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Aztec city of Tenochtitlan
- By yazid avicenna
- Published 22/09/2008
- Reference and Education
- Unrated
yazid avicenna
For more information about Aztec Civilization and American Indian an Mesoamerican.
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The capital city of the Aztecs was Tenochtitlan, built on a series of islands in Lake Texcoco, the city of Tenochtitlan plan was based on a symmetrical lay out that was divided into four city parts called campans. The city of Tenochtitlan was connected with canals which were useful for transportation.
With the Aztecs, archaeology merges fully with history. The pictures and rebus writing of the Aztec manuscripts and the accounts of Bernard Diaz Del Castillo and Bernardio Sahaqun are the important sources as well as the monuments of Tenochtitlan.
At the center of Tenochtitlan was the great pyramid with its twin temples devoted to Huitzilopochti, the Aztecs god of war, and to Tlaloc, the Aztecs god of rain. Nearby were other lesser pyramids and temples, and in the plaza stood the infamous skull-rack with its grisly exhibit of the thousnads of human sacrifices to the nation's deities. The whole of this central, sacred precinct was enclosed by a wall, and just beyond the wall were the palaces
of the Aztec emperors, including that of the tragic Moctezuma II, who was face the invaders bemused by the idea that the bearded Cortez was Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl returned from beyond the sea.
Along the streets and canals of Tenochtitlan houses stood on stone faced platforms. Aztecs resembled the houses of early Teotihuacan and Tula in that the rooms for cooking, sleeping, eating and storage were arranged around a central square. The walls were of stone and adobe and roofs were formed of wooden beams and poles. The great palaces tended to follow the same plan.
Most buildings at Tenochtitlan were whitewashed and provided an impressive setting for the gaudily painted stucco-covered pyramids. Although the main plaza and its pyramids were the grandest, other plaza and its pyramid dotted the city of Tenochtitlan. Each of 20 Aztecs clans was said to have had its own plaza, temple, and market in its own part of the city; and these Aztecs clan holdings were grouped into four larger quarters, also with their own plaza ceremonial centers and markets.
With the Aztecs, archaeology merges fully with history. The pictures and rebus writing of the Aztec manuscripts and the accounts of Bernard Diaz Del Castillo and Bernardio Sahaqun are the important sources as well as the monuments of Tenochtitlan.
At the center of Tenochtitlan was the great pyramid with its twin temples devoted to Huitzilopochti, the Aztecs god of war, and to Tlaloc, the Aztecs god of rain. Nearby were other lesser pyramids and temples, and in the plaza stood the infamous skull-rack with its grisly exhibit of the thousnads of human sacrifices to the nation's deities. The whole of this central, sacred precinct was enclosed by a wall, and just beyond the wall were the palaces
Along the streets and canals of Tenochtitlan houses stood on stone faced platforms. Aztecs resembled the houses of early Teotihuacan and Tula in that the rooms for cooking, sleeping, eating and storage were arranged around a central square. The walls were of stone and adobe and roofs were formed of wooden beams and poles. The great palaces tended to follow the same plan.
Most buildings at Tenochtitlan were whitewashed and provided an impressive setting for the gaudily painted stucco-covered pyramids. Although the main plaza and its pyramids were the grandest, other plaza and its pyramid dotted the city of Tenochtitlan. Each of 20 Aztecs clans was said to have had its own plaza, temple, and market in its own part of the city; and these Aztecs clan holdings were grouped into four larger quarters, also with their own plaza ceremonial centers and markets.
