Meso America Map of Central America

Rituals involved incense, colorfully attired dancers, actors, musicians (conch shell trumpets, drums, rattles, whistles, etc.) and …human sacrifice

Aztec beliefs on art

- their word for art comes from the word “Toltec”- for their admiration of the earlier peoples

- belief that the best artists had “deified hearts” (ability to open up to the gods) and “restless hearts” (ability to search for truth from the gods in order to partake of the gods’ immortality)

- belief that spiritually enlightened artists could receive sacred revelations and by pleasing the gods with their art could become immortal!

- king Izcoatl (ruled 1427-40) burned many earlier books and commanded a rewrite of Mexican history from the Aztec point of view! A group of elite sages, tlamatinime, (say tla- ma-tin-EE-may) (critics, patrons, aesthetes who knew more than the public would) preserved the metaphysical speculation on art and life in poetry in both Spanish and the Aztec language (Nauhuatl)

- belief that earthly things would be destroyed eventually by the wrathful gods

- only “flower and song” (art and beauty) were everlasting because they came from the gods

- art, divinity, truth, immortality were all linked!!!

- Gods were not always perfect in their art- had to remake the world 4 times before it was right

- present world was created on Aztec Day 4 after an earthquake which will end in an earthquake, so we are now in the 5th era of creation…

- belief in successive ages of creation (like many groups in Mesoamerica- like the Maya)

*Map detail Tenochtitlan slide

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  The Aztec capital city, Tenochtitlan, was founded on a small piece of land in the western part of Lake Texcoco. The city was contained within high mountains and surrounding lake and marshes.
  
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  To create living and farming space the Aztecs sank piles into the marshes and formed small land masses called chinampas, or floating gardens.
  
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  Tenochtitlan was highly developed with causeways between islands for transport, aqueducts to carry fresh water and sewers to dispose of waste.
  
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  The city developed into a metropolis led by a ruling leader and supported by noble classes, priests, warriors and merchants. By the early 1500s it contained an array of pyramids, temples, palaces and market places. 
  
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  The Spanish thought it looked Venice like!
  

* Templo Mayor (reconstruction), Tenochtitlan, 1375–1520 C.E.

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  - the Templo Mayor was positioned at the center of the Mexica capital and thus the entire empire.
  
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  - ninety feet high and covered in stucco
  
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  - The capital was also divided into four main quadrants, with the Templo Mayor at the center.
  
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  - This design reflects the Mexica cosmos, which was believed to be composed of four parts structured around the navel of the universe, or the axis mundi.
  

- two main avenues met at the central temple precinct and the Templo Mayor= navel of the universe on the axis mundi- twin temples were dedicated to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli.

- working administrative center

- the entire sacred precinct also included other temples, ball court, skull rack for sacrificial victims and a school.

- also a “water mountain”- a cosmos where water surrounds the earth

- Hundreds of offerings/ ritual caches were found.

- Some offerings contained items related to water, like coral, shells, crocodile skeletons, and vessels depicting Tlaloc.

- Other deposits related to warfare and sacrifice, containing items like human skull masks with obsidian blade tongues and noses and sacrificial knives.

- Many of these offerings contain objects from faraway places—likely places from which the Mexica collected tribute.

- Some offerings demonstrate the Mexica’s awareness of the historical and cultural traditions in Mesoamerica. For instance, they buried an Olmec mask made of jadeite, as well as others from Teotihuacan

- remains of earlier temples were incorporated into this temple. A common trait of Mesoamerica!

- After the Spanish Conquest in 1521, the Templo Mayor was destroyed, and what did survive remained buried. The stones were reused to build structures like the Cathedral in the newly founded capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (1521-1821). 

8.40 * The Founding of Tenochtitlán. Frontispiece to Codex Mendoza. c. 1541–42. , 12-7/8 × 8-5/8” (32.7 × 22 cm).

- the legend says that Huitzilopochtli guided the founding people to the Valley of Mexico. God instructed them to look for an eagle on a prickly pear cactus

- on the flag of Mexico too. (click slide)

- this codex is an Aztec Spanish hybrid style (made after the Spanish conquest- all “heathen material” must be destroyed)

- labels in Aztec glyphs and Spanish

- four blue lines represent 4 canals that come out of the center of Tenochtitlán, the center of the cosmos! Axis Mundi!

