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Incas and Aztecs Essay

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Incas and Aztecs

Like the Athenians and Spartans of ancient Greece, the Inca and the Aztec bear resemblance to the two other ancient cultures. The Athenians and Incas were both more interested in developing their Arts as well as their military, but both the Spartans and the Aztecs were highly interested more so in warfare than religion. Although the Aztec and Inca never had to face each other, it is interesting to compare them because of their dominant positions of extremely large and powerful tribes. I am going to compare and contrast religion and the social system along with their system of government, which can be put together.

The Inca and Aztec were both extremely religious. Their entire lives revolved around …show more content…

They believed in good and evil things and saw omens in many things such as rainbows, falling stars, and the hoot of an owl.

They believed that Viracocha was the most important god of all. He was similar to Omelecuhtli, the Aztec god. He was the creator of the Sun, Moon, and Stars that were all seen as gods. The Sun was the life giver and was the most important server of Viracocha. He watched over the crops and was the father of the Emperor. His image was a human face surrounded by rays of flowing hair.

The Moon was the wife of the Sun. It was believed that an eclipse was the result a great serpent or mountain lion trying to eat her. To frighten off the creatures, they would point their weapons at the moon and start screaming and shouting at it.

The constellations, or Stars, all had duties assigned to them by Viracocha. For example, Pleiades had the job of looking over the seeds in the fields, and Lyra, which looked like a llama, looked after the herds.

They also worshipped some other gods such as Thunder, the god of weather, who was an important deity. He was pictured as a man with a war club and a sling in the other hand. Thunder and lightning came from the sling and he drew rain from the Milky Way. Farmers worshipped the Earth Mother and fishermen worshipped that Mother Sea.

The Aztec and Inca both had very different beliefs for the afterlife.

The Aztec, like most Indians,

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