Aztecs: An Interpretation

by Inga Clendinnen

In 1521, the city of Tenochtitlan, magnificent center of the Aztec empire, fell to the Spaniards and their Indian allies. Inga Clendinnen's account of the Aztecs recreates the culture of that city in its last unthreatened years. It provides a vividly dramatic analysis of Aztec ceremony as performance art, binding the key experiences and concerns of social existence in the late imperial city to the mannered violence of their ritual killings.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Native Americans, Ancient History, Religion, Medieval

391 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 1991

About the author

Inga Clendinnen, AO, FAHA was an Australian author, historian, anthropologist, and academic.

Reviews

[Aaron Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pre-Columbian Aztecs are a tough people to really know, not only given their own tendencies towards self-glorification, but also because the systematic Spanish attempt to eliminate the existing structure and memory of Aztec society in order to replace it with something more palatable and familiar was successful, and therefore scattered records and summarized codices are in large part all we have. Clendinnen has written a very sympathetic, very detailed attempt to capture what Aztec society felt like for the average person - warriors, priests, merchants, women - and to recreate as much as possible of the world that was lost. This means that her interpretive efforts are therefore more than a little speculative in many parts, yet she does a magnificent job of conveying the appeal of the culture while not downplaying the miserable relationship the Aztecs had with their neighbors, in particular the grim horrors of their most infamous ritual practice.

One of the interesting things about the Aztecs is how different their attitude towards empire was than that of natural comparisons like the Romans. From their founding as the "Triple Alliance" union of the city-states Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlateloco in 1428, they fought nearly continuous wars against nearby cities until the Spanish conquest in 1521, but instead of aggressive expansion and incorporation of subject peoples in order to increase their strength for the next war, they preferred to merely acquire fealty from the enemy nobility and exact regular tribute. There might be several reasons why the Aztecs did not have the same urge to imperiogenesis as other civilizations: James Scott's book Against the Grain argues in part that grain cultivation is uniquely well-suited to despotism, and perhaps corn is less so; or perhaps the mountainous terrain in central Mexico is more similar to Greece, which also remained hard to consolidate for a long time, than the easy plains of Italy, making lasting conquest more difficult (though compare against the Incas to the south). There was a good chapter in Peter Turchin's Ultrasociety that explored how the nearly impassable mountains of Papua New Guinea allowed just enough contact between tribes to permit warfare, but not enough to make lasting conquest feasible. This did not encourage peaceful coexistence: the near-constant low-level warfare was less deadly in any given clash than in, say, a typical Roman battle, but there were far more of them, and so overall mortality in war was higher in a society of small-scale villages then in large-scale complex societies. Clendinnen emphasizes the almost nonexistent unifying forces at work in the imperial hierarchy:

It is worth taking time over this oddly based polity, crucial as it is for an understanding of the city's workings, as for the process of its final destruction. Tenochtitlan was no Rome, despite the magnificence of its monuments, the steady inflow of tribute goods, and their spectacular consumption in a state-financed theatre. Subjugation did not mean incorporation. There was no significant bureaucracy in the Mexica 'empire', and few garrisons either. Marriage alliances linked the leading dynasties, while lesser local rulers were typically left in place and effectively autonomous, at least for as long as their towns delivered the agreed tribute to the imperial city. Even in those rare cases when the defeated ruler was killed, the dynasty was usually allowed to survive. But if local rulers spent months in the Mexica capital, they did not thereby become Mexica, and when their military contingents were called on to fight for the Triple Alliance they did so under their own leaders and banners. The 'empire' was an acrobats' pyramid, a precarious structure of the more privileged lording it over the less, with those poised on the highest level triumphant, but nervously attentive to any premonitory shift or shuffle from below.

