What Is The Difference Between The Aztec Culture And Religion

History has been very cruel to the Aztecs. What do you know about the Aztecs? The first thing that probably comes to your mind is human sacrifice, or them being very bloody and gory.

Well the aztecs had to major ways that they believed in. one was human sacrifice and the other was aztec agriculture. the one that i chose was aztec agriculture. I chose that because it seemed easir to me and because we use stuf that they had come up with.like the canals and the ittagaint and the islands. The aztecs were around 1350 to 1519. during that time they were in mexico city. And where they were there was 300,000 thousand people.they were not in a very big area. the religion i would stress about the most is aztec agriculture.and the three reasons that i'm gonna talk about is large scale, clever construction, and cultrera everyday life.

     The culture of these two civilizations are also similar and different in many ways. Religion was very important in the lives of the Aztec as well as the Maya. Both civilizations worshiped many gods. The Aztec and Maya worshiped gods such as the “corn god.”They believed in this god, because the economy of both civilizations was based on farming. The Family life was also similar. The typical Aztec and Maya households consisted of both families, and all members of the extended family, such as the husband’s relatives. Each member of the family helped with most of the work. The husband’s responsibilities were to support the family usually by doing craft work. The wife’s duties included weaving the families clothing, and cooking their food. However, the Maya had no schools. The children learned various skills by observing adults and helping them. On the other hand, the Aztec’s did things differently. Boys were educated by their father until about the age of 10. Then they attended school fun

     The Aztecs society was structured in a hierarchy with nobles at the top. Social status was determined primarily at birth. All members of the nobility could trace their lineage to the first Aztecs ruler Acamapichtli . The only way one could rise up to another class in the system was to perform an outstanding military achievement.

Religion played a very important role in the Aztec and Inca culture. Religious rituals consisted of human sacrifice and polytheism. Their deities were inspired by nature and the earth’s physical makeup. Both appear to be similar but peel back the onion and notable differences reveal themselves. It is difficult for modern day society to understand how human sacrifice can exist in such advanced civilizations.

The ancient Aztec civilization is usually thought of as a barbaric, unintelligent people throughout modern society. This could be an ideal carried down from the Spaniards that concord the native lands or even something as simple as today’s society creating overblown stereotypes because of conjoined lack of understanding and overall knowledge. But, because of the extensive research and studies done by Miguel León-Portilla we are able to discover the true nature of the Aztec peoples way of life. Within the book “Aztec Thought and Culture” the author explains the develop of the Aztec civilization through education and philosophy as well as describing the Aztec people as an advanced society rather than the popular belief of a savage people and culture.

The Aztecs were a ancient civilization who ruled an empire in the region of mesoamerica between 1325 A.D and 1521 . From their capital city of tenochtitlan, presently the site of modern - day Mexico City, the Aztecs had many achievements. Two things they were most know for is Agriculture and Human sacrifice, which was very unique. However, historians should emphasize the role of Human Sacrifice in Aztec culture."

The great Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlán was overpowered and taken by Hernán Cortés. When the empire fell, many Aztecs were infected with a disease from Europe, smallpox. It was their first exposure to the disease and they had no immunity. Over a course of months, the culture and civilization of the fallen empire have changed.Numerous people wonder about the Aztecs who have survived and still remain in Tenochtitlán. On a trip to the city, we stopped an Aztec resident on the street to answer a few questions. The resident requested to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

In the book Daily Life of The Aztecs On the Eve of the Spanish Conquest by Jacques Soustelle you are walked through what life was like for the Aztecs. You are in 16th Century Mexico, or to them Mexico-Tenochtilan. Soustelle does an excellent job immediately putting you in character with the introduction of the book. The book is broken down into seven different main chapters detailing major aspects of the Aztecs lives in the late 1500’s. You learn about where they lived, to the wars they fought, and what life was like for them from birth to death. In this paper I will further discuss four topics that were very crucial in the daily lives of the Aztecs. I will help you find a better understanding in their daily life as well as the many changes they migrated through over time. The four topics I will be discussing are: 1. Culture and Customs of the Aztecs 2. Civilization vs Barbarism 3. Art and Architecture 4. Education and Home Life.

