The Templo Mayor
The primary site of human sacrifices in Tenochtitlan was the huge temple-pyramid known as the Templo Mayor. This massive stone monument was located in the sacred precinct, a walled holy city that covered 25 ha (about 35 acres) in the heart of Tenochtitlan.
The Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan
Most Aztec cities had a central religious area whose pyramids and other monuments faced a public plaza where crowds gathered to witness ceremonies (chapter 8). At Tenochtitlan the Mexica walled off this central sacred zone, which became an inner city of its own (figure 1.1). Priests and nobles could enter the sacred precinct, and commoners were probably invited in to attend key ceremonies. Friar Sahagún included only the most prominent temples, shrines, and halls in his illustration of the precinct (figure 10.5); Spanish eyewitness descriptions listed over 70 individual structures.13
Figure 10.5 Early Spanish drawing of the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan (Sahagún 1905–1907:v.6:39). Likely interpretations of the buildings are: (1) The Templo Mayor with Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli temples; (2) Magnification of the Huitzilopochtli temple; (3) Circular shrine to Ehecatl; (4) Skull rack; (5) Ballcourt; (6) Stone for the gladiator sacrifice; (7) Temple of Xipe Totec; (8) Eagle Warriors Hall; (9) Calmecac school. The two figures flanking the Templo Mayor are stone standard bearers and the upside-down figure on the right is probably Xipe Totec or his ixiptla (drawing by Ellen Cesarski)
The Templo Mayor, with its bloodstained twin stairways, dominated the precinct (figure 10.5, no. 1). The artist who painted Sahagún's illustration wanted to make sure that he portrayed the Huitzilopochtli temple in sufficient detail, so he added an enlargement above the main temple (no. 2). Huitzilopochtli (or his ixiptla) is shown wearing the god's characteristic feathered headdress and carrying his fire-serpent weapon. Standard-bearers (probably stone statues) flank the Templo Mayor. Just in front of the central temple is a low, circular platform perhaps dedicated to the wind god Ehecatl (no. 3). A priest with an incense burner and incense bag stands on the platform. Below the platform is the skull rack (tzompantli), with two skulls shown (no. 4). One of Cortés's soldiers reported that the great skull rack in the sacred precinct held 136,000 skulls; this estimate is probably exaggerated. Below the tzompantli is a ballcourt (no. 5).
To the right of the circular shrine, another low platform supports the circular stone used in the gladiator sacrifice ritual dedicated to Xipe Totec (no. 6); notice the ropes used to tether the victim during his fatal battle, and the blood on the steps of the platform. Below the gladiator stone sits Xipe Totec's temple (no. 7), complete with bloody stairs. Xipe Totec himself (or his ixiptla) is drawn upside down, adjacent to the gladiator stone. The two buildings in the lower left are an Eagle Warriors Hall for the jaguar and eagle warriors (no. 8), and a calmecac school (no. 9). The priest offering incense to Ehecatl has just come from the calmecac, as shown by the series of footprints. Among the temples in the sacred precinct that were not depicted in the Sahagún drawing were several dedicated to Tezcatlipoca; shrines to Tonatiuh and other gods; and the Coacalco temple, which housed foreign gods taken from conquered peoples. The captivity of foreign gods in the Coacalco “prison” symbolized both the subjugation of foreign peoples to the Aztec Empire and the Aztecs' respect for the gods and beliefs of their subjects. This use of religious buildings as symbols of the empire's greatness was even more pronounced at the Templo Mayor itself.
