Aztecs: An InterpretationIn 1521, the city of Tenochtitlan, magnificent centre of the Aztec empire, fell to the Spaniards and their Indian allies. Inga Clendinnen's account of the Aztecs recreates the culture of that city in its last unthreatened years. It provides a vividly dramatic analysis of Aztec ceremony as performance art, binding the key experiences and concerns of social existence in the late imperial city to the mannered violence of their ritual killings. |
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Page 3
... for Mexica culture , seeing practices of what he took to be refined sensibility as inher- ited from the Toltecs of Tula or ' Tollan ' , one - time rulers of the valley , being juxtaposed with the ' sanguinary 3 Introduction.
... for Mexica culture , seeing practices of what he took to be refined sensibility as inher- ited from the Toltecs of Tula or ' Tollan ' , one - time rulers of the valley , being juxtaposed with the ' sanguinary 3 Introduction.
Page 14
... Toltec legitimacy. They were ready borrowers, too, claiming dances and ritual forms, even formulations of sacred pow- ers, from other and lesser peoples; pouring wealth and invention into their increasingly flamboyant ceremonial . That ...
... Toltec legitimacy. They were ready borrowers, too, claiming dances and ritual forms, even formulations of sacred pow- ers, from other and lesser peoples; pouring wealth and invention into their increasingly flamboyant ceremonial . That ...
Page 28
... Toltecs at Tula, or 'Tollan', as the old stor- ies named it, which had guarded the northern marches against the tough nomads of the steppes. There are intim- ations of frosts and famines presaging that fall, and the Mexica were only one ...
... Toltecs at Tula, or 'Tollan', as the old stor- ies named it, which had guarded the northern marches against the tough nomads of the steppes. There are intim- ations of frosts and famines presaging that fall, and the Mexica were only one ...
Page 31
... Toltecs of Tollan could give it . The Culhuans were ready to exchange their protection for Mexica services as mercenaries for a time , but once again the Mexica were driven away , this time to a swampy islet in Lake Texcoco . At this ...
... Toltecs of Tollan could give it . The Culhuans were ready to exchange their protection for Mexica services as mercenaries for a time , but once again the Mexica were driven away , this time to a swampy islet in Lake Texcoco . At this ...
Page 32
... Toltec blood, a choice which hinted at their pretensions, the ruler of Azcapotzalco doubled their tribute. (Huitzilopochtli, equal to the challenge, is said to have invented the 'float- ing garden' of the chinampas to meet the overlord ...
... Toltec blood, a choice which hinted at their pretensions, the ruler of Azcapotzalco doubled their tribute. (Huitzilopochtli, equal to the challenge, is said to have invented the 'float- ing garden' of the chinampas to meet the overlord ...
Contents
| 19 | |
Local Perspectives | 63 |
Victims | 121 |
Warriors Priests and Merchants | 156 |
The Masculine Self Discovered | 200 |
Wives | 216 |
Mothers | 246 |
The Female Being Revealed | 292 |
Aesthetics | 301 |
The World Transformed the World | 333 |
Defeat | 375 |
Select Bibliography | 511 |
Index | 545 |
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Common terms and phrases
action Aztec battle Bernardino de Sahagún blood body Borbonicus calpulli Cantares Mexicanos captives ceremonial chapter conquest Cortés cultural dance death deity Diego Durán display eagle earth edited empire feast feathers female festival fire flayed flesh Florentine Codex flowers formal girls goddess gods heart Historia honour household Huitzilopochtli human Ibid images imperial Indian ixiptlas jaguar Johanna Broda León-Portilla living López Austin lords maguey maize male merchants Mesoamerican metaphor Mexica Mexico City Miguel León-Portilla Moctezoma mother Nahua Nahuatl noble Nonetheless notion Nueva España Ochpaniztli offered one’s painted Panquetzaliztli performance perhaps Press priestly priests pulque pyramid quetzal Quetzalcoatl Quiñones Keber regalia representations rior ritual ruler sacred power Sahag´un’s sexual skin slaves social society song Spaniards Spanish Templo Mayor Tenochtitlan Texcoco Tezcatlipoca thou tion Tlaloc Tlatelolco tlatoani Toci Toltec translation tribute valley victims warrior house woman women Xipe Totec young