassic Mesoamerica are discussed in the chapter in Smith and Berdan (2003). Important works on Late Postclassic Mesoamerica outside of the Aztec domain include Carmack (1981), Kowalewski et al. (2009), Masson (2000), and Pollard (1993).
3. Fieldwork at Iximche' was conducted by Jorge Guillemín (1965), who died before publishing a full report on his research. An excellent discussion of the site, relating native historical records to the architecture, is found in Schele and Mathews (1998).
4. We are fortunate to have two views of the Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs. The Spanish story was told by two of the participants, Hernando Cortés (1986) and Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1963), and summarized in the nineteenth-century account of Prescott (2000). The Aztec side of the story, presented in Durán (1994:483–563), Sahagún (1950–1982:bk.12), and many scattered accounts, has been assembled by León-Portilla (1962) and Lockhart (1993). Many modern books summarize the events of the conquest and several recent works contain insightful analyses of the context and implications of the conquest (Clendinnen 1991b; Gillespie 1989; Graulich 1995; Hassig 1994; C. Townsend 2006); see also the chapters in Brienen and Jackson (2008). I base my discussion on these sources. See Jones (1999), Lovell (1985), and Warren (1985) on the Spanish Conquest of other Mesoamerican peoples.
5. The quotation is in Tozzer (1941:12); for information about Tulum, see Miller (1982) or Vargas Pacheco (1997).
6. Sahagún (1950–1982:bk.12:31).
7. Durán (1994:529).
8. Díaz del Castillo (1963:218, 219).
9. Sahagún (1905–1907), translated by León-Portilla (1962:92–93). See also Sahagún (1950–1982:bk.12:81).
10. Translated from the Nahuatl by León-Portilla (1962:137–138)
11. Michel Graulich (Michel 1994, Michel 1997a) puts less stress on Motecuhzoma's hesitation than many authors. He suggests that the massacre at Cholula was the response to an ambush deliberately promoted by Motecuhzoma. Its failure to stop the Spaniards may be due to the fact that Cholula was more often an enemy than a friend of Tenochtitlan.
12. Many modern authors apparently still believe this story, which is repeated in numerous accounts of the Spanish Conquest. Susan Gillespie (Susan 1989:173–201) provides a detailed historiographic analysis showing it to be a sixteenth-century fabrication, created in the attempt to make sense out of the cataclysm of the Spanish Conquest; see also C. Townsend (2003).
13. Hassig (1988:242–244); the quotation is on p. 243. Graulich (1996) is highly critical of a later work of Hassig's (1994) on the Spanish Conquest. Graulich's interpretations are found in Graulich (1994, 1996, 1997a).
14. Sixteenth-century epidemics are discussed by McCaa (1995), Cook (1998), and Whitmore (1992). In a fascinating book, McNeill (1976) analyzes the role of epidemics in world history, including the Aztec case.
15. Whitmore (1992). This initial epidemic may have reached Peru by 1528, where it likely killed the Inca emperor Wayna Capac long before any Europeans had arrived on the scene.
16. Sahagún (1950–1982:bk.12:31).
17. Lockhart (1992:1). For general treatments of Nahua culture in the century after the Spanish Conquest, see Burkhart (1989), Gibson (1964, 1966), and Lockhart (1992).
18. Early Mexican encomiendas are discussed by Gibson (1964, 1966). Typical encomienda tax goods are listed by Gibson (1964:83). For a more recent economic analysis, see Yeager (1995).
19. Gerhard (1993), Lockhart (1992); see also Kellogg (1995) and Nutini and Isaac (2009). As I discuss in Smith (2008a), many aspects of Lockhart's model of the Colonial-period altepetl do not apply to Aztec times.
20. The role of the church is discussed by Gibson (1964, 1966). For the responses of the Nahuas to Christianity, see Burkhart (1989, 1996) and Lockhart (1992).
21. These early churches and monasteries, many of which still stand today, are fascinating structures. See Kubler (1948) and Perry (1992).
22. Carmack et al. (2007:193). See Burkhart (1989, 1996) for a detailed analysis of this situation.
23. Burkhart (1989); Ingham (1986); Sandstrom (1991).
24. Lockhart (1992).
25. The archaeology of Early Colonial central Mexico is discussed by Charlton et al. (2005), Fournier García (2007), Lister and Lister (1982), and Rodríguez-Alegría (2005); see also the chapters in Fernández Dávila and Gómez Serafin (1998).
26. Lockhart (1992:201–202). See also Gibson (1964), Haskett (1991), and Wood (2003).
27. A few of the many excellent anthropological descriptions of modern Nahua peoples today are Friedlander (1975), Lewis (1951), and Sandstrom (1991). See also Carmack et al. (2007).
28. Friedlander (1975:130, 71, 75).
29. Modern traditional houses are discussed by Moya Rubio (1982), Prieto (1994), and Yampolsky and Sayer (1993). The house being built in figure 13.10, when completed, resembled that shown in figure 6.4.
