Maya and Aztec

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations

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Maya Religion

Category: Maya

The Mayans worshiped a broad array of deities. The exact order of their importance is not exactly clear. However, it is believed that the ancient Mayans called their supreme god Hunab Кu. Hunab Ku was the creator of the universe. He was so sacred that he took no part in everyday human affairs. Next in […]



Ancient Teotihuacan Civilization

Category: Articles

Sometime around 100 ВС, twenty-eight miles from where today we find Mexico City, construction began on the spectacular city of Teotihuacan. This city was so advanced that it had drainage canals, narrow parallel streets, town squares, temples, and towering pyramids. Temples found here, were decorated with fabu­lous stone sculptures and amazing art fresco paint­ings. The […]



Origins of the Maya

Category: Maya

We know that this first people entered the New World from Asia by way of the Bering Strait. This occurred during the Pleistocene or Ice Age. between 10.000 to 20.000 years ago. Armed with flint-tipped spears, and wearing animal skinned clothing these people slowly spread throughout the hemisphere. Mostly, they lived in caves and under […]



Maya Military

Category: Maya

When the Spaniards entered Guatemala they soon re­alized that unlike the Aztecs or the Incas, the Mayans were not a single nation, and there was no empire governed by a supreme ruler. Instead, they were forced to defeat one city-State after another. Probably, the most organized of these city-states were the Quiche Mayans, and the […]



Mayan Architecture

Category: Maya

The architecture of the Maya was extraordinarily im­pressive in terms of size, design, and external decora­tion. It becomes even more amazing when we realize that they did not have metal tools, the wheel, or pack animals. Mayan architects used a variety of methods to enhance the beauty of their buildings. Almost always they elevated temples […]



Aztec Architecture

Category: Aztec

Unfortunately, the city Tenochtitlan was destroyed by Cortes immediately after the Aztecs were con­quered. Today, we find the location of the former central square of Tenochtitlan coincides perfectly with the location of the Zocalo in Mexico City. Buried under the pavement of the modern Zocalo lies a wealth of buried artifacts. Legend tells us that […]



Some facts about Motecuhzoma, Cortes and Malinche (Donna Marina)

Category: Aztec

The leader of the Aztecs was the Emperor Montezuma. Montezuma was a man approximately forty years of age He had a long but cheerful face, and wore his hair just long enough to cover his ears Montezuma was of above average height and well proportioned, not fat His black beard was scanty and well-shaped He […]



Ancient Olmec Civilization

Category: Olmec

The Olmec culture is one of Mexico’s very oldest pre-Columbian civilizations. It existed from 1400 to 400 BC. These people lived in the swampy lowlands of the Veracruz-Tabasco coast. We do not know their real name but the Aztecs called the area where they lived Olman. In the Aztec language of nahuatl this means “land […]



Ancient Toltec Civilization

Category: Articles

The Aztecs were strongly influenced by a culture that inhab­ited the Valley of Mexico long before they rose to power in the fourteenth century. These advanced people were called the Toltec, and they reached a very high cultural level. The Toltec were masters of architecture, art, medicine, engineer­ing, and calendrics. They were deeply religious, and […]



Aztec Military

Category: Aztec

Aztec children were dedicated to war from the day that they were born. At birth, their umbilical cords were cut and buried with a shield and arrows. The children were told that they had come into the world to fight. Boys that wore six or seven attended telpochcalli. These were neighborhood schools where the) received […]