Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Human
sacrifice in the Mesoamerican world, especially during the time of the Aztec
empire, which saw the most people killed and offered up to the gods.
Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the Mesoamerican world was the ancient
tradition of ritual human sacrifice. The image of a person held down on an altar
with their still-beating heart just cut out of their chest is probably what comes to mind.
While there’s no getting around what was happening, the core motivation wasn’t evil.
It was believed that the continuation of existence was contingent on satisfying gods with blood.
In Mesoamerican mythology, the gods were not benevolent. They were wrathful and capricious.
Humans were created to worship, and they only existed on earth on sufferance. Ultimately,
it was believed that honoring the gods with blood was the only way to stave off disaster and ensure
the continuation of key cycles, like the growing seasons and the passage of the sun across the sky.
There are many myths that describe or allude to the necessity of human sacrifice,
so we’re just going to quickly look at a couple Aztec examples. In one, two gods,
Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, ripped the monster Tlaltecuhtli in half, creating the earth from one
part and the heavens from the other. All things of the earth came from this monster's body,
and it was said that her screams could be heard in the night, calling for hearts,
a hunger that had to be satisfied for plants and crops to continue to grow.
A second myth linked to human sacrifice is that of the two gods who sacrificed
themselves to become the sun and the moon. The sun god gave an ultimatum,
declaring that he would not journey across the sky unless the other gods
honored him with their blood, which they did by cutting out their own hearts. It was said
that humans had to continue this practice to ensure the sun continued its journey.
Human sacrifice had deep roots in the Mesoamerican area, going back thousands of years. However,
exalting the gods this way really ramped up in the seventh and eighth century CE,
towards the end of the classic period. By Toltec times, which spanned from about the
10th to the 12th century CE, extravagant displays of human bones, like skull racks,
had become regular installments near religious centers, and this trend continued,
reaching its climax during the Aztec empire in the 15th and 16th century CE
When it came to honoring the gods in the Aztec empire, spilled blood was paramount, it was what
the gods desired above all else, even over the glitter of gold or other material offerings.
Animal sacrifices were common, especially quail, which were slaughtered in large numbers.
Dogs and Turkeys often gave their blood, too, and jaguars were sacrificed on special occasions.
But more so than the lives of animals, the gods demanded human blood.
One person said to have been a driving force behind an astronomical increase in the amount
of human sacrifices in the Aztec empire was Tlacaelel, who served as an adviser for three
successive rulers. His cunning and ruthlessness in war was matched only by his creativity
in innovating horrific sacrificial techniques. Not only were ritual killings integral to religious
festivals, there were some events in which thousands of people were sacrificed wholesale,
like wheat before the scythe. At the rededication of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan in 1487,
for example, it is estimated that the event was consecrated and commemorated by the mass slaughter
of 20,000 to 80,000 people, a staggering number.
During Aztec rule, the need for human offerings had escalated
to such a degree that the procuring of human slaves became the catalyst for waging wars,
the goal of which was not to kill and exterminate but to subdue and
capture, providing an abundant supply of people to be used as sacrificial offerings.
In this way, human sacrifice also served the function of justifying and maintaining
the social hierarchy. As the majority of humans sacrificed were prisoners-of-war,
the need for these people justified perpetual military activity
through incursions into other lands. This, in turn, benefited the warrior elite whose
status as the ruling class was predicated on the necessity of their battle-prowess.
The most popular method of sacrifice involved four priests holding down a victim on a sacrificial
altar, each one wrestling a writhing limb under control so that the person's arms and legs were
splayed. Using a razor-sharp flint dagger, a fifth priest would quickly cut out the heart
with such efficiency that it still beat while it was held up,
proffered toward the sun. unceremoniously, the body was discarded down the pyramid steps,
the corpse rolling and twisting, becoming the newest addition to the heap of dead at the bottom.
The bodies were dismembered by old men. The skulls were extracted and put on display,
added to the rack, morbid exhibits displayed in the temple compound.
Parts of these corpses were later consumed in cannibalistic rituals. People indulged solemnly
and reverently, eating the blessed flesh as if it was a bounty bestowed by heaven itself.
Other methods of sacrifice, though less common, included beheading and
puncturing with darts. Victims were thought to be mortal representations of the gods,
so they were treated relatively well in the time leading up to their deaths. The Aztecs
believed that people sacrificed ascended to one of the upper levels in the heavens.
But despite guaranteeing a place of great honor after death, virtually no one volunteered to
be sacrificed. Almost always, it was a fate imposed on the weak by the strong.
Though not quick to offer up their lives, it was expected that people from every caste of society
offer up their own blood through non-lethal acts of self-mutilation.
Pin-like objects - be they stingray spikes, bone needles, or plant thorns - were driven
through parts of the body - cheeks, lips, foreskin, earlobes, forehead,
tongue. Spilled blood was then smeared on paper and burned before statues of the gods.
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