Such as they were, with their greatness and their weaknesses, their ideal of order and their cruelty, their obsession with the mystery of blood and death, their sensitivity to the beauty of flowers, birds and gems, their strength of religious feeling – strong to the point of suicide – their excellent practical organisation of the state, their attachment to their land and their maize, which still did not keep their eyes from turning continually to the stars – with all this, these ancient Mexicans were civilised men. Their culture, so suddenly destroyed, is one of those that humanity can be proud of having created. In the hearts and minds of those who believe that our common inheritance is made up of all the values that our species has conceived in all times and in all places, it must take its place among our precious treasures – precious because they are so rare. At long intervals, in the immensity of the world’s life and in the midst of its vast indifference, men joined together in a community bring something into existence that is greater than themselves – a civilisation. These are the creators of cultures; and the Indians of Anahuac [the Aztecs], at the foot of their volcanoes, on the shores of their lake, may be counted among them. Jacques Soustelle, Daily Life of the Aztecs
We are here dealing with a totalitarian state of which the philosophy included an utter contempt for the individual ... any freedom of thought or action was inconceivable in the Aztec world ... dependence and instability were absolute, fear reigned. Death lurked ceaselessly everywhere, and constituted the cement of the building in which the individual Aztec was prisoner ... Clearly the spirituality of some aspects of Aztec life must have sprung from an old pre-Aztec tradition, later betrayed. Laurette Séjourné, Burning Water
The Central and South American high cultures of antiquity were entirely worthy of comparison with what the Old World had achieved by the time of the Han, the Gupta, and the Hellenistic age. The fact is that the Amerindian high cultures were a human modality of their own, and those Spaniards who came among them first would have had the sensation, if they had ever heard of such literature, of treading in a world of imaginative science fiction. But it was real, and the Amerindian achievements deserve all our sympathy and praise. Joseph Needham and Gwei-Djen Lu, Trans-Pacific Echoes & Resonances: Listening Once Again
The Aztec gods and goddesses are, as far as we have known anything about them, an unlovely and unlovable lot. In their myths there is no grace or charm, no poetry. Only this perpetual grudge, grudge, grudging, one god grudging another, the gods grudging men their existence, and men grudging the animals. The goddess of love is goddess of dirt and prostitution, a dirt-eater, a horror, without a touch of tenderness. D H Lawrence, Mornings in Mexico
The Aztecs’ life was one of efficient, many-sided agriculture; of craftsmanship unexcelled in the Western Hemisphere or the world; of much democracy in human relationships. Its social base was the exogamous clan, and within the clan, leadership was achieved and kept through proved individual merit. Clans united into tribes, with equal representation on the tribal council; and the council chose the tribal functionaries on the basis of demonstrated merit. There existed rank, but not caste, the only exception being the quite fluid, shifting slave class. The slave controlled his own family and could in turn hold slaves; none were born into slavery; murder of a slave brought the death penalty to the killer; slavery became a temporary status while a man expiated a crime; often families of the poor would rotate their children, one at a time, into temporary slavery. John Collier, The Indians of the Americas
Probably no other nation, past or present, has received such a bad press as the Aztecs (or the Mexica, as they usually called themselves). In the minds of the public at large, the Aztecs are almost universally viewed as a cruel and sadistic people, on a par with the Nazi Germans for their sadistic, bloodthirsty atrocities. Sophie D Coe & Michael D Coe, The True History of Chocolate
On the night when the Aztecs drove Cortez and his men out of Mexico City, killing many of them, an epidemic of smallpox was raging in the city. The man who had organized the assault on the Spaniards was among those who died on that ‘noche trista’, as the Spaniards later called it. The paralyzing effect of a lethal epidemic goes far to explain why the Aztecs did not pursue the defeated and demoralized Spaniards, giving them time and opportunity to rest and regroup, gather Indian allies and set siege to the city, and so achieve their eventual victory. William H McNeill, Plagues and Peoples, 1977
The Aztecs: powerful, mystical, and doomed by a prophecy. To their deities they built sacred temples, grand pyramids. Here, the enemies of the Aztecs were sacrificed, their beating hearts cut out and offered to the gods. The greatest of all their temples can now be reconstructed, re-imagined in three dimensions. Unsolved History: Aztec Temple of Blood, Discovery 2004
At its peak the empire covered over 200,000 square kilometres and stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Some 6,000,000 people lived under Aztec rule. ibid.
A magnificent island city that rivalled the great capitals of Europe. ibid.
After the Spanish victory the Aztec religion was outlawed … all but wiped out Aztec culture. ibid.
Aztec rights of human sacrifice and cannibalism … The Aztecs cast their might shadow across an empire stretching from northern Mexico to what is today Guatemala. They ruled over ten million subjects, dominating a far-flung kingdom of city-states. In Search of History s2e21: The Aztec Empire, History 1997
The Aztecs established an accurate calendar systematically charting the heavens. Aztec medicine was also highly sophisticated … They viewed every aspect of life as an opportunity for creative expression … A dazzling variety of sculpture. ibid.
One of the most extraordinary confrontations in history … Montecuhzoma invited the Spaniards into the heart of the city. ibid.
An encounter that would prove to be one of the most cataclysmic events in all human history. On the eve of Spain’s arrival, Central America was dominated by the Aztecs. David Olusoga, Civilisations s1e6: First Contact
The magnificent Aztec empire: one of the most powerful civilisations the world has ever seen. 700 years ago the Aztecs dominated Mexico. They were ruthless warriors and ingenious engineers. But after just 200 years their vast empire was wiped out by Spanish invaders. Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs, Channel 4 2021
600 years ago this was a brightly coloured pyramid towering over 60 metres high. One of the most magnificent temples in the Americas – Templo Mayor was the centre of a huge sacred complex. ibid.
The Aztecs had no metal tools or wheeled vehicles. There were no horses in the Americas at the time. ibid.
In the fifteenth century the Aztecs built the most formidable empire in the Americas. And ruled over one of the largest cities in the entire world. At its heart they built astonishing pyramids to worship their gods, and drew on resources from all over their sprawling empire to do so. Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs II