Aztec+Empire

= THE AZTEC EMPIRE! =





Government [[image:http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/assets/mediaserver/WorldHistoryAncient/6672%5C667206w.jpg caption="Aztec method of punishment"]]

 * ======First King / Tlatoani: Acamapichtli======
 * ======Under Acamapichtli the Aztec's consolidated there position and began to expand.======
 * ======Dominated allies during the reign of Montezuma (1440-1468)======
 * ======Before first election, pipiltin (the people in power at the time) held most of the power receiving most of the land and tribute from conquered areas. They also controlled the government, military and religious positions.======

Religion [[image:http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/assets/mediaserver/WorldHistoryAncient/6317%5C631715w.jpg caption="Aztec Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlán (Mexico City)"]]

 * ======Religious schools for the training of priests and government administrators were open to children of nobles, craftsmen, the pochteca, and in some cases, even to commoners.======
 * ======An Aztec Birth called for days of celebration, religious rituals, visits from relatives and several speeches.======
 * ======Working hard was part of everyones religious and political duty.======
 * ======Ritual Calendar included religious rituals and many forms of entertainment.======

Economy [[image:http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/assets/mediaserver/WorldHistoryAncient/6672%5C667205w.jpg caption="Page from Aztec Codex Mendoza"]]

 * ======Aztec towns annually paid 2,800 mantles and tunics, a live eagle, two war costumes and shields to the emperor Montezuma II.======
 * ======Farming was a large part of the economy. Peasants or slaves normally worked as farmers.======
 * ======People would commonly trade at markets during the day.======

Arts/Architecture [[image:http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/assets/mediaserver/WorldHistoryAncient/7518%5C751806w.jpg caption="Aztec sculpture"]]

 * ======Aztecs created skull racks made of stucco that symbolized their decapitated prisoners.======
 * ======Many religious sculptures were made in the time of the Aztec Empire.======
 * ======Made calender stones with twenty symbols on the outer edge. Each symbol represented a day in the month.======

Technology [[image:http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/assets/mediaserver/WorldHistoryAncient/6259%5C625990w.jpg caption="Aztec Calendar Stone"]]
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 * The calendar stone depicts the Aztec's cosmological beliefs
 * They called this a calendar because there are 20 symbols on its outer edge which represent the number of days the their month.
 * This corresponds to a series of rituals in the Aztec culture.

Upper Class:

 * Top of Social Hierarchy: King
 * King was assisted by a great staff of professional administrators and advisers, all of noble birth, who formed the highest class.
 * The kings staff lived in government housing and paid no taxes

Middle Class

 * Hereditary nobles owned land that was worked by commoners
 * Nobles could be officers in the military, priests, diplomats, tax collectors, or hold other government positions
 * Following Nobles: 2 other classes
 * 1st Class: master craftsmen as goldsmiths, sculptors, and lapidaries, who were highly respected though not especially rich
 * 2nd Class: the// pochteca, // or long-distance merchants, who conducted lengthy trading missions and supplied the empire with luxuries, becoming extremely rich as a result

Lower Class

 * The largest population was the commoners who worked on the land belonging to their kinship groups
 * They paid taxes, traded in the markets, owned homes, and were citizens.
 * They worked as farmers, household servants, and soldiers.
 * Slaves were not considered citizens to the people, but technically were.
 * Slaves were used as human sacrifices and indentured servants.

__Summary__
The Aztecs were a very complex empire. They were a war loving people who put an importance on religion. They had a very commonly used social class system with an upper, middle and lower class. They also had very interesting artistic styles with their religious sculptures. Finally they had a strict government in which there were many cases of capital punishment, most mainly decapitation, for crimes.  