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Human Sacrifice at Tenochtitlan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

John M. Ingham
John M. Ingham
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
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Extract

Many fixed and movable festivals in ancient Mexico were occasions for human sacrifice. The sun in particular was offered hearts and blood, ostensibly because its vitality and, therefore, life itself depended on such oblations. Numerous festivals also included ritual cannibalism, apparently because it was thought to facilitate communion with the gods.

Type
Law and Religion
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , July 1984 , pp. 379 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1984

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