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Essay On Aztecs

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World history has featured the rise and fall of numerous civilizations. Few have been as unique as the Aztecs. They quickly grew in the heartlands of Mexico from their conquering lifestyle. The Aztecs developed a style of living different from much of the other civilized world, partly due to the lack of cross-cultural contact due to the Americas relative isolation from the rest of the world in the pre-Columbian era. Nevertheless, the Aztecs created a society that was deeply cultural, and hugely successful.
The Aztecs originated as a result of the several city-states left after the fall of the Toltecs in Tula. As the rival regions vied for power in the region, a new tribe arrived in the Anahuac valley region and began to gain influence. Known as the Mexica, the group began to draw on the …show more content…

The Ollama was an integral part of the Aztec lifestyle. The object of the game was to get a rubber ball about the size of a human head through a stone hoop at the sides of the court. The athletes had to keep the ball off the ground using only their hips, head, knees, and elbows (Encyclopedia Britannica). The outcomes were frequently bet on by people of all wealth. The more money you had, the more you bet. Nobles would bet their concubines, money, or even cities, whereas the poor would bet their freedom for risk of becoming a slave (New World Encyclopedia). Other cultural events included the ceremonial human sacrifices. The sacred rituals were in honor of the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli (Aztec-History). The subjects were first painted with blue chalk, and taken to the top of the sacred pyramid in Tenochtitlán. The person laid on a stone slab, and their stomach would be cut open with a ceremonial obsidian knife. Each body part had a different purpose after being torn from the body: the heart was held up to the sun, the head was put on display, and the organs in the abdomen were fed to the zoo animals (New World

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