Origins of the Azteca-Mexica | From Their Migration to the Valley of Anahuac/Mexico to Their Founding of Tenochtitlan

Prologue 

Mexico City Ambles focuses on the remaining originally indigenous villages that still survive in that part of the Valley of Mexico which is now incompassed by Mexico City. Our goal is to seek out what remains, architecturally and culturally, of their transition from indigenous communitites, with their established cultures and customs, into the Hispanic Roman Catholic parishes and pueblos they are today.

This post provides some of the legendary and historical background to those original communities. Specifically, it recounts the arrival of the Nahuatl-speaking Azteca, also known as Mexica, to the valley called Anahuac, now the Valley of Mexico, around 1220 CE. It was already a highly populated valley, politically organized by various other Nahua tribes into hightly competitive altepetls (city-states). It took the Azteca/Mexica several attempts over one hundred years until they were finally able to settle permanently on some uninhabited swampy islands in Lake Texcoco and found their city of Tenochtitlan in 1325.

One hundred years later, in 1428, with the help of two other altepetls, they were able to take control of the entire valley and establish what has become known as the Aztec Empire. It lasted a little less than one hundred years, until 1521, when the Spanish arrived and defeated it. 

Sources of Azteca-Mexica History before the Spanish Conquest

As we have recounted in other posts, when Franciscan monks arrived in Nueva España a couple of years after Hernán Cortés, his Spanish troops and indigenous allies had defeated the Mexica in 1521, they undertook learning the indigenous languages, so as to commuicate with the people and seek to convert them to Spanish Catholic Christianity, the so-called Spiritual Conquest. In the Valley of Mexico, the predominant language was Nahuatl.

The friars soon learned that the Nahua had a pictographic means of representing their history in books combining drawings and symbolic glyphs. So they requested that various craftsmen in this method work with them to compose books, now known as codices, to record indigenous history and customs. The friars also created an alphabetic means of writing Nahuatl, so fuller explanations of indigenous events and customs could be recorded and translated into Spanish.

A Plethora of Versions

These codices range widely in length, complexity and whether or not they contain Nahuatl script and Spanish translations. Some were compiled within a few years after the Conquest, such as the Codex Boturini (from the name of one of its subsequent owners) or more descriptively, La Tira de la Peregrinación (The Pictorial Illustration of the Pilgrimage). The Codex Aubin, which repeats the Boturini by and large, has alphabetic Nahuatl text accompanying the drawings and glyphs. The Anales de Tlatelolco was written in alphabetic Nahuatl within twenty years after the Conquest.

Las ocho relaciones y el memorial de Colhuacan, The Eight Accounts and the Memory of Culhuacan were compiled in the 17th century by Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin, or simply Chimalpain, He was a descendant of the royal indigenous family of Chalco (a major altepetl or city-state on the eastern end of Lake Chalco, the most southeastern of the five lakes in the Valley), educated in a Spanish monastery and asked by the monks to record the history of the people of the Valley of Mexico. One of his Relaciones gives his version of the history of the Mexica from their beginnings in a distant and mythical past.

The most extensive and elaborate of the codices is actually a huge series of volumes intentionally compiled between 1558 and 1575 by the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún, entitled Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España (General History of the Things of New Spain), written both in Nahuatl and Spanish. It consists of twelve books, totaling 2,400 pages.

The events recorded in the codices begin in legendary times and their recollection was transmitted orally for centuries, so there are many variations regarding the events recorded in the narratives, making it difficult, if not virtually impossible, to reconcile them into a "definitive history." Many scholars have tried. One of the most recent attempts is that by history professor Federico Navarrete Linares, entitled Los Orígines de Los Pueblos Indígenas del Valle de México (The Origins of the Indigenous Peoples of the Valley of Mexico, 2010, National Autonomous University of Mexico, available online in PDF)

Recording History: How the Azteca-Mexica Kept Track of Years

An additional challenge for non-indigenous writers and later readers of these histories has been correlating the events related in them to the European-based Gregorian calendar (which was not created in Europe until near the end of the 16th century as a revision of the Julian calendar used since the Roman Empire).

Archaeologists working to uncover and understand the Maya civilization, much farther south from Tenochtitlan/Mexico City, have learned that the Maya had developed what is called the Long Count calendar, using a system of bars and dots, which has an absolute starting date equivalent to August 11, 3114 BCE. All subsequent years were numbered using this system, and stela portraying specific events, such as a lord's coronation, bear the specific year in which it occurred. Hence, these year dates have been correlated with Gregorian calendar dates.

However, the Nahua had only a circular means of identifying years. Called the nexiuhilpiliztli, (meaning the completion of a perfect cycle of years), it consisted of the rotation of four names in combination with thirteen numbers, producing fifty-two possible combinations. The four names, each related to one of the four cardinal directions, were:

• Ácatl (Spanish: Cañas = Canes or Reeds), related to the East, where the sun rises;
• Técpatl (Spanish: Pedernales = Flints), related to the North
• Calli (Spanish: Casas = Houses, i.e. Clans), related to the West
• Tōchtli (Spanish: Conejos = Rabbits), related to the South

The combination of this sequence of four names with the numerical sequence of numbers one to thirteen resulted in a fifty-two-year-long cycle. The first year in the cycle was 1 Ácatl (Reed), followed by 2 Técpatl (Flint), then 3 Calli (House) and 4 Tōchtli (Rabbit). The next four-year sequence in the cycle began with 5 Ácatl (Reed), then 6 Técpatl, and so on. The cycle of combinations continued until all 52 possible combinations of names and numbers had occurred.

