Happy New Year’s! Instead of fireworks, let’s ring in the new year with a superb photostream from Flickriver user Ilhuicamina. This set is of exceptional quality and covers many significant artworks excavated from the Templo Mayor and safeguarded by INAH at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Take a look!
Click HERE to visit Ilhuicamina’s Aztec Art Photostream!
January 1, 2013 | Categories: Arts & Sciences, Culture, History, Media, People, Photo, Places, Preconquest Era, Religion, Things | Tags: adorar, amanteca, antes de la conquista, art, arte, artefacto, artifact, atl tlachinolli, Aztec, Azteca, ética, belief, Calendar Stone, ceremonia, ceremony, Chalchihuitlicue, Chicomecoatl, Coatlicue, corn, corn god, corn goddess, Coyolxauhqui, crafts, creencia, cuauh, cuauhxicalli, Cuauhxicalli de Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, Cuauhxicalli of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, cultura, culture, deified knife, dios, dioses, Eagle Warrior, emperor, ethics, faith, fe, feather, featherwork, filosofía, fish, Flickriver, flint, foto, frog, glyph, god, goddess, gods, Huehueteotl, Huey Teocalli, idea, Ilhuicamina, INAH, indígena, Indian, indigenous, indio, la religión de los aztecas, maize, mask, Mesoamerica, Mexica, Mexica-Tenochca, Mexicayotl, Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Mictecahichuatl, Mictlancihuatl, Mictlantecuhtli, Mictlanteuctli, Moctezuma, Montezuma, moral, morality, Motecuhzoma, Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, Nahua, Napatecuhtli, National Museum of Anthropology, obsidian, offering, ofrenda, personified knife, philosophy, photo, photostream, picture, Piedra de Coyolxauhqui, piedra de sacrificios, pintura, pre-Columbian, pre-Conquest, Pre-Hispanic, Precolumbian, preconquest, Prehispanic, reflexión, religion, sacrificial stone, sculpture, shield, statue, storm, Sun Stone, technology, tecnología, tecpatl, temple, Templo Mayor, Tenochca, Tenochtitlan, Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada, Teocalli of Sacred War, teología, Teotl, Tepeyollotl, Teteo, theology, thought, Tlaloc, Toxcatl, tradicional, traditional, worship, Xilonen, Xipe Totec, Xiuhtecuhtli, Xiuhteuctli | Leave a comment
Funny how things tend to come in clusters. One day I find the full text of Soustelle’s The Daily Life of the Aztecs, today I find a complete English translation of the Anonymous Conqueror’s Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan, México. (In case you’re wondering, Temestitan is an old Spanish corruption of Tenochtitlan.)
This is one of the more obscure Conquest-era histories, allegedly written by one of the Conquistadores under Cortes. We’ve never definitively identified who the author was, but the book seems to be generally accepted as a genuinely early document. The book is an account of the Conquest itself and a concise overview of life in Tenochtitlan at the time, from a recently-arrived European perspective. As usual, such works have to be read carefully, with an awareness of problems of reliability, bias, and cultural misunderstandings/ignorance. With those caveats aside, however, early material like this can still be quite useful.
Go HERE to read Marshall H. Saville’s 1917 English translation of the Anonymous Conqueror’s Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan, México, edited by Alec Christensen and kindly hosted on FAMSI.
I have also updated the First Contact & Conquest Era History page on this site with a permanent link to this work.
Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to go crash before I face-plant on my keyboard, as I’ve been awake for almost 24 hours straight now, 13 of which were spent at work… Just had to share this random discovery before catching some sleep.
October 12, 2008 | Categories: First Contact/Conquest Era, History, Miscellaneous, Updates | Tags: antes de la conquista, Aztec, Azteca, chinampa, Conquest, Conquista, Conquistadore, contact, contacto, Cortes, Cortes Society, Cortez, cultura, culture, economics, European, FAMSI, full text, Grand Temple, Hernan Cortes, historia, history, Huey Teocalli, Icazbalceta, indígena, Indian, indigenous, indio, Jacques Soustelle, Marshall H. Saville, Mesoamerica, Mexica, Mexico, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Nahua, Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great, New Spain, Nueva España, pre-Columbian, pre-Conquest, Pre-Hispanic, Precolumbian, preconquest, Prehispanic, religion, Temestitan, Templo Mayor, Tenochca, Tenochtitlan, Ternaux, The Daily Life of the Aztecs, Tlatelolco, Tlatelulco, tradicional, traditional, translation, war | 4 Comments
I was doing some digging online today, and had quite a stroke of good luck — I found a complete copy of Jacques Soustelle’s classic The Daily Life of the Aztecs online! The English edition of the entire book is available to read for free on Questia. Soustelle was a famous French anthropologist who specialized in studying the Aztecs before the Conquest, one of the bright lights in Mesoamerican studies of the mid 20th Century. His Daily Life of the Aztecs is one of his best-known works on this subject, covering a wide variety of details of Mexica life in great Tenochtitlan, ranging from architecture to agriculture, religion, economics, and the conduct of war. Though somewhat dated (written in 1962), most of the information in this book still remains quite useful, and his respectful, non-sensationalistic tone is refreshing. As it predates the rediscovery of the Templo Mayor (Huey Teocalli) in the 1970’s, it sadly doesn’t include much on that famous structure. Still, I strongly recommend giving it a read, as it remains one of the better general histories and anthropological overviews of life in Precolumbian Mexico.
Go HERE to read The Daily Life of the Aztecs in full!
Incidentally, I have now activated the Pre-Conquest History page in the History section of this blog’s static pages and placed an additional permanent link to this book there.
October 8, 2008 | Categories: Culture, History, Miscellaneous, People, Places, Preconquest Era, Religion, Things, Updates | Tags: antes de la conquista, Aztec, Azteca, chinampa, Conquest, cultura, culture, economics, French, full text, Grand Temple, historia, history, Huey Teocalli, indígena, Indian, indigenous, indio, Jacques Soustelle, Mesoamerica, Mexica, Mexico, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Nahua, pre-Columbian, pre-Conquest, Pre-Hispanic, Precolumbian, preconquest, Prehispanic, Questia, religion, Templo Mayor, Tenochca, Tenochtitlan, The Daily Life of the Aztecs, Tlatelolco, Tlatelulco, tradicional, traditional, war | 9 Comments
Tlacatecco 