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xotla,
13 the armies of these towns were defeated and the individual towns submitted without having been visited by the Aztecs. Other towns to the east must have supplied troops to oppose the Aztecs, since many captives from these towns were subsequently sacrificed in Tenochtitlan, along with the Huaxtecs. The campaign stretched 565 kilometers (350 miles) and would have required 18 to 29 days of march, exclusive of days for combat, rest, and regrouping.14 |
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The captives taken during the campaign were sacrificed as part of Ahuitzotl's dedication of the temple of Huitzilopochtli in Tenochtitlan, which his predecessor had begun. Ostensibly a religious occasion, it served more as a pretext for the exercise of military power and renewed Aztec prowess. In this area Ahuitzotl had been impressively successful. Although his coronation ceremony had been treated with disdain by the enemy states, Ahuitzotl performed so effectively in his first two campaigns that once again an Aztec ceremony could be used to impress and intimidate. Now, in addition to rulers of cities within the empire, many enemy lords attended the temple dedication, including the rulers of Huexotzinco, Cholollan, Tlaxcallan, Tecoac, Tliliuhqui-Tepec, Zacatlan, Metztitlan, Michhuacan, and Yopitzinco.15 Doubtless attempting to compensate for previous lapses, the Aztecs put on a display of military power unprecedented in size. A reported 80,400 men were sacrificed, from Huexotzinco, Tlaxcallan, Atlixco, Tliliuhqui-Tepec, Cholollan, Tecoac, Zacatlan, Xiuhcoac, Tozapan, Tlappan, and the Huaxtec area16 (see figs. 28 and 29). |
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With the Aztec reputation greatly restored, Ahuitzotl could ease his control over internal matters, and he continued his predecessor's return of home rule to the Chalca cities. Many cities received their rulers in 1486, but several other towns were not permitted home rule until 1488, and still others were deferred until 1493.17 The return of the Chalca rulers was subject to confirmation by the Aztec king,18 which probably went beyond the largely pro forma confirmation accorded other tributaries. Moreover, the king manipulated the internal political structure of at least one of the towns to lessen its military autonomy.19 |
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The reason home rule was returned to the Chalca towns so gradually was strategic. By relinquishing control gradually, Ahuitzotl could do at least two things. First, he could assess the tenor of the local rule to see if anything adverse to Tenochtitlan's interests was happening. Second, he could show how he had dealt with rebellious |
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