Aztec Culture: Did you mean...?

Mictlantecuhtli (pron. Mict-lan-te-cuht-li) or 'Lord of the Land of the Dead' was the Aztec god of death. He ruled the underworld (Mictlán) with his wife Mictecacíhuatl. Mictlantecuhtli was worshipped and feared across Mesoamerica. The god...

A belief in an afterlife was central to every major civilization of the ancient world and this encouraged the recognition of the reality of ghosts as the spirits of the departed who, for one reason or another, either returned from the realm...

Coyolxauhqui (pron. Koy-ol-shauw-kee) was the Aztec goddess of the Moon or Milky Way who was famously butchered by her brother Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, in Aztec mythology. This story was commemorated in a celebrated large relief stone...

An introduction to the last Aztec ruler, Moctezuma II. Promoting a exhibition at the British Museum, exploring Aztec (Mexica) civilisation through the divine, military and political role of the last elected ruler, Moctezuma II (reigned AD...

Sixteenth-century Aztec drawings of victims of smallpox. Scanned from (2009) Viruses, Plagues, and History: Past, Present and Future, Oxford University Press, USA, p. 60.

Aztec warriors in typical costume of elite ranks with back racks displaying group insignia. They each carry an obsidian-bladed spear. From the Codex Mendoza, folio 67. (Bodleian Library, Oxford)

Aztec Sun Stone, illustration in Antonio León y Gama's Historical and Chronological Description of the Two Stones Which Were Found in 1790 During the Repaving of the Main Plaza in Mexico, 1792. Antonio León y Gama's (1735-1802) work, published...

An Aztec pendant representing an animal head and covered in turquoise mosaic and with eyes rendered in shell and pyrite. 1400-1521, Mexico. Height 10 cm. (British Museum, London)

The Aztec civilization of ancient Mesoamerica believed that dead warriors were reincarnated as hummingbirds or butterflies. These whistling pots often included such birds, and they were considered spiritual conduits. This fine specimen dates...

An Aztec jade pendant in the form of a figurine. 15th century. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)