Aztec sacrifices how many a day

The Aztecs and their world of rational urban planning, sophisticated sanitation, running water, daily baths, dominant temples and insatiable human sacrifice seemed set to last forever.

Hidden behind a curtain in one of the shrines, Bernardino de Sahagun, a Franciscan friar, glimpsed the idol of Huitzilopochtli. It was made from seeds bonded with honey and human blood. Each year, the idol was dressed in gorgeous robes and wearing a gold crown was shown to the people at a festival that ended with their eating this image of their god of sun and war.

However fierce their eagle warriors and blood hungry gods, the Aztecs fell prey quickly to Spanish trickery, firearms and disease. When Pedro de Alvarado, his second in command, heard of a plan to retaliate, he trapped thousands of unarmed Aztec nobles in the sacred precinct during a religious ceremony and had his men cut them to pieces. Surviving Aztecs — many of those not put to the sword died of smallpox shipped from Spain — were expelled from their city, which the conquistadores then demolished.

A Catholic cathedral was built on top of what had been the Templo Mayor and its sacred precinct. Life marched on as New Spain grew and turned into Mexico.

Tenochtitlan and the Templo Mayor were all but forgotten, as were Aztec gods and culture. Early excavations made by the pioneering Mexican archaeologist Leopold Batres in the late 19th Century were cursory, while further digs made between then and World War Two were seen as little more than a nuisance by those living in the elegant residential streets of this central quarter of Mexico City. Public excitement and systematic excavation of the site only really began in the final quarter of the 20th Century.

As for human sacrifice, some victims volunteered for the good of the community or to atone for a sin, but most were prisoners of war or criminals. The Spanish records relate mostly to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, where sacrifices took place 18 times every year, with around 60 victims each time.

A human sacrifice was dedicated to one of the gods, so the form of sacrifice varied accordingly. The god Tlaloc, for example, demanded that children have their throats cut, and to please Chicomecoatl, a girl was beheaded.

Our emails are made to shine in your inbox, with something fresh every morning, afternoon, and weekend. The common consensus—outside academic circles, at least—is that the Aztec empire, like most indigenous American nations, crumbled under the combined force of colonial subjugation and imported European diseases. And while these factors certainly played substantial roles in the Spanish conquest of Mexico, another theory considers a fascinating aspect of Aztec society: human sacrifice.

And few things fascinate anthropologists and archaeologists, amateur and professional, than ritualistic slaughter. Death—the weirder, the better—is always enthralling. For decades, historians were skeptical of Spanish accounts documenting Aztec human-sacrifice rituals. This was, after all, a common justification employed throughout the or so years of European colonialism around the world. But archaeological evidence suggests human sacrifice was indeed a regular aspect of Aztec religious practices.

It all began with a restructuring of the Aztec pantheon. According to Aztec beliefs, Huitzilopochtli required regular nourishment tlaxcaltiliztli in the form of freshly harvested human hearts. Tlaxcala leaders quickly converted to Christianity, and provided , warriors to the siege of Tenochtitlan. John Verano , an anthropology professor at Tulane University, explains the practice held spiritual significance for the Aztecs.

Large and small human sacrifices would be made throughout the year to coincide with important calendar dates, he explains, to dedicate temples, to reverse drought and famine, and more. The rationale for Aztec human sacrifice was, first and foremost, a matter of survival. According to Aztec cosmology, the sun god Huitzilopochtli was waging a constant war against darkness, and if the darkness won, the world would end. The keep the sun moving across the sky and preserve their very lives, the Aztecs had to feed Huitzilopochtli with human hearts and blood.

More than skulls and thousands of fragments found near Templo Mayor. Human sacrifice also served another purpose in the expanding Aztec empire of the 15th and 16th century: intimidation.