The Templo Mayor
The heart of modern Mexico City was built over the ruins of the sacred precinct. Archaeologist and architect Ignacio Marquina long ago determined where the Templo Mayor and other major structures were located in relation to modern streets and buildings, but no one suspected that the foundations of these buildings were still intact, nearly five centuries after their destruction. The chance find of the huge, carved Coyolxauhqui stone (figure 9.1) by power-company workers digging a trench in 1978 set off the largest excavation project ever undertaken in Mexico. This project was directed by archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. The Coyolxauhqui stone had been placed in front of the pyramid stairs as an offering, and Matos knew from Marquina's maps that the Templo Mayor was located immediately east of the find. When archaeologists extended the power-company's trench to the east, they came upon the lower steps of the pyramid. The combination of an undisturbed major offering and the intact stairs suggested that the Templo Mayor was in better condition than anyone had expected.14
In order to excavate the Templo Mayor, a number of sixteenth-century Spanish buildings had to be torn down. When the excavations were completed, however, the lowest levels of the Templo Mayor were open for all to see (figure 10.6). Like nearly all Mesoamerican pyramids, this structure was enlarged and rebuilt numerous times. The initial shrine, which probably dates to Tenochtitlan's early years, is located below the modern water table and could not be excavated. The second stage of construction consisted of a low platform with two temples and two stairways. The platform and the lower courses of the temple walls remain today. Up to five additional stages of enlargement were carried out, but only the lowest sections of the outer walls and the lowest steps for each stage remain today. It seems logical to assume that each Mexica tlatoani undertook a program to enlarge and improve the central temple, but it has proven difficult to correlate the construction stages with the reigns of individual kings.15 An artist's reconstruction of the final state of the Templo Mayor is shown in figure 10.7.
Figure 10.6 The Templo Mayor today. Stairways from several construction stages are visible. The temples of the earliest excavated stage are under the roof at right. The Coyolxauhqui stone (figure 9.1) is visible under the scaffold in front of the stairs (photograph courtesy of Eduardo Matos Moctezuma; reproduced with permission of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia)
Figure 10.7 A ceremony at the Templo Mayor (copyright © 2010 NationalGeographic; courtesy of National Geographic Magazine, Nov. 2010)
In addition to the foundations of the Templo Mayor itself, some of the pavements and floors from various stages of construction have survived, and parts of several additional buildings have been excavated. One of the most interesting is the Eagle Warrior Hall located just north of the Templo Mayor; this is probably the building shown in Sahagún's map of the sacred precinct (figure 10.5, no. 8). This excavation revealed a wealth of information about the private rituals carried out by elite warriors in the Sacred Precinct. In a separate but related project, deep shafts were dug under the Mexico City Cathedral, which covers much of the sacred precinct, just west of the Templo Mayor. These excavations were made as part of a program to shore up the foundations of the Cathedral, which has been slowly sinking in the soft soil for four centuries. But before the engineers finished with the shafts, archaeologists were able to recover the traces of numerous buildings, shrines, and offerings.16
At the Templo Mayor offerings were placed under floors and below stairs at each stage of construction (figure 10.8). These are interesting both for the fine objects they contain and for the symbolism of the objects, which helps us understand the meaning that the Templo Mayor held for the Mexica.17 The main temple was often referred to by the Aztecs as Coatepec (“Serpent Hill”), the place where Huitzilopochtli was born and later killed his sister Coyolxauhqui. The 1978 find of the Coyolxauhqui stone as a temple offering dramatically confirmed this mythological association. Many of the human sacrifices carried out at the Templo Mayor were reenactments of Huitzilopochtli's victory over Coyolxauhqui.
Figure 10.8 Offering 61 excavated in front of the Templo Mayor. Among the contents of this buried chamber are stone deity sculptures, incense burners, and diverse symbols of water and fertility including a crocodile skull, coral, and seashells (photograph courtesy of Eduardo Matos Moctezuma; reproduced with permission of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia)
Strangely enough, the Coyolxauhqui stone turned out to be one of only a few overt references to Huitzilopochtli that were uncovered by the Templo Mayor excav
ations. On the other hand, Huitzilopochtli's pyramid partner Tlaloc – the rain god – was glorified numerous times in the more than 100 buried offerings that have been excavated (figure 10.8). Most goods in these offerings were symbolically related to water and fertility. For example the organic remains of coral, seashells, and alligators were frequently included with offerings in the small stone subfloor chambers, as were stone and ceramic depictions of seashells and other symbols of water and fertility.