Depiction of the fifty-two-year cycle of the nexiuhilpiliztli.

The circular sequence of year name-number combinations depicted here
begins next to the center (sun), 
in the bottom ("oriente", i.e. east axis, where the sun rises)
and moves counter clockwise. 

1 Acatl (Caña, Reed),
2 Técpatl (Pedernal, Flint), (in the norte, north axis);
3 Calli (Casa, House or Clan) (in the "occidente", i.e. west axis);
4 Tōchtli (Conejo, Rabbit) (in the sur, i.e. south axis).

The next four-year sequence begins with 5 Acatl (Caña, Reed)
and ends with 8 Tōchtli (Conejo, Rabbit)
The entire 52-year cycle ends on 13 Tōchtli (Conejo, Rabbit)
From: Museo del Nuevo Fuego, Cerro de la Estrella, 
Museum of the New Fire,  Hill of the Star,
Delegacíon/Alcaldía Iztapalapa.

This fifty-two year-long sequence of years was central in the Nahua and virtually all Mesoamerican cultures because they had two distinct calendars: a 365-day solar calendar and a 260-day divinatory calendar, used to determine the good or bad outcome of events, including the fortunes of the lives of people born on any particular day of the cycle.

The first day of both calendars coincided only once every fifty-two years, and that conjunction was believed to carry the danger that the sun might not rise and the world would come to an end. Hence, this day was of great cosmic and religious importance.

The day on which the two calendars coincided was called xiuhmolpilli (sheeoo-mol-PEEL-yee) the Tying of the Years. The Spanish named it the el Nuevo Fuego, The New Fire, as all fires were extinguished and a new one was started by priests on the top of a small ancient volcanic cone they called Huizachtecatl, what is now called Cerro de la Estrella, Hill of the Star (near the center of the Valley and once at the western end of the peninsula separating Lakes Texcoco and Xochimilco, now in the Delegación/Alcaldía Iztapalapa).

From there torches were carried to all temples in each pueblo and from there, to every home, to relight new fires. For some reason we haven't yet discovered, the Tying of the Years always occurred on the first day of the year 2 Actl, (2 Reed). (For more on the ceremony of the Tying of the Years and the two calendars for counting the days of the solar year and for naming and counting days in the 260-day-long divinatory calendar, see our post, Hill of the Star and the Origins of Culhuacán and Iztapalapa.)

As the events recorded in the Mexica codices begin in legendary times and their recollection was initially transmitted orally, there are many variations regarding the events recorded in the narratives, as well as in the dates related to them. Thus, while modern scholars have been able to correlate with the Gregorian calendar the Nahua dates in specific codices, the correlations between different codex dates vary because of differences in narratives and in determining in which fifty-two-year cycle they occurred.

Challenges to Sorting Out a Single History

Many historians have tried to sort out these confusing records. Some think their discrepancies reflect that the Mexica may have divided up into various groups, arrived at the Valley of Anahuac at differing times and gone into different parts of the Valley, such that events reported as if they occurred with a single group and in a temporal sequence are actually the interwoven experiences of dispersed Mexica at various times. In addition, some of the chronicles, such as those of Chimalpin, were written by members of other tribes already established in the Valley; therefore, they reflect their recollections and version of their interactions with this new tribe "in town".

The Mexica histories themselves were most likely altered over time to give emphasis to their ultimate successes while diminishing or even overlooking their defeats. Historians do know that in the 15th century, some one hundred years after the Mexica had founded their own altepetl of Tenochtitlan, a member of the ruling royal family, named Tlacaelel, deliberately had the story of the Mexicas rewritten. Tlacaelel was a nephew of the huey tlatoani (senior speaker, i.e. chief) Itzcoatl, and a younger brother of the later huey tlatoani, Moctezuma I.

When, in 1428, the Mexica or Tenoch of Tenochtitlan, led by Itzcoatl, rebelled against their overlords, the Tepaneca of Azcapotzalco, on the western shore of Lake Texcoco, Tlacaelel was given the office of tlacochcalcatl (top general of the army) in the war. After leading the Mexica warriors to victory, he was then named to a new position called cihuacoatl, first adviser to the ruler. He held that office during the reigns of four consecutive tlatoani, until his death in 1487. He was, one might say, the mind behind the throne.

Tlacaelel took charge of a rewriting of the Mexica story, casting them as the chosen people of Huitzilopochtli. It is likely that, up until the rise of the Mexica to dominance in the Valley in the 1430s, Huitzilopochtli had only been their tribal god. Now he was elevated to the top of the pantheon of all the gods of all the altepetls incorporated into what has come to be called the Aztec Empire. Huitzilopochtli became the representation of (and justification for) the now-dominant Mexica's military success and its achieved identity as masters of what is now central Mexico. His choosing the Azteca of Aztlán as His people, renaming them Mexica and leading them on a long pilgrimage to their true destination and destiny was sacred history.

Nevertheless, in spite of all the challenges presented by these codices, it is thanks to them that we know as much as we do about Nahua culture and history prior to the Conquest, especially that of the Mexica.

