Aztec Architecture, Clothing, and Government
This sketch of Aztec history, brief as it is, would not be complete without some reference to the interesting indigenous civilisation of the peoples of Anahuac.
From: Unknown To: 1521 C.E.
Location: Mexico
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Mexico of the Mexicans by Lewis Spence.
This sketch of Aztec history, brief as it is, would not be complete without some reference to the interesting indigenous civilisation of the peoples of Anahuac.
Dwelling, as we have seen, in stone houses usually of one storey in height, they were slowly evolving an architectural type of their own. These houses, which were built of red stone found in the vicinity of Mexico city, were flat-roofed, the roofs or azoteas being laid out with parterres of flowers, which gave the city, when viewed from the summit of a temple, the appearance of an immense garden.
The royal palaces, especially those of King Axayaca and Motecuhzoma, were stately and spacious, and covered so much ground that the Spanish conquerors aver that often they had wandered through their apartments for a whole day and had not then inspected all of them. The rooms, as a rule, were spacious if not very lofty, and were frequently hung with native tapestries or with cunningly devised arras manufactured from the feathers of the brilliant-hued birds of the tropical regions of Mexico, an art in which the Mexicans excelled. Furniture bore a resemblance to that in use in Oriental countries, where the habit of squatting dispenses with the necessity of chairs; but thrones and couches were not unknown, and all beds were laid on the floor without supports.
The costume of the upper classes was the tilmatli or cloak, woven of fine cotton and, sometimes, in the case of ceremonial dresses, of feathers. Beneath this was worn maxtli, or loin-cloth, the only usual wear of the lower classes.
The several ranks of chieftains and nobles wore the hair in divers manners to denote the grade to which they belonged, as did the orders of knighthood (of which there were several degrees).
Jewellery was lavishly in use among the higher ranks, and huge panaches, or head-dresses of feather plumes, were worn by chiefs and nobles. Footwear consisted of sandals. Great proficiency had been reached in the jeweller's art, the Spanish artificers who witnessed the work of the Aztec and Tezcucan craftsmen stating that they could not equal it. Gold was extracted by rather laborious means from mountain lodes, and entered largely into the adornment of a warrior. Aztec ladies wore a species of skirt, and a body-dress of jewels and gold.
The government was an elective monarchy, the emperor or tlatoani being elected from the royal family. This obviated the perils of a minority and, as the throne was invariably filled by a brother or nephew of the lately deceased monarch the continuance of the royal line was assured.
The emperor was usually selected because of his military prowess and sacerdotal experience, a knowledge of matters warlike and religious being regarded as essential in a ruler. Thus the ill-fated Motecuhzoma, besides being an experienced soldier, had been trained exhaustively in the tenets of the priesthood, which perhaps accounts for the superstitious and fatalistic attitude he adopted upon the arrival of the Spaniards in Anahuac.
Justice was dealt with an even hand by varying grades of tribunals, which sat constantly and were answerable to none, the emperor not excepted, for their verdict. Corruption on the part of a legal official was punishable by death. The moral code was high, and such crimes against social decency as drunkenness and immorality were rigorously punished.
Spence, Lewis. Mexico of the Mexicans. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917.
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