Many of the offerings from the Templo Mayor contained other objects that served to glorify the Aztec Empire and Tenochtitlan's role as its capital. From historical documents, we know that the Mexica were aware they were the heirs to a tradition of central Mexican Empires that stretched back to Teotihuacan and that they deliberately stressed their connections and continuity with these earlier cultures as a source of legitimacy for their own place as overlords of an expanding empire.18 The offerings are archaeological confirmation of the importance the Mexica placed on this heritage. Fine objects from earlier Mesoamerican cultures were carefully guarded, and some of these, such as Teotihuacan masks and vessels, were placed in the Templo Mayor offerings. Other objects, including stone sculptures and ceramic vessels, were deliberately fashioned in the styles of Tula and Xochicalco. In addition to offering something valuable to the gods, the Mexica of Tenochtitlan once again appear to be proclaiming themselves worthy of the mantle of Teotihuacan and Tula, powerful religious and political cities that ruled over large domains.
Another aspect of imperial symbolism in the Templo Mayor offerings was the predominantly foreign origin of the goods. Most of the objects in these offerings came from areas under Aztec control. The shells, alligators, and other maritime objects were from imperial provinces along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts. The numerous, fine-carved masks in the ancient Mezcala style originated in the Balsas River Valley of Guerrero, included in the southwestern provinces of the empire. Most of these items were probably received by the Mexica as tribute or taxes. Their burial in and around the Templo Mayor may have symbolized the subordination of their makers to the power of the mighty Tenochtitlan.
Other Pyramids, Other Sacrifices
Every city-state capital had its own major temple-pyramid facing the central plaza (chapter 8). The few of these that have survived are similar to the Templo Mayor in both form and function. The pyramids at Teopanzolco (figure 2.6), Tenayuca (figures 2.7, 2.8), and Tlatelolco (figure 8.7, center) are the primary examples of the twin-stair temple-pyramid style that was popular during the Early Aztec period (see chapter 2). During Late Aztec times, many or most pyramids – outside of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco – were built with a single stairway. Pyramids at Coatetelco (figures 8.1, 10.9), Calixtlahuaca (figure 8.2), and Cuexcomate are good examples.
Figure 10.9 Partially restored small temple-pyramid at Coatetelco, an Aztec city in Morelos (photograph by Michael E. Smith)
During the Postclassic period, another type of pyramid-temple became popular throughout Mesoamerica, from central Mexico to Yucatan: the circular temple. Many excavated Aztec sites have one or more of these temples. A nice example was encountered during work on the Mexico City metro (figure 10.10), and it now sits in the middle of the busy Pino Suárez metro station. One of the largest examples was excavated at Calixtlahuaca (figure 10.11). Circular temples were dedicated to Quetzalcoatl in his guise as Ehecatl, the god of wind: “This Quetzalcoatl was the one they say (made the world). And thus they call him lord of the wind because they say that this Tonacatecuhtli, when it seemed right to him, blew and engendered this Quetzalcoatl, to whom they made round temples without any corners.”19
Figure 10.11 Circular pyramid at Calixtlahuaca (photograph by Michael E. Smith)
Figure 10.10 Small circular shrine from Tenochtitlan. Three of the five construction stages are visible today. This structure was uncovered during the excavation of the Mexico City metro, and today it sits in the middle of the busy Pino Suárez metro station (photograph by Michael E. Smith)
Excavations of these “round temples without any corners” (shown in figures 10.10 and 10.11) have turned up offerings of large stone sculptures of Ehecatl buried under the walls. In front of the circular temple in the ceremonial precinct at Tlatelolco (figure 8.7, lower right) archaeologists found a series of rich burials and offerings, many showing the symbolism of Quetzalcoatl and Ehecatl.
