Posts Tagged: Anahuac

Military career

29 September 2017

Youths just out of school – both calmecac and telpochcalli yet mostly from the prestigious calmecac – used to be picked by veterans as yaotelpochtli or shield-bearers. Their duty was to carry their veteran’s military equipment, spare weaponry and clothes, keep an eye on his... Read More

Take a stroll around Tenochtitlan Zoo

30 June 2017

If you happened to wander the grand island-capital of the Mexicas for more than a few days, touring magnificent plazas and squares, endless alleys of marketplace and portable bridges stretching across intricately paved canals leading toward industrial and less glamorous parts of the city, you... Read More

School with no Summer Break

31 March 2017

If you happened to be a teenager in one of the Central Mexico’s prominent altepetls/city-states such as Tenochtitlan, the famous island-capital of the Mexica Aztecs, or their partners of the mainland, Texcoco or Tlacopan, you would be excused from counting on enjoying your life free... Read More

Part XV: The Conquest of Tlatelolco

28 February 2017

After the unsuccessful night attack on Tenochtitlan described in the Tenochtitlan’s Conquests Part XIV Tlatelolco found itself in a dire dilemma: to try and fight in an open battle that they had not much chances of winning, or to crawl before their powerful but now... Read More

Part XIV: The conflict with Tlatelolco intensifies

28 January 2017

Tlatelolco, indeed, had taken a dubious course when, following the demonstrative competition upon the Great Plaza described in the Tenochtitlan’s Conquests Part XIII, Moquihuixtli and his adviser Teconal began sending messengers to various independent cities of the mainland, asking for help and support against Tenochtitlan.... Read More

Part XIII: What triggered conflict between Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco

28 January 2017

In the mid-15th century, Tenochtitlan‘s influence spread already far and wide, even though it was still nowhere near what it would be only a few decades later, under the rule of the vigorous eighth ruler Ahuitzotl, who would conquer lavishly, stretching Tenochtitlan’s influence almost from... Read More

Acamapichtli – the first ruler of Tenochtitlan

21 October 2015

The name Acamapichtli – Aca(tl)=reed, mapichtli=handful – meant ‘a handful of reeds’, sometimes depicted as arrows with blunted tips, has carved itself into Tenochtitlan’s history as one of the corner stones, or the true Tenochtitlan’s beginning. He was the son of a prominent Mexica warrior... Read More

The Rise of the Aztecs, Part X, The Final Showdown

31 March 2013

In the The Rise of the Aztecs Part IX, we left the Aztecs, Acolhua and the Highlanders preparing to cross Lake Texcoco in the desperate attempt to rid themselves of the Tepanec oppression. No more high or extravagant tribute would be paid; not a single... Read More

Prepared to gamble?

2 December 2012

What wouldn’t you bet while watching a fierce ball game where the players were not afraid to hurt themselves? A kernel of maize? A good obsidian knife? A golden necklace studded with precious stones? Well, why not? Like anywhere else around the globe, people of... Read More

Tlacaelel, the man who gave the Aztec empire its history

24 July 2012

Many sources report him to be the First Son of the Second Mexica Ruler, Huitzilihuitl; or at least one of the tlatoani’s first children. A legitimate son, he possessed it all – the birthright, the brilliance, the drive, the ability to work hard – all... Read More