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Chioma Chioma NwosuNwosu

MAJOR QUESTION: What did the Aztecs do to educate children?

Noble class children attended a calmecac to learn to live prudently, govern, and history. Macehualtin (trades people, peasants, and builders) children attended a local school (telpochcalli) and were taught skills, warfare, history, religion, and citizenship. If they were bright they were sent to a calmecac.

At 15, boys attended either a calmecac or cuicacalli. Calmecac pupils had religious duties, history, astronomy, poetry, and writing lessons. The cuicacalli was more of a military school. All boys had to work hard on their family's land. Aztec girls were mainly taught at home and began spinning (4) and cooking (12). Their education was training for marriage.

Priests/priestesses acted as doctors, taught science, art, writing, music, dance, history, and counting. They also knew astronomy and astrology.

All fit men were trained to be warriors. To fight in battle was considered a duty and an honor. A boy became a man after he captured his 1st prisoner.

A site was chosen for the battle and the armies met. The battle was short and ended with the taking of prisoners. The plan was to disable an opponent by striking at his leg. After the battle the enemies' town was looted and the people captured.

Under the warrior's shield hung leather strips to protect his legs. The wooden clubs’ edges had sharp blades of obsidian. The armies used spears, slings, bows, and arrows to fight at close range. Aztecs wore breastplates and wooden shields for protection.

The Aztecs used two calendars- a time measured and a religious calendar. The time-measured had 365 days divided into 18 months. Each month had 20 days, and there were 5 extra days at the end of the year that seemed to have bad luck. The religious calendar told when to consult the gods. It had a 260-day cycle, (count of days or tonalpohualli).Montezuma II's headdress was made from the feathers of over 250 birds!After four years dead warriors would come back to earth as a hummingbird or as a butterfly.To repay the Aztecs gods, sacrifices (prisoners) were held 18 times a year.The Aztecs were advanced farmers, craftsmen, trade, and commerce. An Aztec century is 52 years long or when the calendars align.

•The Aztecs dominated the central area of Mexico in 1428 to 1521. They were a cluster of diverse tribes from all over Mesoamerica. Meso- means middle in Greek. The tribes had in common the ability to speak the Nahuatl language.

•They founded city-states in the Valley of Mexico. The 3 most powerful states- Tlacopan, Tenochtitlan, and Texcoco- formed the Triple Alliance. That made the Aztec empire. Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec Empire because the Mexicas lived there.

•The Mexicas expanded the empire until it stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The conquered people were allowed to keep their own customs, but they had to give tribute to the central authority by giving 1/3 of their crops away.

The Aztecs devised a way to create their own farmland (chinampas). Willow trees were planted on all sides of the chinampa so their roots helped keep the soil from washing away. The Aztecs planted corn, tomatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, and squash. The farms were manmade islands created by piling up mud and vegetation from the bottom of the lake. The Aztecs used a wooden digging stick and a wooden hoe for growing and harvesting crops. Fishermen made fishing nets from the fibers of the maguey cactus.

The Aztecs believed

• that the sun fought darkness every night and rose to save mankind

• the earth was flat

• that if they fed the sun blood, it would rise

• in 13 heavens and 9 hells.

The Aztecs worshipped about 1,000 gods! Religious ceremonies took place in a temple (teocalli). This temple had sacred pools, gardens, living quarters, and racks. If a person died a normal death, their soul would have to pass through the nine lives of the underworld before Mictlan (realm of the dead). The main god was Huizilopochtlid (god of war and sun). He showed the Aztecs where to settle and they claimed the area nearby (Tenochtitlan). The Aztecs worshipped Tlaloc (rain god) in the main temple. Quetzalcoatl was a feathered snake who represented arts, crafts, and self-sacrifice.

•Stone-workers, who carved statues from tools made of bone, rock, and wood. They learned from an early age and created objects that were green jade, black obsidian, and transparent crystals. •The scribes would draw the pictograms. First the scribe would sketch a rough outline, then they would add the details.•The potters shaped the clay with their hands or carved it. The Aztecs designed the inside of the pot with two colors. Elaborately designed pots were for the rich.•Aztec feather-workers used feathers that were made from tropical birds and worked into designs. The Aztec feather workers would make clothing out of feathers from all sorts of tropical birds for nobility and royalty.

  Crime Punishment

adultery death

commoner found wearing cotton clothes

death

cutting down a living tree death

drunkenness1st offense -head shaved, house destroyed2nd offense - death

handling stolen property sold into slavery

moving a field boundary death

kidnapping sold into slavery

selling substandard goods loss of property

major theft death

minor theft sold into slavery

treasondeath, loss of property, destruction of land, children sold into slavery

Tlatoani (Great Speaker) had many duties in the political situation. He was the head of the law courts, priesthood, and the army. He would also speak to the Aztec gods. There were

many punishments for breaking rules.

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