Legendary Origins of the Azteca/Mexica

The simplest depiction of the Azteca/Mexica origins and their migration to the valley of Anahuac is presented in the Codex Boturini, The Pictorial Illustration of the Pilgrimage). It was created shortly after the Spanish Conquest. In simple imagery, it portrays key events along the way, accompanied by glyphs, symbols that identify place names, and the number-name combinations the Nahua used to designate the year or years during which the Mexica spent time in a place.

The Codex Aubin, bearing a Gregorian date in the 1550s, repeats and expands the pictographic history of the Codex Boturini, but also adds a narrative written in Nahuatl script. To the great fortune of English speakers, a project at Fordham University (New York City) has translated much of the Nahuatl into English, making its narrative available to such persons as us.

According to these two early codices, in the latter half of the 12th century CE, the Azteca migrated from a homeland they called Aztlán (the origin of the name Aztec(a), an island in a lake, or surrounded on three sides by a river, some unknown distance to the northwest of the present Mexico City.

Other codici give much earlier dates for the exodus, a hundred years earlier. The Anales de Tlatelolco give the day and year of the exit from Aztlán as "4 Cuauhtli" (month of Four Eagle) of the year "1 Tecpatl" (Flint), which correlates to January 4, 1065. Chimalpain, in his Eight Accounts and the Memory of Culhuacán, also dates the Azteca migration a hundred years earlier, in 1064 CE. Such is the nature of legends that merge into what we know as recorded history.

When the exodus occurred — and whether or not Aztlán was an actual, specific location — is debated by scholars. Most probably, it relates to some area that is now in the southwestern U.S. or northwestern Mexico. This is evident because Nahuatl is a member of what is known as the Uto-Aztecan language family, a number of members of which existed — and still exist — in that area. They include Ute, Comanche, Shoshoni and Hopi, as well as the languages of some native tribes in what is now California.

The initial scene in the Codex Boturini
shows the Azteca leaving the island Aztlán.
Around the temple on the island are six capulli, houses,
i.e. clans composing the tribe.
The year glyph in the center is 1 Flint, 1164 CE.

Crossing the lake, the Azteca arrive at a place called Colhuacán, "the place of the ancient ones" (a significant name, as we shall see later). There they encounter eight other Nahua tribes who ask to accompany them on their migration. They include the Chalca, Xochimilca, Cuitlahuaca and Tepaneca, all of whom actually arrived in the Valley of Anahuac (now the Valley of Mexico) before the Azteca.

In Colhuacán they also encounter the god Huitzilopochtli, Humming Bird of the South (portrayed in the drawing as a head hanging inside a cave). He tells them he has adopted them as his people and will lead them to a new home.

Shortly afterward, the Azteca and the other eight tribes arrive at a place called Tlatzallan Texcaltepetzallan. There, at the order of Huitzilopochtli, the Azteca announce to the other tribes that they are leaving them behind and going ahead on their own. This is represented by a drawing of a tree that suddenly, miraculously splits. Subsequently, they reach a place called Cuextecatl, where Huitzilopochtli announces to them, "Your name is longer 'Azteca'. You are now the 'Mexica.'

Reaching Tollan, the Threshold Between Legend and History

According to the Boturini and Aubin codices, the Mexica then spent nearly thirty years wandering southeastwards, arriving at the city of Tollan in 1196 (Aubin Codex) or 1201 (Boturni Codex), where for the first time, they settle for a number of years (19 according to the Boturini, 20 according to the Aubin). Tollan had been the center of the Tolteca Empire, dominating the area that is now south-central Mexico after the decline of Teotihuacan (around 600 CE), from 900 to about 1150 CE. So, by the time the Mexica arrived about fifty years later, it was virtually abandoned. Its dramatic ruins are now a major archeological site, known as Tula, in the southwestern corner of the State of Hidalgo, about 45 miles northwest of Mexico City.

The Mexica arrive in Tollan
(represented by the glyph of reeds sprouting from water, holding a fish)
in year 4 Calli (House or Clan) 1201 CE,
and stay until 9 Acatl (Cane or Reed), 1219 CE.
The sequence of nineteen years of name-number glyphs begins at lower left.
It is read from bottom (4 House) (1201 CE) to the top (8 House),
then down the second column from 9 Rabbit to 13 Rabbit,
then up the third column from 1 Reed to 5 Reed,
then from the top of the fourth column, 6 Flint, to 9 Reed (1219 CE).
Boturni Codex 

Despite Tollan's state of ruin, the Mexica surmised or learned from people in the area of its importance and saw it as a model of the altepetl they hoped someday to found. Subsequently, when they did arrive in the Valley of Anahuac, they were to seek alliances with the residents of Culhuacán (also spelled Colhuacán), Tolteca who had settled in the Valley at the same time Tollan was beginning to rise to power in the 7th century. Establishing alliances with the Culhuas, the Tolteca of Culhuacán, via marriage and military support was a major way to establish a hereditary connection with that great culture and, hence, political legitimacy and status among the other peoples of the Valley.

Tollan was an abandoned place of the past when the Mexica arrived, but it was certainly an historical location and culture that had already had much influence on the history of the neighboring Valley of Anahuac, and, via its Culhua relatives, it would come to play a major role in the development of the history of the Mexica once they crossed the threshold from the Tula Valley into the Valley of Anahuac.

