The Mexica were accomplished builders, artists, and thinkers, whose achievements in architecture, writing, and astronomy rank among the most impressive of any pre-modern civilization. The great Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan, with its twin temples dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, was one of the largest and most impressive religious structures of pre-Columbian America. The Mexica calendar system, with its interlocking 260-day and 365-day cycles, was a masterpiece of astronomical observation and mathematical reasoning. The Mexica writing system, while less well known than that of the Maya, was capable of recording complex historical and religious information, and the surviving codices are among the most important sources for the pre-conquest past.
The Mexica were also skilled mathematicians and astronomers, who developed a sophisticated number system and a remarkably accurate calendar. They were accomplished physicians, who used a wide range of herbal remedies and surgical techniques, and they had a deep understanding of the medicinal properties of plants. Their art, particularly their stone sculpture, their featherwork, and their pottery, was technically sophisticated and aesthetically powerful, and it provides one of the principal ways we know about Mexica civilization today. The city was connected to the mainland by three great causeways, each of which was several kilometers long and was built of stone and earth. The city was supplied with fresh water by an aqueduct that brought water from the springs of Chapultepec, and it was protected from flooding by a great dyke that separated the salty waters of Lake Texcoco from the freshwater lake to the west.
The Templo Mayor was the religious and political center of Tenochtitlan, and it was the destination of pilgrims and worshippers from across the empire. Two parallel staircases led to two separate shrines at its summit: one to Huitzilopochtli, the other to Tlaloc. Rebuilt and enlarged several times during the history of Tenochtitlan, the final version — completed in 1487 — was one of the largest religious structures in the Americas. Among its carved monuments was the great Coyolxauhqui Stone, a disc depicting the dismembered moon goddess, and beside the temple stood a vast skull rack, the tzompantli, lined with the heads of sacrificial victims.
Beyond the Templo Mayor, the Mexica built a wide range of other structures, including palaces for the Tlatoani and the nobility, a great ballcourt for the ritual ballgame, and a network of causeways, aqueducts, and dykes that regulated the flow of water in and out of the city. The Mexica were also skilled builders of pyramids, and the pyramid form was used for a wide range of structures, from the great temple of the capital to the local temples of the calpulli.
The Calendar and Timekeeping
The Mexica had one of the most sophisticated calendar systems of the pre-modern world, combining two interlocking cycles that together produced a 52-year calendar round. The first cycle, the Tonalpohualli, was a 260-day ritual calendar composed of 20 signs multiplied by 13 numbers. Each day in the Tonalpohualli had a unique combination of sign and number, and the calendar was used for divination, for the timing of religious rituals, and for the naming of children. The second cycle, the Xiuhpohualli, was a 365-day solar calendar composed of 18 months of 20 days each, plus 5 extra days at the end of the year. The Xiuhpohualli was used for the regulation of the agricultural year and for the timing of the great seasonal festivals.
The two cycles ran in parallel, and they produced a unique combination every 52 years, a period called the calendar round. The Mexica believed that the end of a calendar round was a moment of cosmic danger, and the closing of one round and the beginning of the next was marked by the New Fire Ceremony, in which all fires in the Valley of Mexico were extinguished and a new fire was lit on the breast of a sacrificial victim. The calendar system required sophisticated astronomical observation, and the Mexica were skilled astronomers who could predict eclipses and who kept careful records of the movements of the sun, the moon, and the planets.
Writing, Glyphs, and Codices
The Mexica had a writing system that, while not as well known as the Maya system, was capable of recording complex information about history, religion, tribute, and the calendar. The Mexica system was a combination of pictographic and phonetic elements, in which images could stand for entire words or for syllables. The system was used to record the conquests of the Tlatoani, the tribute owed by the subject provinces, the religious calendar, and the myths of the people.
The most important surviving examples of Mexica writing are the pre-conquest and early colonial codices, which were typically made of bark paper, deer hide, or maguey fiber. The codices were folded screenfold books, and they were used for a wide range of purposes, from religious divination to historical record. The most famous codices include the Codex Mendoza, a tribute and history codex prepared for the first Viceroy of New Spain; the Codex Boturini, a pictorial account of the Mexica migration; and the Codex Borbonicus, a religious and divinatory codex. The Florentine Codex, compiled by the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and his indigenous collaborators in the sixteenth century, is the most comprehensive single source on Mexica civilization, although it was written in both Spanish and Nahuatl rather than in glyphs.
The Mexica writing system was lost after the Spanish conquest, as the Spanish systematically destroyed the old codices and imposed the Latin alphabet on the indigenous population. Yet many elements of the old system survived in the writing of indigenous chroniclers in the colonial period, and modern scholars have been able to reconstruct much of the Mexica writing system from the surviving codices and from the work of the chroniclers.
Mathematics and the Number System
The Mexica had a sophisticated mathematical system that combined elements of a vigesimal, or base-20, system with pictographic representations. The system used a series of signs for the numbers 1 to 19, and it combined these signs to represent larger numbers. The Mexica used a flag-like symbol for 20, a feather-like symbol for 400, and a bag-like symbol for 8000, and they could represent very large numbers with these signs. The system was used for the calculation of tribute, for the regulation of the calendar, and for the recording of historical information.