Although direct evidence is sparse, most of these pyramids outside of Tenochtitlan probably were settings for rituals of human sacrifice. The Spanish conquerors noted sacrifices in many of the cities they encountered en route to Tenochtitlan, and local documents from throughout the Aztec Empire mention extensive human sacrifices before 1519. At Teopanzolco, a small platform across the plaza from the twin-stair pyramid (figure 2.6) contained a burial chamber with many decapitated human skulls, the remains of a large sacrificial ritual. Other evidence of sacrificial rituals is provided by skull racks. Clear identifications of skull racks at Aztec sites are rare, but this may be due to the architectural emphasis of most excavations at urban sites. The architectural remains of one of the few clearly identified skull racks – at Tlatelolco – consist of an unremarkable low rectangular platform (figure 8.7), a kind of feature common at nearly all excavated urban sites. Adjacent to the Tlatelolco platform was a burial with numerous severed skulls perforated with holes in their sides for mounting on the wooden beams of the skull rack. It appears that after skulls had sat on the rack for some time they were buried adjacent to the platform to make way for new, fresher human heads. Aztec skull racks thus consisted of a wooden frame for the skulls, erected on top of a regular low stone altar or platform. It is likely that if areas around low platforms and altars were excavated more fully, additional offerings of skulls at other sites would be found.20
Other rituals in addition to sacrifice took place at smaller temple-pyramids. At Cuexcomate, priests discarded ritual objects and other materials in a heap behind the pyramid. When we excavated this refuse pile, we found large numbers of long-handled incense burners and many broken ceramic bowls and plates, probably from offerings of food.21 Such offerings were made during both private rituals of the priests and public ceremonies that involved the entire community.
Public Ceremonies
The sacred precinct was the stage for some of the most important rituals for the well-being of the empire and the city of Tenochtitlan. These included private rituals of penance and bloodletting by the many priests who lived in the precinct, public sacrifices and pageants attended by priests and nobles, and the occasional major public spectacle attended by a wider audience. Most people, however, were more intimately involved in other types of ceremonies and rituals. First I discuss rituals of a public nature – those that occurred in open, public settings and permitted the participation of large numbers of people. Then I discuss rituals of a more private nature that were conducted within the confines of the home.
The Monthly Ceremonies
Each of the 18 Aztec months had a distinctive series of ceremonies, which involved priests, rulers, nobles, and commoners alike. These ceremonies were devoted to particular religious themes, especially agricultural fertility. Many of the human sacrifices took place as parts of these monthly celebrations. Friars Durán and Sahagún left detailed records of the individual rituals carried out at each monthly ceremony.22 I have drawn from their descriptions for the following example of the public ceremonies during the month of Toxcatl.
Toxcatl, May 4–23, fell at the height of the dry season.23 The days were hot and dusty; many streambeds were dry. Stores from the fall's harvest were running low, and farmers were anxiously awaiting rain so that new crops could be planted. The ceremonies of Toxcatl were dedicated to Tezcatlipoca in supplication for the start of the coming rainy season. The culminating event of the Toxcatl ceremonies was the sacrifice of Tezcatlipoca's ixiptla at the end of the month. This impersonator, selected by the priests a year in advance, had to be a young man of physical perfection: “For he who was chosen w
as of fair countenance, of good understanding and quick, of clean body – slender like a reed; long and thin like a stout cane; well-built.”24 The impersonator was trained in flute-playing, speech, and flower-carrying, and spent most of the year roaming the streets of Tenochtitlan with an entourage.
At the start of his last month, the ixiptla went to the tlatoani, who adorned him in the insignia and regalia of Tezcatlipoca. He was given four young women, who symbolized fertility goddesses, as wives. The entire group visited all parts of the city during this final month, leading up to the sacrifice at the Templo Mayor. The “marriage” between Tezcatlipoca and the four goddesses occurred after nearly a year of abstinence and symbolized the coming of fertility following a long period of sterility or drought. The sacrifice itself symbolically marked the end of the dry period.
The theme of fertility after drought was also portrayed in the other rituals of Toxcatl. A large image of Huitzilopochtli was covered with amaranth dough, dressed in the god's insignia, and carried in procession to a temple where it was set up to receive offerings. Priests stoked the temple braziers into towering fires and offered incense. Quail were sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli's flames and later eaten by the king and nobles. The women of the city performed leaping dances to the music of drums and turtle-shell rattles. Warriors participated in an undulating “serpent dance,” and young women performed a “popcorn dance” in which they were adorned with strings of popcorn that symbolized food and fertility. Toward the end of the feast, priests practiced bloodletting on all of the children, while other priests went around to people's homes, spreading incense.
The Aztecs Page 26
