Compare And Contrast The Mayans And Aztecs

Looking at many aspects of the Mayans and Aztecs, such as their complex societies and educational systems, we can conclude that they were a civilized society. The Mayans had large thriving city states with complex social stratification. For example, the upper class consisted of kings, priest and nobles. The middle class included officers, professionals, officials, bureaucrats, merchants and artisans, whereas the lower class included the workers and servants (Shafer 2009). Each of these groups contributed to the economic activities that provided the resources for the development of Maya civilization. Unlike the European countries, the Aztecs had a far advance educational system that was split into 3 schools: Calmecac, Telpochcalli and Cuicacalli. The Calmecac was attended by the higher elite. Here they learned about political leadership, history, science and several other important aspect of their society.

For example, the exhibit text of Aztecs gives a positive implication of Aztec society only to later focus on the negative connotation of human sacrifice; “Nevertheless, some of the most extraordinary objects produced by the Aztec reflect a religious and ritual focus of sacrifice and related themes.” As we learned from Soustelle’s book “The Daily Lives of the Aztecs,” there more extraordinary objects produced by the aztecs, like their calendar which represents how impressive their astronomy and math skills were. By choosing to focus on sacrifice, the natural history museum implies that Aztecs were barbaric people. Secondly, there atmosphere of the exhibit, with its dim and dark lighting, give an unwelcoming atmosphere. It gives a feeling of being in a storage closet, thus giving an implication that these civilizations are ancient and barbaric, therefore they are irrelevant and