Entering the Valley of Anahuac and Joining the Tangled Threads of History

The Mexica left Tollan and spent a few years moving southward. According to the Boturini and Aubin codices, sometime between 1220 and 1240, they entered the north end of the Valley of Anahuac. It is important to realize that this entrance was not just a physical transition. It was also the beginning of a transition from a lifestyle of hunter-gatherer nomads into a world that was primarily agricultural, based on corn, and politically organized into hierarchically structured altepetls, city-states, with certain cities controlling various amounts of territory and their subsidiary villages around them. It was civilized.

Map of the Valley of Anahuac
at the time of the Azteca/Mexica arrival in the 13th century.
It shows major altepetls and other settlements in the Valley.
Many are mentioned in the account that follows.
The large island shown in the bay in the southwest of Lake Texcoco,
where the Mexica were to establish Tenochtitlan, was not one large island.
It was a group of islands they cobbled together using pilings and earth-fill,
and crisscrossed by multiple canals, remains of the lake that had divided the islands.

The Azteca apparently very quickly caught onto the political system and sought the earliest opportunity to establish a place for themselves within it rather than remain on the periphery as chichimecas ("barbarians") from the point of view of Valley residents and, thus, vulnerable to the powers that controlled the Valley. Their leader, Tozcuecuextli, soon established an alliance with the tlatoani, speaker, i.e. chief, of the altepetl of Tzampancgo (of Zampango as it is now known) via marriage to a princess named Tlaquilxochitzina. Tzampancgo was at the head of the northernmost of the five lakes in the Valley. Tzampancgo was actually subsidiary to the altepetl of Xaltocan, on the next lake to the south, which bore that name. 

First Attempts to Establish a Recognized Settlement

In 1240, Tozcuecuextli, now having an alliance with Tzampancgo and, implicitly, with its overseer, Xaltocan, took the next step toward establishing the Mexica as settled residents of the Valley. He founded a village and named it Huixachtitlan. It was the first of several attempts by the Mexica to found their own independent altepetl in the Valley, almost a century before Tenochtitlan would be founded. 

The chronicles then add that the Mexica no longer lived primarily by hunting and gathering, but became stone cutters in the mountains around the Valley and construction workers in many of the other villages and altepetls in the valley. They also hired out as mercenary warriors for the frequent battles that took place between altepetls trying to expand their dominions. This established a military skill which was to come to be of central importance in their later development.

This second vocation, as mercenary warriors, proved immediately beneficial when, in 1245, a war broke out between an altepetl named Tenayocan (on the north shore of a bay on the southwest side of Lake Texcoco, the largest of the five) and the altepetl of Colhuacan (or Culhuacán, on the western end of the peninsula separating Lake Texcoco from Lake Xochimilco to its south). In or around 1250, the Mexica formed an alliance with Culhuacán, again, via marriage. This time a daughter of Tozcuecuextli, and Tlaquilxochitzina, named Azcaxotzin was married to a prince of Culhuacán named Acxocuauhtli. The chronicle goes on to say that a son named Coxcox (or Coxcoxtli) was born of this union and he would later become the tlatoani of Culhuacán. We will meet him later in that role, which proved to be a climatic one for the Mexica.

In 1272, Tozcuecuextli died and was succeeded by his son, Huitzilihuitl, who, in 1274, decided to found another village called Cuauhmixtitlan, on an island in Lake Texcoco. At this point, the Mexica allied themselves with the altepetl of Azcapotzalco on the nearby west shore of the Lake. Azcapotzalco was the primary altepetl of the Tepaneca people who controlled many other villages on the west side of the lake. Some scholars think Cuauhmixtitlan was founded on the same island that would become Tenochtitlan some fifty years later. In any case, it seems to have soon been abandoned or become a minor settlement, because the Mexica found a better place to live than a swampy island — and it was one the lords of Azcapotzalco did not control.

In 1281, the Mexica captured Chapultepec from a group of Tolteca, relatives of the Culhua of Culhuacán, far across the Lake. (So much for blood alliances!) Chapultepec was an area of shoreline centered around a small, extinct ash volcano with freshwater springs, on the west side of Lake Texcoco. Here, using the hilltop as a fortress, the Mexica settled. Huitzilihuitl was named tlatoani, "speaker" the official title of a ruler of a recognized altepetl. With this act, the Mexica were declaring their independence as a city-state, subject to none other in the Valley.

The Plot Thickens

The independence of the Mexica as an altepetl at Chapultepec lasted only about twenty years, until 1299, when a group of other altepetls, Xaltocan, Colhuacan and Chalco (at the east end of the most southern of the lakes), apparently not liking the growing size and power of the Mexica at Chapultepec, attacked in one or two waves. The Mexica were overwhelmed. Huitzilihuitl and two daughters (he had no sons) were taken captive, first north to Xaltocan and then south to Culhuacán. There, they were sacrificed.

The remaining Mexica fled into the marshes around the lake but then, with no other option before them, went to Culhuacan to surrender and offer themselves as slaves in order to survive. The tlatoani of Culhuacán was none other than Coxcox, son of a Mexica mother and a nephew of Huitzilihuitl! Coxcox gave them an area of land called Tizaapan on the north shore of the peninsula to settle themselves.

Huitzilihuitl and his daughter Chimalaxoch
are brought before Coxcoxtli of Culhuacan, to be sacrificed.
Codex Boturini
The year glyphs to the right, from top to bottom, read from 3 Técpatl (Flint) to 6 Ácatl (Reed).
equating with the years 1300 to 1303.

