Posts Tagged: Lake Texcoco

Nezahualcoyotl – the most famous Mesoamerican ruler, part 1, early life

10 June 2020

A brilliant statesman, lawmaker, a renowned poet and engineer, Nezahualcoyotl Acolmiztli, the Acolhua offspring of the royal house of Texcoco, was born into turbulent times.At the end of the 14th century, the Mexican Valley of Central Mexico was dotted by city-states/altepetls, each with a different... Read More

Ahuitzotl – the Mysterious Creature of the Lake

30 April 2018

The legendary animal that reportedly haunted many fishermen’s sleep back in the 15th century Central Mexico, ahuizotl was widely known around the great Lake Texcoco and among towns and altepetls surrounding it; widely known and greatly feared. Described as a lethal creature with spiky fur,... Read More

Reinforcements from the Otomi north

31 October 2017

While Axayacatl was busy recruiting his army, which in as giant an island city as Tenochtitlan was not an easy or a short process, the independent city-states of the Toluca Valley weren’t idle as well. Not only Tenantzinco sought alliances outside of its immediate surroundings.... 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

A plea for help from the Toluca Valley

31 May 2017

To the south and west of Lake Texcoco spread fertile areas of easily cultivated valleys bordered by highlands of various elevations. Plenty of cities and towns dotted those, some subdued by Tenochtitlan prior to the second part of the 15th century and Axayacatl‘s rule, some... Read More

Historical fiction and the war on Tlatelolco, part 1

27 December 2016

By the second part of the 15th century, Tenochtitlan was already an important, dominant altepetl with quite a few provinces to rule. A member of the Triple Alliance, situated between its powerful allies and so probably playing a central role, the great island-city was thriving,... 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

Historical fiction and the true rise of Tenochtitlan

4 March 2014

The remnants of the 13 years of his reign, Itzcoatl, the fourth Mexica-Aztec emperor, spent on the attempts to inherit as many of the former Tepanec provinces as he could, making it clear to every neighboring town or city-state who the next rising power of... Read More

Sold into slavery? Not the end of the world

21 July 2013

Living in a beautiful, rich and well regulated altepetl (city-sate) of the Mexican Valley might have been a pleasant experience unless you and your family were extremely poor. To be a pipiltin, a noble, was good. Whether residing next to the imposing cultural center, among... Read More

Invited to the royal feast in the Mexica Palace?

12 June 2013

A guest post from Enrique Ortiz, an artist, painter, and web designer, a man who knows way too much about anything Mexica-Aztec related, a man who would not miss a single archaeological conference in the Temple Mayor museum. Enrique is also one of the founders... Read More

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