Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Acknowledgements for Literary Material and Illustrations
- Note on Nahuatl
- Maps
- Epigraph
- Introduction
- Part I The City
- Part II Roles
- Part III The Sacred
- 9 Aesthetics
- 10 Ritual: The World Transformed, theWorld Revealed
- Part IV The City Destroyed
- A Question of Sources
- Monthly Ceremonies of theSeasonal (Solar) Calendar: Xiuitl
- The Mexica Pantheon
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Artefacts
9 - Aesthetics
from Part III - The Sacred
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Acknowledgements for Literary Material and Illustrations
- Note on Nahuatl
- Maps
- Epigraph
- Introduction
- Part I The City
- Part II Roles
- Part III The Sacred
- 9 Aesthetics
- 10 Ritual: The World Transformed, theWorld Revealed
- Part IV The City Destroyed
- A Question of Sources
- Monthly Ceremonies of theSeasonal (Solar) Calendar: Xiuitl
- The Mexica Pantheon
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Artefacts
Summary
The traces of the Tolteca, their pyramids, their mounds, appear not only there at the places called Tula and Xicocotitlan, but practically everywhere…their potsherds, their pestles, their figurines, their arm bands appear everywhere…and many times Tolteca jewels – arm bands, esteemed green stones, fine turquoise – are taken from the earth.…In truth, [the Tolteca] invented all the precious, marvellous things which they made.…All which now exists was their discovery. They went to seek all the mines of amber, of rock crystal, of amethyst; they went to marvel at the pearls, the opals. And these Tolteca were very wise; they were thinkers, for they originated the year count, the day count. All their discoveries formed the book for interpreting dreams.…And so wise were they [that] they understood the stars which were in the heavens; they gave them names and understood their influence.
They were tall; they were larger than the people today.
Florentine CodexThe sacred could erupt perilously into the human world, using extremes of emotion and experience as its vehicle. But it was also intimated in the enchantments of ‘natural’ beauty, and could be courted, pursued and revealed through the regulated procedures of ‘art’.
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- Chapter
- Information
- AztecsAn Interpretation, pp. 301 - 332Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014