The Mexica and the Culhuas of Culhuacán

In 1303, the Colhuas went to war with the Xochimilca (a powerful altepetl that controlled the Valley on the south side of Lake Xochimilco).

MCA Note: What follows is excerpted from translations of Nahuatl of the Codex Aubin; the translation is a combination of one done by Fordham University in New York City and by us from a Spanish translation done by Patrick Johansson K. “La fundación de México-Tenochtitlan: El mito y la historia”, The Foundation of Mexico-Tenochtitlan: The Myth and the History,

The Colhuas began to lose, so Coxcoxtli said, "Have the Mexica left? Bring them here." So they called the Mexica and they came before the ruler of the Colhuas, who said to them, "Go to the Xochimilca, who are defeating us so far. You are to capture eight thousand Xochimilca, who will be your prisoners (hence, slaves)."

Then the Mexica said, "We will, O ruler. Please grant us at least a meager shield and a meager club."

The king answered, "I won't. You agree to go as you are."

The Mexica then began to consult with each other. "What will we take with us?" they said. We will cut off the noses of our enemies. Because if we cut their ears, people could say, "Maybe you cut them off from both sides. Let's not have that. Instead, let's cut off their noses and fill up sacks with them to count how many there will be."

Then the Mexica arrived at the edge of the settlement of the Xochimilca. The Mexica came back and their captives were counted before the ruler Coxcoxtli. The Mexica said, "O ruler, here are all our captives. We caught 32 thousand of them."

Then Coxcoxtli called for his advisors. He said to them, "The Mexica are not human. How did they do this to the Xochimilca? ... The deaths they're responsible for are a bad omen." 

Only four of the Mexicas' captives remained alive, but they didn't let the ruler Coxcoxtli see that. (To celebrate) They set up an earthen altar there in Tizaapan, "Now O Ruler, give our earth altar a little something to adorn it."

Then the ruler said, "I will. You have done me a favor. I will have the priests go adorn it."

Here other accounts of this event differ widely as to what Cocox offered for the ritual. They say the Mexica asked for one of his daughters, whom he provided, thinking she would be an honored guest. Instead, the Mexica dressed her as one of their goddesses and sacrificed her, which was part of their customs. When Coxcox arrived and discovered this, he was, of course, enraged and drove the Mexica from Tizaapan. 

The Codex Aubin gives a much less violent and more symbolic offense for the split between the Culhuas and the Mexica and places the blame on the Culhuas. It says that as gifts for the Mexica altar, in the night the priests brought piles of animal dung. The next morning, when the Mexica discovered this insult, conflict broke out between the two tribes and the Mexica were forced to flee.

,

The Mexica Seek an Island of Their Own

Fleeing the Culhua, in 1303, the Mexica tried to settle first in Mexicaltzingo, not far north of Culhuacán, at the western end of the peninsula, possibly an island just offshore. The residents there forced them to move on. As most of the shores around all the lakes were already occupied and controlled by various Nahua tribes, the only remaining alternatives were a series of small islands in Lake Texcoco, to the north of the peninsula.

The Mexicas moved to a nearby island (later called Nextipac), and, according to the codices, remained there for four years. But the Culhuas attacked and burned the entire settlement, leaving no trace of it. The Mexica then moved on to Iztacalco, farther north in the lake, but were again forced by existing residents to keep moving.

Finally, in the year 1325 CE, they came to an island or set of uninhabited islands near the western shore that were under the control of the tlatoani, lord of Azcapotzalco. He granted them the right to establish their village there, which they named Tenochtitlan. In exchange, they became subjects of the lords of Azcapotzalco and mercenary warriors in its battles against other altepetls in the Valley. These included Culhuacan and Texcoco, the altepetl of the Alcolhuas who occupied the northeast side of Lake Texcoco. Defeating Culhuacan and Texcoco brought all of the area around Lake Texcoco under Tepaneca control.

In 1428, when there was an intrafamilial struggle for who would be the next tlatoani of Azcapotzalco, the Mexicas joined with the Alcolhuas of Texcoco and Tlalcopan, a Tepaneca village south of Azcapotzalco, forming the Triple Alliance against their rulers. They defeated them and quickly took control of the entire Valley. As the most powerful member of the Triple Alliance, the Mexica of Tenochtitlan became the dominant force, receiving the most tribute from subjugated altepetls in the Valley of Anahuac and then beyond. As such, they were the leaders of what historians have called the Aztec Empire.

The Valley of Anahuac
at the time of its domination by the Mexica of Tenochtitlan.

The End of an Empire

The "empire" would last less than one hundred years. In November 1519, Hernán Cortés, his Spanish troops and indigenous allies who opposed Azteca domination, crossed the mountain pass now named after Cortés and entered the Valley of Anahuac. Two years later, in August 1521, the Azteca Empire was overwhelmed by that of the Spanish. Tenochtitlan was replaced by la Ciudad de México, the City of Mexico and the Valley became the Valley of Mexico. The Aztec Empire, as well as lands far to its north and south, became Nueva España, New Spain. 