The human sacrifice is of course the most famous form of tribute the Aztecs demanded, like Theseus and the Minotaur on a much larger scale. Sacrifices were done as triumphs after a successful military campaign, as commemorations of important events like the ascension of a new ruler or the completion of a major temple, or to propitiate the rain god Tlaloc as part of the regular rotation of harvest festivals like Tlacaxipeualiztli, Etzalqualiztli, Ochpaniztli, and Panquetzaliztli. About this practice of human sacrifice, which is rightly the become the main thing people know about Aztec culture, perhaps the only thing that can be said is that those unhappy victims had plenty of company, as Aztec culture was pretty brutal even for Aztecs:

When the spoils of war and the tribute from other towns subject to the conquered overlord city came into the hands of the Mexica ruler, he chose to distribute them not to the collectivities of the calpullis, but to specially distinguished warriors in the form of offices and titles, with attendant privileges and worked lands, so, it is said, creating a nobility and a bureaucracy at a blow.
Warrior arrogance always commanded a wide social space in the city. Given their reward-by-privilege expectations and their systematic elevation over lesser men, extortion was always a tempting possibility. From time to time it was discovered that warriors had levied an unofficial tribute on the town, 'perchance of chocolate (cacao), or food'. Such gross invasion of the prerogative of the state invoked the punitive violence of the state, and Mexica state justice was summary, brutal, public, and often enough lethal. Most offenders against Moctezoma's laws died most publicly, with the marketplace the favoured venue, where adulterers were stoned or strangled and habitual drunkards had their heads beaten in by Moctezoma's executioners.

Fun stuff. Clendinnen is careful to note that, as with all societies, vicious cruelty lived alongside warmth and humanity, and she works as hard as she can to convey the magnificent grandeur of the Aztecs. The read can judge for themselves which aspects of Aztec culture were most affecting, but by the end of the book, as the Aztec's neighbors and subjects joined with the Spanish to destroy their vampiric clench, I still felt for them, though not too much. The Spanish had plenty of admiration for the Aztecs as builders and administrators, and indeed as Clendinnen points out, it is telling that one of the laments written after the Spanish conquest is really mourning for the city more than it is for the people:

Broken spears lie in the roads;
we have torn our hair in our grief.
The houses are roofless now, and their walls
are red with blood.
Worms are swarming in the streets and plazas,
and the walls are splattered with gore.
the water has turned red, as if it were dyed,
and when we drink it,
it has the taste of brine.
We have pounded our hands in despair
against the adobe walls,
for our inheritance, our city, is lost and dead.
The shields of our warriors were its defence,
but they could not save it.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

An analysis of Aztec culture, insofar as it can be reconstructed. With some information on its history. It was rather brief. Two lifespans would have been enough to encompass it from its beginnings to its fall before the Spanish.

It can be a bit grim. It starts with talking about the main city itself and its environment, including such details as the occasions when lords gave food to the commoners, and ceremonial feasting, whose god was touchy and would make you choke if you offended him, but then it goes into the social roles. The first of which is on "victim." Which does go into the possibility. An interesting point is that while many victims were helpless, others were needed to perform correctly, often under circumstances where drugs would interfere rather than subdue the victim. The roles of warrior, priest, and merchant for men -- all men were in theory warriors, at least until they were shamed by not having taken a sacrificial captive in their first fights. Those commoners who did were elevated, though not quite noble; the Spaniards described them as "Gray Knights", who were in Spain elevated commoners. The problem of dealing with sorcerers -- Spanish sources treat them as more marginal than they actually were, if you read between the lines. (Sorcerers were regarded as shapeshifters. Those of noble blood could be fierce animals, or a coyote. Commoners could only manage less beasts.) Women as wives and mothers. The midwife's greeting to a newborn girl emphasized her home-bound status even beyond the reality. The perils of a woman who died in childbirth -- you had to take her body out by knocking a hole in the wall, and warriors would try to steal parts of the corpse for its magical effect -- and after a time accompanying the sun to sunset set, such a woman would turn into a dangerous monster, and these monsters would in due course destroy the world. During the fifty-two year rite that marked the transition from one bundle of years to the next, there was the great peril that the world would end and pregnant women were locked in granaries to contain them. (Yes it's full of pleasant details like that. For instance, children were shifted from infants to actual children at a rite every four years. It involved keeping them awake all night and getting them drunk.)

Not light reading, but full of detail.

[Johann_tor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should have been called "Aztecs: an invention". The author exercises anthropology on what she admits is a picture of historical people that she had to make up herself, since the sources are not really adequate for what she set out to do. So as a piece of science, I cannot see much merit in this. However, as an exercise in creative world-building, this was very enjoyable. Also be mindful that all of humanities' worst writing tics are here on full and proud display.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was well-versed in the Aztec culture before I read this book. The Aztec culture had some admirable aspects to it and some appalling practices. This book lays it out in a non-traditional way. The book is part narrative, part historical account, and part legendary. This is the only way to truly understand the Aztec culture and their world. Their religion, warfare, culture and art were all intertwined. I found this book to a solid piece of scholarly writing and cultural insight. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the Aztec Empire.