- temple above the eagle is the simplified form of the Templo Mayor

- rack with sacrificial skull

- men around sitting on mats may be subject regions/municipalities or city founders

- below the blue canals shows warriors with shields and clubs in front of burning platformed temples that represent Aztec conquests (2 cities)- temples set ablaze

8. 42 * Diego Rivera, The Great City of Tenochtitlán. 1945. Detail of the mural in the patio corridor, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City.

- can see the grid pattern and causeways here

- Rivera- after Mexican Revolution (getting rid of a dictator), revolutionaries celebrated native Pre Colombian cultures- pride in being Mexican!! Revived the murals of some Pre Colombian cultures- emphasized the repressiveness of the Spanish colonialists (kicked out earlier) and extolled the future- Rivera was schooled in Europe but tried to emphasize native folk art traditions

- The muralists saw themselves as one with the worker’s movement and often worked for workmen’s wages and likened the physical labor of painting frescoes to assembly line production.

- 8.43 * Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas. 1939. Oil on canvas, 5’7” × 5’7” (1.7 × 1.7 m).- struggle for national identity- painful life and divorce- flat- ish like Aztec art and Mexican retables (folk religious images on tin)

8.41 * Stone of Five Suns or Aztec Calendar Stone, Tenochtitlán, Mexico. 1502–20

- would have been set up in the heart of Tenochtitlan near the Templo Mayor

- stone that shows the Aztec creation story- Not really a calendar, a diagram of creation!

- MYTH- gods created this world out of their own bodies and blood- Aztecs are a people born in debt to the gods who sacrificed themselves to make the sun move, time to continue…- must nourish mother earth with their own bodies and blood- people considered it an honor to do so!

- massive stone! 3 feet thick, almost 12 feet across, and weighing almost 25 tons

- would have lain flat

- In the center is the terrible sun god, Tonatuih (say Toe-knot-tue) (some believe this may be the earth god??).

- center shows a creature with claws and a tongue shaped like a sacrificial knife- Each of his hands holds a human heart

- earspools/ earflares (plugs!!!) of the Aztec elite

- shows the various eras- also called the “suns”- of the world

- shows the previous 4 “suns”/eras and the current era in which we live- it is called/titled “The 4 Movement” and there are 4 dots in the middle to represent the number 4, and the 4 squares with two circle shapes around the center head is the symbol for “movement” hence “The 4 Movement.”

- inside the squares that make up the word for “movement” we have glyphs that name the 4 previous suns/eras.

- 4 Jaguar (ended by death by jaguar), 4 Wind (ended by death by wind), 4 Rain (ended by death by rain of fire), 4 Water (ended by death by flood)

- 4 Movement will be, is prophesied to be death by earthquake! (common to the area)

- After he was knocked from his exalted position by rivals, the first creator, Tezcatlipoca, turned into a jaguar and destroyed the world.  Under similar circumstances, the world was created and then destroyed with wind, and then two floods.

- When the world is destroyed, it's born again through the sacrifice of one of the gods, and so through the birth of a new sun.

- because humankind was made from the sacrifice of the gods and their bodies, humankind owes a debt to the gods that can be repaid in human sacrifice

- Next come the 20 signs mentioned above, the days of the Aztec month. The 5 dots are the 5 unlucky days, days of sacrifice.

- The next area has square sections with dots, possibly representing weeks of 5 days each. The eight angles are rays of the sun.

- Finally, on the Aztec calendar stone there are the snakes (2 fire gods?) that come head to head at the bottom. The symbols may represent the 52 years in a cycle. Between the tails is a symbol probably showing the date the stone was carved or the birthday of the present sun.

- has become an international symbol of Mexico

- mze- Video link is 7 mins. long- awesome explanation.

1. 5 * Coatlicue, Tenochtitlán (present-day Mexico City). Aztec. c. 1487-1520.
Stone, height 11’4” (3.45 m).