Tenayuca and Acatitlán, State of Mexico | Remnants of Indigenous Civilization in the Valley of Mexico

Ambling Beyond Our Normal Bounds

In this amble, we go beyond two of our usual boundaries — the one that focuses us on the still-vital, originally indigenous pueblos and barrios of Mexico City and the boundary of the City, itself. We go a short distance north and west of the City's most northern delegaciones/alcaldías, Azcapotzalco and Gustavo A. Madero, into el Estado de México, the State of Mexico, which surrounds the City like a lopsided horseshoe on the west, north and east. Our destination is two Mesoamerican archeological sites, Tenayuca and Acatitlán.

Our opportunity to visit the sites was provided by Arqueología viva México, led by archeologist Gerardo Orozco, who, via its Facebook page, organizes excursions to sites in and around Mexico City, as well as elsewhere in Mexico. We have wanted to see Tenayuca and Acatitlán since our early days in Mexico City, but were not able to negotiate the complexities of public transportation, via Metro and Metrobus, to get to the sites on our own. Sr. Orozco led the way, as well as sharing his professional knowledge of the sites.

Via Metrobus, we cross into the State of Mexico, an invisible line obliterated by the continuous, modern urban sprawl that has spread from the city and filled the Valley of Mexico since the late 20th century to form the Greater Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Crossing the line, we recall that before the huge expansion of the boundaries of the former Federal District in the mid-19th century, much of what is now part of the City belonged to the State of Mexico.

After Mexican Independence was won in 1821, the new government initially defined the state's boundaries to be the same as they were as a province under the Spanish. The state and preceding Spanish Province of Mexico encompassed a much larger territory than the present state. It included what are now the states of Hidalgo, to its north, and Morelos and Guerrero to its south, which were created in 1869 by President Benito Juárez. (See our page: How Mexico City Grew From an Island Into a Metropolis.)

The State of Mexico
is the red area.
Mexico City is the small, white triangular shape within its embrace. 
The state of Hidalgo (large) is to the north.
The states of Morelos (small) and Guerrero (large) are to the south.
Wikipedia

Boundaries in the Valley Before the Spanish Arrived

Thus, the boundary between Mexico City and the State of Mexico is highly arbitrary. The natural boundary is made up of the mountains that surround and form the Valley of Mexico (See our post: Mexico City's Many Volcanoes, Part I: Giants on All Sides). When Hernán Cortés, his troops and indigenous allies he had made while traveling west from Veracruz on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico arrived in the Valley in November 1519 (five hundred years ago this year), he found it filled with hundreds of indigenous cities, villages and hamlets, all interconnected parts of one socio-cultural, civilized, Nahuatl-speaking world.

They were not however, what historians traditionally called the "Aztec Empire". The Valley was politically and economically divided into eight tribal altepetls, city-states. Among these eight entities, the Mexica/Azteca altepetl, based in the city of Tenochtitlan, on an island in a southwest bay in Lake Texcoco, was only one among many. Moreover, it had been the dominant altepetl for just under a hundred years, since 1428. Before that, various others of the altepetls had striven for and been dominant for various periods of time since the Nahua tribes had entered the Valley between the 7th and 13th centuries.

Tribal boundaries in the Valley of Mexico
at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.
From Gibson, Charles, The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule,
Stanford University Press, 1964.

The Triple Alliance

Three of the altepetls were the most powerful, having formed the Triple Alliance in 1428. It was this Triple Alliance that constituted what has been called the "Aztec Empire". In 1519, it dominated the other altepetls in Valley and other tribal city-states far beyond the Valley in what is now central Mexico. All the others paid tribute to one or another of the three. The Mexica of Tenochtitlan were the most powerful of the three and received the most tribute, but the other two were autonomous in regards to their internal government. They were the:

• Mexica, with their altepetl (capital) at Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco, on an island in Lake Texcoco;

• Acolhua, with their capital at Texcoco, on the east side of the lake. The second most powerful member of the Alliance, they did not pay tribute to the Mexica. Its territory is now in the State of Mexico.

• Tepaneca, with their capital at Tlalcopan (called Tacuba by the Spanish), on the west side of the lake. Tacuba is now the cabecera, government headquarters, of  Delegación/Alcaldía Miguel Hidalgo in the City of Mexico.

The Triple Alliance was formally created after the Mexica, the Acolhua and the leaders of the Tepaneca town of Tlalcopan defeated the Tepaneca rulers in 1428. The Tepaneca had been the dominant force on the west side of Lake Texcoco for more than a hundred years. Their capital had been Azcapotzalco, which was destroyed in the war, so the capital was then moved a short distance south to Tlalcopan. They thereafter remained subordinate to the Mexica, but the rulers of their towns were allowed to continue to control internal matters and collect tribute — part was used to support themselves and part was shared with Tlalcopan.

The Other Altepetls

Two other large tribal groups were the 

• Xochimilca, in the south, with their capital at the island city of Xochimilco, on the lake of that same name. They were among the earliest Nahua tribes to settle in the Valley, around 900 CE. They had been defeated, in turn, by the Culhua (see below) at the end of the 13th century, by the Tepaneca in the 14th century and, finally, by the Mexica in the early 15th century and their territory reduced. Their capital is now the cabecera of Delegación/Alcaldía Xochimilco.

• Chalco, to the southeast, with their capital at Chalco-Atenco on the east end of Lake Chalco.  They were subjugated by the Mexica but rebelled from time to time. It is now a municipality in the State of Mexico.

