Page 18 - All About History - Issue 54-17

AZTECS

Shrine to Tlaloc
The north side of the two shrines at the top
of the great temple is for Tlaloc, the god of
rain and fertility. This god was feared and
revered as he was believed to send thunder
and floods if angered and rain to help crops
flourish when appeased. To honour him, The Chac Mool
there were often child sacrifices. Outside Tlaloc’s shrine is the Chac
Mool, a male figure reclining on his
back with his head turned 90 degrees
and holding a bowl. These types of
statues predate the Aztecs, having
TEMPLO MAYOR to accept offerings, and the Chac Mool
been seen in Maya culture. The bowl is
wasn’t worshipped specifically by the
Aztecs but was linked heavily to Tlaloc,
often being painted in his colours or
showing a likeness to the god’s face.

THE GREAT AZTEC PYRAMID Sacrificial skulls

Carved stone skulls adorned the outside of
AT TENOCHTITLÁN, 1497 the temple walls, designed to replicate the
real skulls of the sacrificed victims that were
displayed in racks, known as tzompantli,
within the temple. This year, archaeologists
Templo Mayor is the Spanish name for Hueyi uncovered a rack of 650 skulls in Templo
Teocalli, the almighty pyramid temple that Mayor, many of them women’s and
dominated the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, children’s rather than adult male warriors
where Mexico City stands today. It was originally the researchers expected, prompting a
rethink about Mesoamerican culture.
built as simple shrines to the fierce Aztec deities
of war and of rain — Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc,
respectively — in 1325 on a swampy island in Lake
Toxcoco. But before the Aztec Empire fell in 1521, Temple of Quetzalcoatl
the temple was rebuilt no less than six times. To the west of the main Templo Mayor and
Each Aztec ruler added a new outermost layer opposite the imposing steps is the smaller,
to the temple out of respect to the gods and to circular temple for the feathered serpent
god Quetzalcoatl. This building was heavily
ensure that his reign would be immortalised
decorated with serpents and the Aztecs
within the great stone structure. As they added believed that, with his opposite Tezcatlipoca,
layers to the temple, the Aztecs buried sacrificial Quetzalcoatl helped to create the world of
deposits between the stones. So far, archaeologists the fifth sun and gave his own blood to
have uncovered 6,000 objects hidden between the create human beings.
layers. The sixth and final rebuild took place in
1487, bringing the temple to a massive 60 metres
(180 feet) tall, a stone behemoth on the skyline of
Tenochtitlán and both the spiritual and physical
heart of the Aztec Empire.
Covered in stucco and painted vibrant colours,
stone reliefs depicting the stories of the Aztec
pantheon adorned the temple, along with detailed
carvings of animals and numerous statues. The
huge staircases leading up to the shrines were
purposely steep to ensure that the bodies flung
from the sacrificial stone at the top would reach
the bottom. These sacrifices were frequent enough
that the bright white steps up to the shrine of
Huitzilopochtli were stained red with blood. While
the great temple also housed several shrines
to individual gods, it also stood in a precinct of Serpent statues
approximately 78 other sacred buildings. Huge undulating stone serpents (an
animal that features heavily in Aztec
Once Tenochtitlán fell to the siege led by
mythology) guard the entrance to the
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, some of the Templo Mayor on the Huitzilopochtli
stones from the great temple were used to build side, and serpents also adorn the steps to
the Christian cathedrals of Mexico City. However, the shrine. This is to symbolise Coatepec,
thanks to the constant layering-up of the temple, otherwise known as ‘Snake Mountain’,
where the legend of Huitzilopochtli and
some of the original ruins still remain today.
Coyolxauhqui took place.
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