Everybody has a dark side, and a bright side. This was definitely true for the Aztec's. Through Aztec culture two main things were emphasized; agriculture and human sacrifice, but which should historians emphasize more? Historians learn many things about Aztec culture through studying their agriculture. The Aztec's were Native American people who, around the times 1350-1519, dominated most of the region of what is today's modern day Mexico City (Background Essay). Agriculture was a very important part of the everyday lives and culture of the Aztec's, as well as human sacrifice. Although human sacrifice was important, their success in agriculture had more of a positive impact on their society and what has evolved into our society today. The Aztec's had conquered vast regions of land entailing many people to feed (Document A). Historians should emphasize the Aztec's agriculture because of its importance to society and everyday life, their intelligence and advanced farming techniques, and the importance of religion to their culture.

The selfless act the gods committed led to one of the major reasons for human sacrifices which was that since the gods gave up their own life for the creation of the new world, that the Aztecs had to somehow respect and honor their action. They did this by creating an eighteen month calendar, which dedicated each month to a certain god. The Aztecs used scared and solar calendars to tell time and when all the possible combinations had been used, usually every fifty-two years, the Aztecs would go through a twelve-day period before the cycle started again (Benson 506).

Aztec community was experience and knew how to maximise the production by following crop rotations on highlands where less irrigation treatments are available, also exchanging in inter-cities to have different availability of vegetation (Peters-Golden 2002a: 21).In the form of occupation the status of women was limited on some extents, as the entire section of croft practiced by women of all classes only. Women of the lower rank used to produce simple goods for household where Nobel women were engaged in producing ceremonial capes, by using finest cotton, rabbit fur and feathers(Peters-Golden 2002a: 22). This division of labor amongst women represent status-run going the empire with less equalities. "A boy was declared a soldier"(Peters-Golden 2002a: 29) and the only way a women n get honor in warfare is only if a women dies while giving birth a boy. The high involvement of men in warfare resulted in handling of agriculture and small level horticulture by women, as they used to cultivate cotton and decorative herbs which were used in making clothes.

The religion of the Aztec, including their beliefs, customs and religions, acted as a tremendous influence on their government, economy, and culture. Religion was the foundation for the infamous culture of the Aztec Civilization. Through ceremonies of sacrifice, and the infusion of cosmology into their religion, the Aztecs sculpted a culture unlike that of any other civilization, and left behind a legacy to be studied and admired for generations to come. Religion ultimately shaped the unique civilization of the Aztecs, through cultivating the general outlook and values of the Aztecs, expanding the empire, and influencing the architecture and layout of their city.

The religion of the Aztecs was made up of mainly three gods: Huitzilopochtli, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Below these three main gods were four creating gods. Below these four gods were many other gods, however the most important were Tlaloc, the rain god, Chalchihuitlicue, the god of growth and Xipe, the god of spring. The main thing that captures the attention of Aztec religion is their human sacrifice made to the different gods. Although human sacrifice was practiced around Mesoamerica, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice in a large scale never seen before to date. The idea of human sacrifice was that Gods gave things to humans like food, rain, wealth, and other goods only if they were given human beings in return. The Aztecs believed that the goods liked best the living hearths of sacrificed captives. If the captive was a well skilled soldier and very brave then the Gods would return better goods to his people. This idea lead to wars were the Aztecs fought with other indians and capture their bravest men for sacrifice. As we can imagine,

Aztec is civilization created by the ancient Indian, which was mainly distributed in central and southern Mexico. Aztecs were a tribe with a lower level of development at first, but they absorb and fuse with other outstanding cultural traditions of Indian in the region that they rose rapidly. Aztec had developed agriculture and the main crops were corn, beans, squash, potatoes. Religion played an important role in the life of the Aztecs. The inhabitants believed in the immortality of the soul and Supreme domination. They adored the natural god that one of the peculiar was to use the living person for sacrifice.