Talk:Aztecs/Notes

This page is intended for notes about the Aztec civilization.

Major new additions to any Aztec-related article should be placed here first. Editors should watch this page and periodically copyedit Nanahuatzin's contributions and move them to the appropriate article. The appropriate location may not be the Aztec article. It could be a subsidiary page or even a new page if one is deemed appropriate. We should discuss any major decisions on Talk:Aztec. When moving text, a note should be left behind in here indicating where the text was moved and a signature should be left so we know who did it.

--Richard 17:55, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

aztec mytology
note:'' most of the gods of the list are common to most mesoamerican people (excluding the maya) but i man not shure how to explain this... some gods were tutelar gods of specific people. Like Huitzilopochtli, tutelar god of the mexica and asociated with coatlicue, and  Coyolxauhqui.''

While the nahua had sacred text, like most politeist people those text were not dogma, and there was not problem in having contradictory accounts of the characteristics of their gods. Also the concept of god is diferent from the european concepts, they represent the forces of nature, they had once inahbited the earth, but they give their lives so men could exists, thus becoming spiritual beings that could not interact directly with humans. The only god that had not been sacrificed was Ehecatl, so he became the linkt between the spiritual beings and the men. In the paintings and sculptures, sometimes we see the god using a conic hat, and a sectioned shell, indicating the god is impersonating Ehecatl. Usually Quetzalcoatl the god protector of humanity i represented as Ehecatl Quetzalcoatl.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Quetzalcoatl_Ehecatl.jpg

Their main gods were the gods asociated with the creations and maintenance of the world. Those were called Ipalnemohuani, "by whom everything lives". They also could be called by other names o atributes like "The inventor of himself" or The lord of near and far". Because in nahuatl plural is used only for things, Ipalnemohuani and the other atributes are translated in singular, thus in the eyes of the first spanish priest, this resembled a kind of monoteism. Autors like Leon Portilla and Laurette Sejourne, sugested the nahua religion was evolving to some kind of monoteism. While now most antropologist do not agree, reference to monoteism are still common.

The Ipalneohuani were:

Ometeotl/Omecihualt The originators of the gods. Literally Lord two/lady two. and translated as lord lady of the duality is an androginous god, there seems to be no cult directly asociated to him, but it was mentioned in nahuatl poetry.

Quetzalcoatl. The protector of the humanity. Originally it was the god of the waters from the sky and subordinated of Tlaloc.

Tezcatlipoca. Along with quetzalcoatl, resposible of the creation of the earth.

Tlaloc, god of the waters of the earth.

All gods has asociated a female deity, or contrapart, but in some cased this became independent.

After the ipalnemohuani, were the tutelar gods. This would protect certain people, city, handcarft or ocupation, and in a few instances a family.


 * Work in progress. Most of this material is taken for "Leon Portilla " la filosofia nahuatl estudaidad desde sus fuentes. And several autors for the magazien "Arqueologia Mexicana". I will put the sources. Nanahuatzin 09:11, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Florentine Codex
Florentine Codex is the name given to 12 books created under the supervision of Bernardino de Sahagún between approximately 1540 and 1585. It is a copy of original Nahuatl sources which are now lost, perhaps destroyed by the Spanish authorities who confiscated Sahagún's manuscripts.

The work contains a Nahuatl text, written by trilingual (Nahuatl, Spanish and Latin) Aztec students of Sahagún. There is also a Spanish text, a version of the Nahuatl text censored by Sahagun, and 1,800 illustrations done by Aztec Tlacuilos using European techniques, but with Aztec iconography.

This copy was taken to Europe in 1580 by Rodrigo de Sequera, and is also referred to as the Sequera manuscript. The Nahuatl part has not been translated completely. The Spanish portion was the basis for the Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España (literally "General History of the Things of New Spain") and is kept at the Laurentian Library in Florence. The full Florentine Codex with all the ilustrations was not published until 1979.

The oldest version, the Codex Matritense, corresponds to the material recompilated in Tlatelolco in Nahuatl. It has five books, and includes 175 illustrations. Another version is the Madrid codex. This is a very heavily censored translation by Sahagún of the Florentine codex, done to appeal to the Spanish authorities.

A short version of this document, is the "Breve compendio de los soles idolátricos que los indios desta Nueva España usaban en tiempos de su infidelidad." ("Short compendium of the idolatry used by the New Spain Indians during their unfaithfulness"), sent by Bernardino to Pope Pius V.
 * "Sahagún y el nacimiento de la cronica mestiza" by Enrique Florescano. Relaciones 91, verano 2002, vol XXIII, CONACULTA.