- Coatlicue (say Koh-at-lee-kway)= “She of the Serpent Skirt” or literally “Snakes-Her-Skirt”

- huge! 11 feet

- would have been set up in the heart of Tenochtitlan near the Templo Mayor- part of the multimedia experience of nonwestern art

- shows how differently the styles can be in Aztec art (different from calendar stone) as they borrow from their predecessors (probably by conquered Toltec peoples)

- guardian priestess, earth goddess mom to:

- Huitzilopochtli- (say Wheat-zil –oh-poach-lee) the god born from the pregnancy

- central deity of Mexico

- god of war

- associated with the sun (and fire)

Myth story: (main version)

One day Coatlicue, an earth goddess, was sweeping atop Coatepec (or Snake Mountain, near Tula), when a feather fell into her apron. At that moment, she immaculately conceived a son, whose name was Huitzilopochtli (a sun and warrior god).

Upon hearing that her mother was pregnant, her daughter, Coyolxauhqui (or Bells-Her-Cheeks, pronounced "coy-al-shauw-kee") - became enraged. She rallied her 400 brothers, to storm Snake Mountain and kill their mother.

At the moment Coyolxauhqui approached her mother, Huitzilopochtli was born, fully grown and armed. He sliced off his sister’s head, and threw her body off the mountain. As she fell, her body broke apart until it came to rest at the bottom of Snake Mountain.

- Really a myth that explains cosmology: Huitzilopochtli in this origin story was equated with the sun, Coyolxauhqui was representative of the moon (whose dismemberment parallels the moon’s phases), and her 500 brothers were representative of the stars. Each night Huitzilopochtli (as the sun) chases and defeats Coxolxauhqui and her brothers (the moon and stars) to create the dawn of a new day.

How she looks:

- her feet have eyes and talons!

- her skirt is made up of intertwined snakes, we can see heads and rattles of snakes

- snakes were popular symbols: The habit of snakes to shed their skin each year probably led to them being used to convey ideas concerning renewal and transformation. Likewise the ability of many species to move freely between water, earth and the forest canopy helped underline their symbolic role as intermediaries between the different layers of the cosmos (underworld, earth and sky).

- her snake belt has a human skull on both front and back of her figure!

- her necklace is made of alternating hands and human hearts

- the necklace covers her kinda saggy breasts and a roll or two on her tummy (lovely signs of motherhood!)

- Snakes coming out of body parts, as we see here, was an Aztec convention for squirting blood.

- snake between legs could be menses or penis reference!

- right at the base of her neck are a row of small circle symbols of “preciousness”- probably indicating spurting blood and thus confirming decapitation.

- her head is decapitated- what we “see” as a head is actually two snakes coming out of her neck and meeting nose to nose (with fangs hanging down.) It makes it look like a frontal snake face but it is not.

- streaming blood, which was a precious liquid connoting fertility.

- why is she decapitated?

- perhaps decapitated as a sacrifice would have helped the continuation of life

- several female deities (perhaps Coatlicue among them), sacrificed themselves to put the sun in motion, effectively allowing time itself to continue.

- her arms bent and pulled up against her sides as if to strike

- her hands seem to also have snakes coming from the wrists and thus seem to have been cut off/ spurting blood

- she is carved on all sides and under her feet is also carved a relief of the earth lord, which would touch the earth.

- would have been painted originally!

- helped to ensure public support for the ritual of human sacrifice!

- helped to proclaim the power of the Aztecs over their enemies!

- definitely commissioned by the tlamatinime (sages)- part of their job to guide art and myth- most likely the revelations and stories would have kept coming from their work as the years passed if the Spanish had not conquered them.

- myth comes from revelation, stories, experiences, art and culture not from History.

- probably both respected and feared by the people of the time.

* Image published in Antonio León y Gama’s 1792 book, Descripción histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras que con ocasión del nuevo empedrado que se está formando en la plaza principal de México, se hallaron en ella el año de 1790

- fearsome!!! Actually was reburied by the Spanish originally and then several other times!!! Before being put on display- she was considered too frightening and pagan.

* The Coyolxauhqui Stone, c. 1500. volcanic stone, found: Templo Mayor, Tenochtitlan (Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City),

- famous stone relief of Coyolxauhqui naked and dismembered

- found at the base of the Tempo Mayor- By placing this sculpture at the base of Huiztilopochtli’s temple, the Mexica effectively transformed the temple into the mythical mountain (“Snake Mountain”) she was thrown down (see that previous Temple slide)

- eleven feet in diameter

- would have been painted

- saggy breasts and rolls to indicate motherhood

- Golden bells decorate her cheeks (her name= “Bells Her Cheeks”), feathers and balls of down adorn her hair, and she wears elaborate earrings, fanciful sandals and bracelets, and a serpent belt with a skull attached at the back.

