As the quincentennial anniversary years of the Age of Discovery continue, the Aztecs of Mexico will be increasingly in the news, and we will be treated to mass-media stories focusing on the exotic and bizarre aspects of Aztec culture. Human sacrifice in particular is always a surefire way to titillate popular sensibilities. The alien aspects of this first-contacted New World civilization continue to fascinate; and yet Aztec history holds many parallels with European history. The Aztecs’ bloody policies of political domination and religious piety were not so different from those of Cortés’ Spain.
To convey at once the drama of the clash of cultures, the deeply alien nature of Aztec culture as perceived by Europeans of that time, and the economic and social organizational patterns that render Aztec culture familiar is a challenging task. Richard Townsend meets the challenge with this book, a good general introduction to Aztec history and belief systems with a focus on the best-known Aztec group, the Mexica of Tenochtitlan. Townsend draws the reader quickly into the world of early sixteenth-century Mexico by recounting the story of the conquest of Tenochtitlan by Cortés. He presents the Spanish perceptions of the New World as well as the Mexican perspective on the European intrusion.
Understanding Aztec history requires a grasp of Aztec religion, since the belief system so strongly influenced the form, if not the motivation, for so many events. Both these subjects—Aztec history and belief system—are complex and difficult for nonspecialists to grasp; both benefit from Townsend’s sure handling. For the sequence of events that led to Tenochtitlan’s establishment and florescence, the author relies heavily on ethnohistorical accounts, sometimes interpreting them with selected pieces of archaeological research at some of the better-known sites. He conveys the political circumstances of the Mexica rise to supremacy against their Tepanec overlords with a vivid sense of the power games of conniving rival dynasties, abundant historical detail, and lively presentation of the important political personalities. The Aztecs emerge into the light of the shared human history of civilized people as we come to understand their political history, legal system, farming practices, and artisanal products—even their belief system.
As Townsend points out, for the Aztecs and many other New World peoples, the notion of a religion based on worship of anthropomorphic deities is entirely inappropriate to their veneration of places, events, forces of nature, plants, and animals. Townsend’s discussions of the symbolic world and sacred aspects of the landscape will provide new perspectives on the world the Aztecs lived in, and how they perceived it. Thames and Hudson continues its series of well-illustrated, reasonably priced books on topics in Mesoamerican archaeology with Townsend’s volume.