30. See Lewis (1951) and Redfield (1929). Vizcarra Bordi (2002) discusses how traditional peasant diets are influenced by modern globalization processes.
31. Foster (1960) discusses many examples of this phenomenon.
32. Friedlander (1975). For handspinning wool, the women of Hueyapan use large Aztec spindle whorls that they find in the fields. These whorls were originally used by the Aztecs to spin maguey fiber. Berdan and Barber (1988) also discuss modern Nahua textiles. Other modern Indian crafts and their historical development are discussed by Foster (1960), Friedlander (1975), Sandstrom and Sandstrom (1986), and Stromberg (1976). For modern use of the Nahuatl language, see Mendoza Cerón and Canger (1993) and the chapters in Moctezuma Zamarrón and Hill (2001).
33. The tortilla made of wheat flour is a northern Mexican food that originated well after the Spanish Conquest. Wheat flour tortillas are available in central Mexican grocery stores, but they are not nearly as prevalent in the diet as the maize tortilla.
34. For discussion of the Urban Revolution, see Smith (2009). Modern lessons from archaeological fieldwork on ancient urban states are discussed by Diamond (2004), Grant (2001), Sabloff (2008), and Smith (2010b); see also the chapters in Costanza et al. (2007) and Redman et al. (2004).
35. Alvarado Tezozomoc (197
5:4–5), translated by Marcus (1992:271–272).
Glossary of Nahuatl Terms
altepetl
City-state or kingdom consisting of a town and surrounding rural area ruled by a tlatoani (chapter 7).
calmecac
School for nobles or promising commoners (chapter 6).
calpixque
Tax collector for the city-state or the empire (chapter 7).
calpolli
A group of families who lived near one another and were subject to a single lord. Most calpolli had between 100 and 200 families. In cities calpolli formed neighborhoods, whereas rural calpolli were either towns or collections of villages. The term calpolli is sometimes used in documents to designate a smaller residential unit, the ward (chapter 6).
chichimec
Member of a hunter-gatherer band of northern Mexico. The ancestors of the Aztecs were Chichimecs who migrated south into central Mexico (chapter 2).
chinampa
Raised field bed; a form of intensive agriculture used to cultivate swampy areas (chapter 3).
ixiptla
God impersonator. Priests or planned sacrificial victims dressed in the regalia of a god and who were venerated as that god during key ceremonies (chapter 9).
macehualli
(pl. macehualtin) Commoner who was a member of a calpolli (chapter 6).
maguey
Plant of the genus Agave with many economic and medicinal uses (chapter 3).
maquahuitl
Sword made of a wood handle with two cutting edges of sharp obsidian blades (chapter 7).
metate
Stone slab used to grind maize to make tortillas and tamales (chapters 3 and 6).
patolli
Game of chance often played by gamblers (chapter 10).
pilli
(pl. pipiltin) Hereditary noble of a lower rank than a tlatoani or tecuhtli (chapter 6).
pochtecatl
(pl. pochteca) Professional merchant belonging to a specialized trading guild (chapter 5).
pulque
Fermented alchoholic beverage made from the sap of the maguey plant (chapter 3).
quachtli
Cotton cape or blanket of a standard size used as currency and for tribute payments (chapters 4 and 5).
quauhpilli
Special social category of nobles by achievement created by Motecuhzoma I to reward outstanding commoner accomplishments in war (chapters 2 and 7).
teccalli
Literally, “noble house,” an institution in the eastern Nahua area consisting of a noble family, its land and other property, and the labor obligations of resident commoners (chapter 6).
tecpan
Palace; residence of a noble (chapter 6).
tecuhtli
(pl. tetecuhtin) High-ranking lord or noble who controlled a major estate and usually served in an important administrative or military position (chapter 6).
telpochcalli
School for commoner children (chapter 6).
temazcalli
Small building used for sweat-baths (chapter 11).
teotl
Deity (chapter 9).
tequitl
Goods and labor service owed to lords by commoners (chapter 6).
tianquiz
Marketplace (chapter 5).
tlachtli
The Aztec ballgame, an event that combined ritual, sport, and entertainment (chapter 10).
tlacotli
(pl. tlacotin) Slave (chapter 6).
Tlameme
Professional carriers or load-bearers, usually employed by merchants on trade expeditions (chapter 5).
tlatoani
(pl. tlatoque) King of a city-state. A tlatoani, literally “he who speaks,” was always of the noble class (chapter 7).
tonalpohualli
260-day ritual calendar used for divination, astrology, and rituals (chapter 11).
tzompantli
Skull rack for public display of the skulls of sacrificial victims (chapter 10).
Note: The best modern Nahuatl–English dictionary is Karttunen (1983). The most complete sources on sixteenth-century Nahuatl are Friar Alonso de Molina's Nahuatl–Spanish and Spanish–Nahuatl dictionary from 1571 (Molina 1970) and Friar Sahagún's Florentine Codex (Sahagún 1950–1982).
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