The Mexica were skilled mathematicians, and they used their system to make sophisticated calculations in astronomy, in land surveying, and in the regulation of the markets. The Tlatelolco market was one of the largest in the pre-Columbian Americas, and it required a sophisticated system of weights, measures, and money. The Mexica used cacao beans as a form of money, and they developed a system of standard weights for the measurement of goods. The Mexica were also skilled surveyors, and they used their mathematical knowledge to measure and allocate land, particularly the chinampa plots around Tenochtitlan.
Medicine and Healing
The Mexica had a sophisticated tradition of medicine and healing, which was closely tied to their religious and cosmological beliefs. The Mexica believed that illness was caused by a wide range of factors, including the will of the gods, the imbalance of the body’s internal forces, the influence of malevolent spirits, and the effects of witchcraft. The treatment of illness was therefore a combination of religious ritual, herbal medicine, and practical surgery. The Mexica had a wide range of herbal remedies, including remedies made from plants, animals, and minerals, and they used these remedies to treat a remarkable variety of ailments.
The Mexica had a class of professional physicians, called ticitl, who were trained in the calmecac schools and in special institutions attached to the major temples. The physicians were organized into a hierarchy, with the most skilled physicians serving the Tlatoani and the nobility. The physicians used a wide range of techniques, including the diagnosis of illness through the reading of the calendar, the casting of maize grains, and the examination of the patient’s pulse, eyes, and skin. The Mexica physicians were also skilled surgeons, and they performed a wide range of operations, including the treatment of wounds, the setting of broken bones, and the removal of tumors.
The Mexica had a particularly sophisticated understanding of the medicinal properties of plants, and they used a wide range of herbs, roots, and other plant materials in their remedies. The Badianus Manuscript, an Aztec herbal prepared in 1552 by Martín de la Cruz and translated into Latin by Juan Badiano, is the earliest medical text from the Americas, and it provides a remarkable record of Mexica medical knowledge. The manuscript includes descriptions of over 200 medicinal plants and their uses, and it provides a detailed account of the Mexica approach to medicine.
Art, Sculpture, and Material Culture
The Mexica were accomplished artists, and they produced a wide range of works in stone, clay, metal, feathers, and other materials. The most impressive surviving works are the great stone sculptures of the Templo Mayor, including the Coyolxauhqui Stone and the various representations of the gods. The Mexica were also skilled potters, and they produced a wide range of vessels, figurines, and other objects in clay. The Mexica were famous for their featherwork, which was considered to be the highest art form, and they produced elaborate headdresses, shields, and other objects from the feathers of tropical birds, particularly the quetzal. The Mexica were also skilled metalworkers, and they produced a wide range of objects in gold, silver, and copper, although they had no knowledge of iron.
The Mexica art was closely tied to their religious beliefs, and many of the most impressive works are representations of the gods or of the myths that were central to Mexica religion. The Mexica also produced a wide range of objects for everyday use, including pottery, baskets, and tools, and these objects are now the principal source of information about Mexica material culture. The Mexica were also skilled weavers, and they produced a wide range of textiles, including cotton and maguey fiber cloth, which was decorated with elaborate designs.
The Legacy of Mexica Art, Architecture, and Science
The Spanish conquest brought the Mexica state to an end, but the artistic and intellectual traditions of the Mexica continued to influence Mexican culture for centuries. Many of the great Mexica temples were destroyed by the Spanish, but the ruins of Tenochtitlan were rediscovered in the twentieth century and are now a major archaeological site. The Templo Mayor Museum, located next to the ruins, houses one of the most important collections of Mexica art in the world, and the surrounding neighborhood of Mexico City contains a remarkable concentration of Mexica sculpture and architecture.
The intellectual traditions of the Mexica also survived, in modified form, in the colonial and post-colonial period. The calendar continued to be used in many indigenous communities, and the writing system was preserved in the work of indigenous chroniclers. The medical knowledge of the Mexica was incorporated into the Mexican folk medicine tradition, and many Mexica herbal remedies are still used in Mexico today. The artistic traditions of the Mexica, particularly the featherwork and the pottery, were carried on by indigenous artisans, and they remain part of Mexican cultural heritage.
The articles linked throughout this overview, and gathered in this section of the encyclopedia, offer more detailed treatments of every aspect of Mexica art, architecture, and science, from the great temple to the medical knowledge of the Mexica physicians.
Related Articles
See also:
- Aztec Architecture and the Great Temple — the Templo Mayor and Mexica building
- The Aztec Calendar and Timekeeping — the Tonalpohualli and the Xiuhpohualli
- Writing, Glyphs, and Codices — the Mexica recording system
- Mathematics and the Aztec Number System — the vigesimal system and Mexica calculation
- Medicine, Healing, and Aztec Physicians — Mexica medical knowledge
- History of the Aztec Civilization — the historical context of Mexica art and science
- Aztec Religion and Mythology — the religious framework of Mexica art