Duncan Ryan - The Aztec: The Last Great Civilization of Mesoamerica

Section Seven

Aztec Society: The Daily of Life of the Aztecs and Their Subjects

Though the imperial ambitions and religious life of the Aztecs may seem to be the most prominent aspects of the Aztec society, it is also important to recognize the day to day manner in which the empire was governed and the ways in which society functioned. Though sometimes thought of as primitive, the Aztec society was actually quite complex in comparison to many early civilizations, making it an interesting and unique example of societal development in Mesoamerica.

The basic class of Aztec society were agrarian peasants, known as macehualtin in the Nahuatl language. Farmers, however, could occupy many different positions within their class. Some became wealthy by farming land that they themselves owned outright, while others paid a tenant fee to the noble owners of large areas of farmland in order to be allowed to work it, a system very similar to the serf system in feudalistic Europe. Even farmers, therefore, had some range of social mobility within the Aztec class system, a feature that set it apart from many contemporary civilizations.

Above the farmers were a wealthy class of merchants, skilled craftsmen, artisans and other professionals with highly specialized and valuable skill sets. Artisans, in particular, enjoyed positions of great prominence in the Aztec societal structure, a fact evidenced by the assignment of the word tolteca (the word literally referring to the greatly honored Toltec civilization) to refer to the craftsmen of the Aztec. Merchants, too, found themselves in a position of great importance. With the massive trade networks that the Aztec seized and established through conquests, a massive class of private merchants was needed to bring goods from the far reaches of the empire and from the trade routes that stretched beyond it to the markets of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. Without this crucial commercial class, the movement of wealth in the Aztec Empire would have been greatly impaired. As new trade routes opened up and more goods became available, this merchant class also grew very wealthy, controlling much of the business in the empire.

Above all other classes were the pipiltin , or the noble class. These nobles were the leaders and rulers of Aztec society, as well as the major land-owning class. The nobles occupied the top positions in the military and the government, allowing them to keep a tight control over the empire. Though a type of monarchy, the Aztec Empire also functioned as an oligarchy, with the leading nobles confirming the new tlataoni after the death of a previous one. This system, though far from democratic, did help to ensure that the most able of the top candidates for the overall rule of the empire would be selected, a notable improvement over such systems as simply offering the monarchy to the first born child of the previous ruler. In this sense, the government of the Aztec Empire mirrored more the Roman Empire's system of having both an emperor and a senate that confirmed the emperor than the succession systems of many other ancient and medieval civilizations.

Image Notes

All images used herein are in the Public Domain or otherwise licensed for free commercial usage per designation of Wikimedia Commons. The author of this work makes no claim to ownership of any image contained herein. Full attributions and file URLs for all images and illustrations provided below.

Illustration 1: By http://www.geographicus.com/mm5/cartographers/gemelli.txt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/1704_Gemelli_Map_of_the_Aztec_Migration_from_Aztlan_to_Chapultapec_-_Geographicus_-_AztecMigration-gemelli-1704.jpg

Illustration 2: By Karl Weule, 1926 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Chinampas.jpg

Illustration 3: Public Domain, source Codex Mendoza (author's life plus 100 years). File URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tenoch.jpg#filelinks

Illustration 4: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Tezozomoc.jpg

Illustration 5: Public Domain, source Codex Mendoza (author's life plus 100 years). File URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Itzcoatl.jpg

Illustration 6: Public Domain, source Codex Mendoza (author's life plus 100 years). File URL:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Huehuemoteuczoma_mendoza_(cropped).jpg

Illustration 7: By Infrogmation of New Orleans (Photo by Infrogmation) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/TizocStone_DetailHarvardJune07.jpg

Illustration 8: By Brantz Mayer (archive.org) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Ruins_at_Mitla.jpg

Illustration 9: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Moctezuma_Mendoza.jpg

Illustration 10: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Cortes-Hernan-LOC.jpg .

Illustration 11: By User:Gengiskanhg (Photograph taken by me) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Zempoala-06.jpg

Illustration 12: Public Domain, source Primeros Memoriales (author's life plus 100 years). File URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cuitlahuac2.jpg

Illustration 13: By William de Leftwich Dodge [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LastDaysofTenochtitlanB.jpg

Illustration 14: By Thelmadatter (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/ViewOneTemploMayor.JPG

Illustration 15: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Cipactli.jpg

Illustration 16: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Codex_Magliabechiano_%28141_cropped%29.jpg

Illustration 17: By The Field Museum Library [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Aztec_Warriors_%28Florentine_Codex%29.jpg

Illustration 18: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Detroit_Photographic_Company_%281008%29.jpg

Illustration 19: By No machine-readable author provided. SeRgioo assumed (based on copyright claims). [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Aztec_calendar_stone.jpg

Illustration 20: By Thelmadatter (Cropped from Image:CoyolxauhquiDisk.JPG.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/CoyolxauhquiDisk_cropped.JPG .

Illustration 21: By Maunus (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Malinalcotemple1.jpg

Illustration 22: Public Domain, source Codex Telleriano-Remensis. File URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Huitzilopochtli_telleriano.jpg

Illustration 23: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Tezcatlipoca_3.jpg

Illustration 24: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Quetzalcoatl_Ehecatl.jpg

Illustration 25: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/CodexBorbonicus.JPG