[Xotzin]

so far I am getting a feeling that this woman wants people to understand that as aztecas they were not monsters, that there was a clear and pertinent reason for the sacrifices they made as a people, as a kalpulli, as a family and as people who were caretakers of the land they lived on. All we have to give back is our blood and flesh, so we gave it to replenish and continue to be part of instead apart from the earth Tonanztin our Mother, Sacred Mother... Although I can say I would not want to be a sacrifice, to die, to leave here just yet, I do understand what is being said so far. It's good for us to give back for what we take so much of. This was done with great respect devotion, dedication, care and ceremony. Whether slaves or captives from another tribe, the people who were offered or offered themselves were known and cared for. This means something very deep to me on a Spiritual level. I will write more as I read on.

[Wes Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having a life long interest in Mesoamerica, I find Ms. Clendinnen's take on the Aztecs absorbing, and have returned to read parts of it again and again. She gets behind and beneath the culture and its attitudes, examining the world view not just from the elites, but from the viewpoint of women, artists and slaves. Most interesting is her examination of the warrior culture, and as she put it in the title of another of her books, "The Cost of Courage in Aztec Society. . ." If you like this one, read Esther Pasztory.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strange book of history, which engages imagination more than most. When you're talking about the Aztecs, though, that might be necessary. I'm not sure how well it holds up, but regardless of the historical accuracy I think Clendinnen unearths some real human truths. This was a much more emotional and, in parts, disturbing read than most accounts of a world long gone. Not disturbing because I felt the Aztecs were in some way "wrong," but because the worldview that Clendingen describes begins to make so much sense that it's painful to know how it ended.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book examines the social and psychological mind of the Aztecs around the height of their empire, especially focusing on the capital of Tenochtitlan. It's an academic book, not necessarily written for a casual reader who is interested in Aztec history (of which I am an example). Thus, I sometimes found sections hard to understand. Still, I found the examination of how the society developed to be fascinating. So often history books on the Aztecs only focus on their conflict with the Spanish invaders, and this book takes the time to understand who the Aztecs were, from their traditions, religions, and psychological reasons as to why they did what they did. It was a very good book if you are really interested in learning about the Mexica people known popularly as the Aztecs.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clendinnen goes out on a limb here, and for that I think we should respect her. She is crossing the lines between anthropology and sociology, fact and fiction. What we don't know about the intimacies of Pre-columbian Mexica culture, Clendinnen attempts to fill in using testimony from Aztec nobles three or four generatons removed from the conquest. IT's as close as we can get, and if factually inaccurate or insecure, it is at the very least important for putting real faces and emotions and experiences to the Mexica people. Aztec is actually incorrect in this title, and she notes it herself. Aztec refers to the political system, not the people, as many of them were involuntarily subscribed to it by forced labor and tribute by the Aztec governement, fyi.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the surest evocations of pre-Cortes "Americas", ignores basic male rhetoric (applying structures from the west onto this far west/far east), and showcases a society of fluctuating boundaries. female roles are nuanced for the first time in central-american anthropology of this era. Values, sharing, warfare all have alterations from our norms that offer unusual alternates.

[Azumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was quite alright although I was kinda annoyed how the author insisted that Mexicas weren’t sexist and how their discrimination of women was different than the western kind. Because apparently misogyny is fine if it comes from other culture than your own and if you critize other cultures you are racist regardless of the fact if you were right to criticize it or not. This is a major flaw in leftist academics, they’re so scared of being called a bigot that they deny any problematic aspects of other cultures

[L. Blankenship · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate Clendinnen's attempts to find the underlying world-view and social structure that made such a blood-thirsty culture functional and even successful -- especially in light of the limited sources that Ms. Clendinnen had to work with. I read this book as research for my own fiction writing, and it sparked off a lot of ideas.

[Evan Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most interesting examinations and reflections on aztec society. Fascinating glimpse into a society that was much more than ritual sacrifice.