- the edges of the dismembered parts have a scalloped look- like ripped flesh.

- Monster faces are found at her joints

- For the Mexica, nakedness was considered a form of humiliation and also defeat.

- in their ritual calendar, there was a ritual in which they would reenact this myth, sacrifice victims and throw their bodies down the stairs of Huiztilopochtli’s temple.

*Mosaic of a Double-headed Serpent, c. 15th-16th century, cedrela wood, turquoise, pine resin, oyster shell, hematite, and copal, 20.5 x 43.3 x 6.5

- An icon of Mexica (Aztec) art, this striking object was probably worn on ceremonial occasions as a pectoral (an ornament worn on the chest). It is carved in wood (Cedrela odorata) and covered with turquoise mosaic. The wood is hollowed at the back.

- The habit of snakes to shed their skin each year probably led to them being used to convey ideas concerning renewal and transformation. Likewise the ability of many species to move freely between water, earth and the forest canopy helped underline their symbolic role as intermediaries between the different layers of the cosmos (underworld, earth and sky).

- Spondylus (thorny oyster) shell was used for the bright red details around the nose and mouth of both of this object's serpent heads. Strombus (conch) shell was used for the white teeth. Within the gaping mouths the resin adhesive was colored bright red with hematite. Beeswax adheres to the edges of the empty eye sockets which were probably originally inlaid, perhaps with iron pyrites.

End of Aztec dominance:

Hernán Cortés and his small Spanish army arrived in 1519 and overthrew the Mexica ruler Moctezuma Xocoyotzin with relative ease. This was partly due to the latter's weakness, as well as the Spaniards' superior weaponry, their unfamiliar battle tactics and the devastation of the Mexica population by European disease. Mexico remained under Spanish rule until gaining independence in 1821 C.E.

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  Spanish did their best to build new shrines on top of ruined and plundered Mesoamerican temples. 
  

Mesoamerican Summary

Olmec- “mother culture”- pyramids, ball courts and colossal stone ruler portraits

Teotihuacan- grid plan city- pyramids and plazas

Maya- temple pyramids, palaces, plazas, ball courts, sculptures and paintings- glorified rulers and gods

- written language

Aztec- city of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City)- sacrifice, stone carving

Super summary:

The stepped pyramid is the greatest form of Mesoamerican architecture. Like the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, Mesoamerican pyramids served mainly as platforms for temples; internal chambers, if present, were small. Mesoamerican pyramids were generally made of stone, allowing them to weather the elements far better than their brick ziggurat cousins. The most famous of all Mesoamerican structures is El Castillo, the great central pyramid in the Maya city of Chichen Itza, Mexico.

Mesoamerican palaces have the same massive, richly carved aesthetic as the stepped pyramids.

Apart from pyramids, the best known Mesoamerican building type is the ball court. This structure housed the infamous Mesoamerican ball game, in which players attempt to direct a ball through a stone hoop without using their hands. The court consists of a flat playing surface flanked by sloping walls, with stone hoops mounted along the top of each wall.

Mesoamerican sculpture is typically quite stylized with simplified, curvilinear shapes. As in traditions of sculpture throughout the world, human and animal figures are common, as are hybrid creatures. Humans are often depicted with elaborate headdresses and jewellery.

Olmec art has survived chiefly in the form of small figures and vessels sculpted from stone and clay. The most famous Olmec works, however, are the colossal heads: enormous stone busts which stand over six feet high.

One of the principal forms of Mesoamerican sculpture is the stele (plural stelae): an upright stone slab carved in relief. Stelae were fashioned by many civilizations as religious and civic monuments, often displaying the portraits and deeds of deities or human rulers. Stelae were a common feature of Mesoamerican plazas.

Mesoamerican sculpture culminated under the Maya, who worked extensively in stelae, figures, vessels, and architectural sculpture.

Painting, a relatively fragile art, survives in far less abundance than architecture or sculpture. Nonetheless, Mesoamerican painting has been discovered in the form of murals, pottery decoration, and illuminated manuscripts.