Aztec Essay

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The Aztecs were a very important civilization with new rich ideas and new ways of life. They had a new system of government which was close to democracy. They gave women more rights than most other civilizations and their creative ideas such as the tumpline strap and the source of money provided an influence to our time. Even before they started the conquests to build their empire, the Aztecs built one of the most prosperous Mesoamerican cities for that time. All of these innovations and new ideas heavily influenced the Americas today.
One of the ways the Aztecs became a very successful tribe because of their economy and important cities. Aztec cities always had markets open and the amount of people that came was incredible. Almost 60,000
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The 4 main classes that the Aztecs had were the ruler or emperor, officials, priests, and military leaders, commoners, and slaves. Two of the things that made the Aztecs different than many other civilizations was their view of women and the social pyramid. (See appendix 2) Women had more rights than most women during this time period. They were allowed to own land and could even sell goods and work in a profession. Although they had these rights, their jobs were similar to other civilizations. They ran the house, cleaned, gardened, wove, looked after livestock, and most importantly, looked after their children. Young girls would help the mom grind maize, clean, and weave starting at age 7. Young men would also help out, fetching water, fishing, and accompanying their father to the market. The men built the house out of adobe bricks, protected the family, and provided goods and money. One of the most important things that the Aztecs did everyday was worship the gods through sacrifices.(See Appendix 3) They believed that their main god Huitzilopochtli, the sun god, fought the darkness every night and needed help replenishing his strength. The Aztecs gave blood sacrifices every day, making sure that the sun would come out in the morning. Every morning they sacrificed hundreds of birds and one or two people. Four priests would hold the victim out …show more content…
Aztecs created a wide variety of insects, birds, fish, and animals. Aztecs made their art with gold, silver, copper, jewels, feathers, coral, clay, and stone. Miniature work were also popular where subjects such as plants, insects, and shells were rendered in precious material such as carnallite, pearl, amethyst, rock crystal, obsidian, shell, and the most highly valued of all materials, jade. Turquoise was a particularly favoured material with Aztec artists. A typical example is the decorated human skull, which represented the god Tezcatlipoca. The Aztecs also had a lot of big achievements in Architecture. One of these achievements were step pyramid temples that were meant to worship the gods. (See Appendix 6 & 7). Each temple had two staircases. Sometimes, at the end of staircases, little statues imitating dragons are found. Over time these temples grew more and also over time they became more pleasant. One of the most magnificent temples was the The Aztec royal palace. The walls were adorned with Aztec art and lavish gold, supported by thick columns. Marble steps were found in the direct center of the palace. For non wealthy people they would get houses that looked exactly identical, and did not meet the elites’ houses in size and quality of decorations. The typical Aztec family had a home split into two main sections-the main home and the steam bath. Adobe was used to create all the homes, along with a

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