[Ben Haines]

Interesting meta stuff about the difficulty of interpreting a culture from such a distance, and how you might approach it.

Very readable. Picture of Aztec culture, feasting and local communities, the importance of the warrior to everything, the priesthood, the relation to the sacred.

Some of the fun parts:
- all the gods are sick: xipe totec 'our lord the flayed one', tezcatlipoca 'the mirror's smoke'
- the flower wars, and general focus on war totally separate from what seem like practical goals, the importance of bringing back captives live in order to sacrifice, the taboo on helping people in your own army
- that aztec sacrifice differed in details and scale but wasn't unique in general. the last pawnee morning star sacrifice was in 1838.
- the importance of 'dependence' in human relations and displayed through feasting and in relations with gods, through theatrical suffering
- the identification with maize, so that flesh and maize are sometimes indistinguishable, that life is vegetable growth. blood debt owed to the earth goddess.
- 5 days outside of the calendar when pregnant women potentially turn into demons and end the world
- "Women were the favoured targets, the males surrounding them, and then, with a shout of 'Have a bag, lady', whacking them with the bags."
- gender relations that weren't equal, but also lacked a lot of the subservience / violence / fear of christian things
- if you're a good warrior you come back as a butterfly, women come back as evil spirits that turn children into animals
- artwork, lots of very permanent stone sculpture and very impermanent featherwork, icons, focus on juxtaposition, quincunx
- very strict requirements to be a priest (450 ~inch wide rods through the tongue every 20 days for 80 days, trials over many days of fasting with any error punished by beatings and expulsion)
- ixiptlas who were treated as gods, and given access to the palace before being sacrificed
- the first thing midwives said to babies ended with 'perhaps thou wilt merit death by the obsidian knife'.

[Gordon Eldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exactly what the subtitle claims - an interpretation of the Aztecs. Clendinnen uses her deep knowledge of the sources to reconstruct Aztec rituals and practices and get behind what they might have meant for those who experienced them, to describe the roles played in society by women, warriors, priests etc.,to explore the boundaries and crossovers between the sacred and the profane in Aztec society. She occasionally draws on anthropological descriptions of North American tribes to elucidate possibilities for interpretation and these add a richness to the narrative.

The book is fascinating. I have read a lot about the Aztecs, but have never come away feeling like I have some understanding of who they were and how they lived in the way I did after reading this book. Naturally, any interpretation, is just that - an interpretation, with all the dangers associated with interpreting the actions of a foreign people distant both geographically and temporally. Clendinnen is aware of this, and at the end of the book gives a lengthy discourse on the sources she used and the ways she used them.

[Mag · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s an in depth , scholarly analysis of Aztec cosmology, culture and its rituals, gender roles and daily living. The study is very interesting, and judging by the number of citations in other works that I supplemented my reading with, definitive and influential, but I had to read it very slowly and with frequent breaks. Violence and torture seem to have permeated Aztec lives. Bloody rituals and inflicting torture on fellow human beings, which were raised to the level of macabre art and profound religious experience, is something I can take only in small doses.

[Ronit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting take on the Aztec civilisation undertaken through an extremely close reading of the primary sources. I especially liked the chapters on human sacrifices within the Mexicas as well as the communication gaps between the Spaniards and them. Though the author sometimes expands her explanations into the realm of conjecture but she must be acknowledged for the boldness of her imagination.

[Peter Crofts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of interest for technique as much as content. This is a reimagining of the lives and worldview of the typical/average Mexica with Clendinnen trying to recreate their world through Sahagun's Florentine Codex, conquistador memoirs, and other source materials. To that end it's a mixed bag but when it's good it's very good. I did come away with some vague sense of what it could possibly have been like, I emphasize possibly, to have seen that world right before it disappeared.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent book that tries to interpret the Aztec worldview and overall mindset, in often brilliant prose.

[Susanne]

Heart-stopping, literally! The human mind is indeed a most peculiar place.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book will take some more reading to finish it and to take it in. Very detailed in subjects and broad in subjrcts. Hardest reading that I have done in a while. Not easy reading.
Put aside for a while. Got to read a series my daughter gave me for Christmas.

[Tracey]

972.018 Cl 1991 -- Ginnie