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over an expanding imperial domain. But in the popular mind, no kings dominate the Aztec ascendancy as Genghis Khan dominated the Mongols, the Caesars, Rome, or Charlemagne, the Franks. All too often Aztec history is viewed as the product of an almost mechanistic need to expand, to fight for the sake of their gods. |
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Beneath this stereotyped perspective on Aztec warfare, however, there were commoners who fought the wars for reasons as rational and justifiable as our own, nobles who rose to prominence as warriors, and kings and councillors who plotted the course of the Aztec rise, often through their own feats of military daring and political savoir faire. |
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But what is known of the earlier Aztec kings? Who were they, what did they accomplish, and why? It is a historical accident that Moteuczomah Xocoyotl is the most famous of the Aztec kings: widely known as the king who was defeated by the Spanish conquistadors, he would not have wanted this fame. Earlier kings are largely relegated to obscurity, not so much lost to Western scholarship as overlooked. Their feats and exploits are all but forgotten, yet many of them were giants. They took a small, backward people and raised them to dominate their world. Thus, although it is difficult to capture the popular imagination with references to such relatively unfamiliar figures as Kings Itzcoatl and Ahuitzotl, their exploits were the reality behind the Aztec expansion. And their deeds rank with those of the better-known kings and generals of Old World fame. |
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A dispassionate analysis is required to achieve a better understanding of actual eventstheir sequence, rationale, and purpose. The Aztec Empire must be considered in the same light as Caesar's Rome, Shang China, or any other imperial system. And the people must be considered in the same way, as men and women with real motivations, real goals and purposes, and real constraints. |
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The Aztecs were the latest in a series of groups to dominate central Mexico. The region had seen the emergence of many powerful political systems, major urban centers, widespread economic ties, and a shared cultural tradition with many local artistic and intellectual variations. The main outlines of the Aztecs' culture were neither original nor unique to them. To appreciate the Aztecs' position in |
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