The Aztec Empire

by Solis, Felipe (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780892073214
• ISBN10: 0892073217
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-01
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc

Summary

The Aztecs were the Native American people who dominated northern Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. A nomadic culture, the Aztecs eventually settled on several small islands in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325, they founded the town of Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City. Fearless warriors and pragmatic builders, the Aztecs created an empire during the 15th century that was surpassed in size in the Americas only by that of the Incas in Peru. The Aztecs are the most extensively documented of all Amerindian civilizations at the time of European contact in the 16th century. Various sources, including those of religious, military, and social historians left invaluable records of all aspects of life and together with modern archaeological inquiries portray the formation and flourishing of a complex imperial state. The Aztec Empire, organized by Felipe Sol's Olgu'n, the distinguished curator and director of the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, provides not only a thorough representation of Aztec society at the zenith of the empire in the 15th century, but also the context for its development, expansion, and influence. The exhibition features more than 500 archaeological objects and works from Mexico and the United States, including jewelry, works of precious metals, and household as well as ceremonial artifacts. Many of the objects have never been seen outside Mexico, and many will be exhibited with works from the U.S. collections for the first time. This accompanying catalogue includes scholarly essays by foremost Mexican and U.S. authorities from diverse fields and promises to become a major reference on the subject. The essays provide in-depth discussions of various aspects of the culture, such as the Aztec view of the cosmos; their religion and rituals; daily life of common citizens, as well as the nobility; and ecological and anthropological evaluations. It also provides expanded, detailed catalogue information for each work in the exhibition.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 26
Traces of an identity	p. 38
The basin of Mexico as a habitat for pre-Hispanic farmers	p. 56
The harmony between people and animals in the Aztec world	p. 70
Precolumbian man and his cosmos	p. 84
Origins and forms of art in the Aztec empire	p. 100
The Olmec	p. 110
Teotihuacan	p. 114
Tula and the Tolteca	p. 124
Excavations at the Templo Mayor	p. 132
The Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan	p. 146
Aztec religion : creation, sacrifice, and renewal	p. 168
Axis Mundi	p. 178
Gods and rituals	p. 194
Painted books and calendars	p. 212
Nobles and commoners	p. 222
Everyday life in Tenochtitlan	p. 230
The Aztec empire	p. 250
The provinces of the Aztec empire	p. 264
The population of the Mexico and Toluca valleys	p. 270
The Puebla and Tlaxcala valleys	p. 280
The domain of Coatlalpan	p. 281
The Mixteca	p. 288
The Huaxteca and the Totonaca	p. 300
The Tarascan empire	p. 310
Tarascan art	p. 322
The conquest as seen by the Mexica-Aztecs	p. 331
The Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan	p. 342
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