Aztec Religion: Did you mean...?

The ancient Greeks believed the gods were an ever-present influence on humanity, for both good and bad. The belief that these gods might be influenced in turn is evidenced in the widespread building of temples dedicated to them as well as...

The polytheistic religion of ancient Mesopotamia was instrumental in shaping its government and held great significance in the lives of its people. Mesopotamian religion revolved around the belief that humans were created to work alongside...

The Tarascan civilization (aka the Purépecha, after their language) dominated western Mexico and built an empire that would bring it into direct conflict with that other great Mesoamerican civilization of the Post-classic period, the Aztecs...

European explorers began to probe the Western Hemisphere in the early 1500s, and they found to their utter amazement not only a huge landmass but also a world filled with several diverse and populous indigenous cultures. Among their most...

Mesopotamian religion was informed by the belief that humans were co-workers with the gods in maintaining the order created at the beginning of time and so religious expression was integral to daily life in ancient Mesopotamia in how they...

The Sun Stone (or The Calendar Stone), Aztec, reign of Moctezuma II (1502-20), discovered in 1790 at the southeastern edge of the Plaza Mayor (Zocalo) in Mexico City, stone (unfinished), 358 cm diameter x 98 cm depth (Museo Nacional de...

Maya religion and culture is among the most advanced and sophisticated of the Pre-Colombian Americas as evidenced by the ruins of their great cities and what remains of their writings after most were burned by the Spanish in 1562. The Maya...

Government and religion in ancient Egypt were fully integrated beginning with the First Dynasty of Egypt (c. 3150 to c. 2890 BCE). The king was understood as a representative of a god, the specific deity sometimes changing with different...

Join the Aztec midwife Xoquauhtli as she tends to her patients and honors the warrior goddess Teteoinnan at a festival ushering in the season of warfare. — The midwife Xoquauhtli has a difficult choice to make. She owes a debt to her...

Stone skulls from the Templo Mayor in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. They represent the tzompantli or skull racks where the heads of sacrificial victims were placed.