Three smaller but still distinct tribes completed the population of the Valley. They were the

• Culhua, with their capital, Culhuacán, at the west end of the Iztpalapa Peninsula, between Lakes Xochimilco and Texcoco. They had been a dominant force, controlling more territory, until they were defeated first by the Tepanecas in the 14th century, then by the Mexica in the 15th century. Culhuacán was then left controlling only three other towns, Iztapalapa and Mexicaltzingo on the tip of the peninsula, and Huitzilopochco (now the barrios of Churubusco), across the channel connecting the two lakes, in what is now Delegación/Alcaldía Coyoacán. Culhuacán is now divided into Pueblo Culhuacán in Delegacion/Alcaldía Iztapalapa and the adjoining Pueblo San Francisco Culhuacán in Coyoacán.

• Cuitlahuaca, whose capital occupied an island dividing Lake Chalco from Lake Xochimilco. They never controlled much territory beyond a few nearby towns on the north and south lakeshore. It is now the cabecera of Delegación/Alcaldía Tláhuac (a shortened form of Cuitlahuac) which includes the pueblos it formerly controlled. 

• Mixquica, whose capital, Mixquic, on the south shore of Lake Chalco was all they controlled. It is now Pueblo San Andrés Mixquic incorporated into Delegación/Alcaldía Tláhuac.

In 1521, Cortés' Spanish soldiers, together with indigenous allies both from within and outside the Valley, defeated the Mexica of Tenochtitlan and then went on to take control of all of the Valley, either by might or the voluntary submission of the other tribes. From Gibson, Charles, The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule, Stanford University Press, 1964.

Tenayuca

Tenayuca means "walled place" in Nahuatl. The archeological remains of Tenayuca are located in the originally indigenous Pueblo San Bartolo Tenayuca in the municipality of Tlalnepantla de Baz, in the State of Mexico. At the time the Spanish arrived, it was under the control of the Tepaneca (see above map of tribal territories), which it had been for some time before the Mexica became "the first among equals" in the Triple Alliance.

Tenayuca
lay at the northern-most end of the southwest bay
of Lake Texcoco.
During the time of Mexica/Azteca rule,
it was at the end of a long causeway
from Tenochtitlan/Tlatelolco.

Archaeological remains recovered from Tenayuca indicate that the site was first occupied in the Classic Period (100 to 600 CE), when Teotihuacan, in the northeastern part of the Valley, dominated the area. Its population increased in the early Postclassic (600-1100 CE) during the reign of the Tolteca based in Tula, outside the valley to the northwest.

It continued to increase after the fall of Tula (1150 CE), when, with the lack of a central dominating power, many nomadic tribes, generically called "chichimeca" [a pejorative term used by settled, agrarian peoples with urban centers, hence, "civilized", to denote nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes from the north] moved through the area formerly controlled by Tula and entered the Valley that was called Anahuac.

According to the Codex Xolotl, Tenayuca, itself, was founded in 1224 CE by Xolotl, ruler of a Nahuatl-speaking chichimeca tribe whose actual name is unknown. Xolotl was succeeded by Nopaltzin who married Atototztl, a Tolteca princess, in order to establish a linkage with the royal lineage of Tula, seen by all the new tribes as the epitome of a civilized society. When Nopaltzin died, his son, Quinatzin, transferred the seat of power to the east side of the lake that came to be known as Lake Texcoco and founded the altepetl (city-state) of Coatlichán. Quinatzin left a maternal uncle, Tenacacaltzin, to be lord of Tenayuca.

On or about 1337, another tribe, the Acolhua, defeated the chichimeca of Coatlichán and made Texcoco their capital city (see map of tribal boundaries above). Tenayuca allied itself with the Acolhuas, who dominated the northeast region of the Valley of Mexico in the mid-14th century.

However, in the late 14th century, Tenayuca was conquered by the Tepaneca of nearby Azcapotzalco. About a hundred years later, in the 1430s, after the Mexica of Tenochtitlan and their allies, the Acolhuas and Tlalcopan, conquered Azcapotzalco, bringing the Tepaneca under the control of the Triple Alliance, Tenayuca came under the control of Tlalcopan. It remained so until the Spanish came and conquered the entire Valley in 1521 (modified from Wikipedia).

The Temple of Tenayuca

Temple architecture that was built during the period of Mexica/Azteca dominance is based on that which originated at Tenayuca. It consists of a pyramidal base supporting two temples. The Mexica/Azteca adopted this innovative style for their own main temple, now known as the Templo Mayor, in the center of what was Tenochtitlan.

Pyramid of Tenayuca
with its stairway leading to what were two temples.

The archeological site consists of a massive pyramidal platform with a stairway rising on the western side to where the twin temples of Tlaloc (god of all waters, essential for agriculture, the basis of urban civilization) and Huitzilopochtli (son of the sun god, Tonatiuh and god of war, the Mexica's primary god) once stood. The temple of Tlaloc occupied the northern part of the pyramid while the Huitzilopochtli temple stood to the south. To the south of the stairway at ground level is a projecting platform bearing sculptures of crossed bones and projecting skulls. It is likely where human sacrifices were carried out or completed after being initiated in one or the other of the temples above.

Southwest platform of skulls and crossed bones.

