Primary Sources Of Aztec Human Sacrifice

The Aztec system of human sacrifice has drawn the attention of historians and ethnographers for more than a century. Traditionally, Aztec human sacrifice has been understood as having a religious basis, in which a constant supply of humans were needed for sacrifice to the god of the sun. Conversely, some scholars argue that Aztec human sacrifice served a primarily social function that maintained stratification and bestowed great political power to certain classes. Until recently, however, the scholarly world’s understanding of Aztec human sacrifice has largely revolved around literal interpretations of primary sources written by leaders of both the Aztec Empire and Spanish conquest during the fourteenth to sixteenth century. Through examining and interpreting less well-known features of the Aztec Empire at its height, such as ecological needs, the ideology behind Aztec human sacrifice has become less clear and risen to be a topic of scholarly debate.

Religious Basis of Aztec Human Sacrifice Aztec human sacrifice as having a religious basis can first be examined in the creation myth of the sun and the moon at Teotihuacan. The myth portrays two figures, Tecciztecatl

Just as the gods of Teotihuacan had to atone for their sins in order to return to their celestial paradise, the sacrifiers wanted to participate in human sacrifice through the victim’s death in order to be granted entrance into heaven. Rituals recorded in the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas portray the victim as substitute for the sacrifier and symbolize self-sacrifice in order for the sacrifier to expiate, confirming the understanding of Aztec human sacrifice as a religious function. Examination of all three aspects – creation myths, sacrificial victims, and sacrifiers – supports the importance of religion in Aztec