To What Extent Should Historians Emphasize Human Sacrifice

627 Words3 Pages

What historians should emphasize, agriculture or human sacrifice? The Aztecs built a great civilization in central Mexico. Historians should emphasize human sacrifice when discussing the Aztecs. Because they were dedicated to their deities, they were very religious and, the process of their sacrifices. Human sacrifice is one of the most important aspects of the Aztec culture and early civilization. They sacrificed many people to their gods. (Docs A, C, E). The Aztecs sacrificed people in unique ways to honor living gods or gods of the above. These unique sacrifices consisted of ripping out the hearts of sacrificial warriors and raising their hearts to the sun; rituals were often a whole day process that started in the middle of the day and …show more content…

This is especially important because they believed the good were returning them favors for their sacrifices The amount the lives lost shows that The Aztecs had a true motive to honor their gods and created their own religion Additionally Having gods during their time gave them a purpose, something to believe in and work for. Aztecs made warriors into gods that citizens admired (Doc E). The ceremony was year-long. Throughout the year, the warrior would be spoiled with luxuries, gifts, clothes, and women. This should especially be focused on because he would be admired as a living god for the year before his sacrifice. Afterward, the warrior would be taken to Chalco where he would later be dismembered in the public eye which demonstrates that the Aztecs heavily focused on their religious honoring and praying to many deities. They were extremely religious, which gave Aztec peoples a purpose. The Aztecs were authentically extremely religious. They had faith that the sun was a god. (Background Essay) The Aztecs believed that for their sun god Huitzilopochlti to do its duties of bringing ‘warmth to the world’, they would need to nourish him by sacrificing human