Like many Mesoamerican temples, various phases of construction were built one on top of the other. In the case of Tenayuca, the size of the building increased through six phases of construction but the basic form remained unchanged. The original double pyramid was enlarged five times, the first time probably in 1299 and then successively at 52-year intervals [the cycle of the "tying of the years", when the first day of the 365-day solar calendar coincided with the 260-day divinatory calendar].

The last phase of construction probably dates to 1507 and measures 62 meters (203 ft.) wide by 50 meters (164 ft.) deep. Mexica/Azteca influence is apparent from the third stage, built in 1351, only twenty-six years after they founded Tenochtitlan. All the following stages were purely Mexica/Azteca in style, as demonstrated by the sloping, multiple tiers of the pyramid rather than the vertical walls apparent in the earlier stages.

Stages of enlargement of the pyramid
On-site Museo Xolotl

Painting of how the pyramid looked at its final stage in the early 16th century.

Wall of the Serpents

The pyramid base is surrounded on three sides by its most notorious component, a coatepantli (Nahuatl for a wall of serpents), a low platform supporting 138 stone sculptures of snakes. Their bodies were once covered with plaster and painted in a variety of colors, with their scales painted black.

Coatepantli, the Wall of Serpents

On the north and south sides of the pyramid, at ground level, are two sculptures of coiled serpents. The crests on their heads bear markings representing the stars and identify them as Xiuhcoatl (the fire serpent). All the serpent sculptures around the pyramid were associated with worship of fire and the sun.

Fire Serpent

Fire Serpent

Two hundred meters (about 220 yards) from the main pyramid of Tenayuca are the remains of what appears to have been an elite residential complex, with surviving plaster floors in some rooms. This area has been labeled Tenayuca II by archaeologists and appears to have gone through various phases of construction. Wikipedia

Acatitlán

About three kilometers (a little less than two miles) from Tenayuca, in the Pueblo of Santa Cecilia Acatitlán, is another archeological site. It consists of a small, reconstructed pyramid that was originally one of the earlier stages of construction that became enclosed within a larger pyramid. It was reconstructed in the 1960s. 

Pyramid of Acatitlán

Acatitlán was evidently a site subsidiary to Tenayuca. It is believed that after the Mexica took control of the area in the 15th century, the temple was dedicated to their god, Huitzilopochtli.

While we were visiting the site, there was a man standing on top of the pyramid, engaged in an indigenous ritual of venerating the four cardinal directions, the sun and heavens above and the earth below. 

On the man's T-shirt would appear to be the symbol of
the Mexica/Azteca Stone of the Five Suns,
representing the sequence of five creations of the world
until the Fifth Sun,
when humans with language were successfully
created by the gods, so they could worship those gods. 

Like virtually all indigenous temples in Mexico, this one was destroyed by the Spanish. The stones of the outer layers were used to construct the church of Santa Cecilia Acatitlán, which stands nearby. So here, in Acatitlán, we encounter a rare literal demonstration of the so-called Spiritual Conquest, the transformation of indigenous society into a Catholic Hispanic one, which we have been exploring since 2016.  

Church of Santa Cecilia Acatitlán,
built in the 16th century.
Wikipedia

A Glimpse at Indigenous Civilization in the Larger Valley of Mexico

Since we began our ambles in 2015, we have stayed within the boundaries of Mexico City for practical reasons of proximity and preservation of our limited energy. We have been well aware that there are still existing originally indigenous villages and archeological remains outside those arbitrary boundaries, all over the larger Valley of Mexico. We have, of course, been to the monumental site of Teotihuacan, one of the premier archeological sites in the entire world. It is located in a side valley to the northeast of the main Valley. Twenty-five years ago, during our first visit to Mexico, we went to the smaller, but still impressive site of Tula. 

Today, in our visit to Tenayuca and Acatitlán, we have encountered smaller sites, but ones barely outside the City. They are also sites that, unlike Teotihuacan and Tula, were still functioning communities when the Mexica/Azteca became the last people to dominate the Valley before the Spanish Conquest brought Mesoamerican civilization to an end. The Mexica/Azteca of Tenochtitlan took note of their strategic location at the north end of the bay which their city dominated in Lake Texcoco (see map of bay above) and incorporated them directly into their urban structure via a causeway connecting them to their capital. 

The archeological reconstructions of their prehispanic pyramids, set within the still-vital pueblos of Pueblo San Bartolo Tenayuca and Santa Cecilila Acatitlán, provide — like the Templo Mayor in the midst of Centro Histórico and the site of Tlatelolco, next to the Church of Santiago Tlatelolco — glimpses of the indigenous world that existed before its military Conquest by the Spanish and vivid examples of the dramatic transformation of that world that was the Spiritual Conquest that followed.

Mexican Muralists in the Metro: Portraying Mexico City's Azteca-Mexica Origins

We have been following the trail of the Mexican Muralists from their gestation in the Academy of San Carlos, their first realizations in the College of San Ildefonso, at the Secretariat of Public Education and Bellas Artes and other spaces in Centro Histórico then on to other locations in the city. We came face to face with David Alfaro Siqueiros's last, grand work at the Siqueiros Cultural Polyforum in the delegación, borough, Benito Juárez and his work, as well as that of Juan O'Gorman and others at the National University's University City in Coyoacán.

On the way, we ran across murals in an unexpected place, Metro train stations. Our first encounter was a chance meeting with Ariosto Otero Reyes' revolutionarily themed mural in the Xola (pronounced, Shola) station on Line 2. This led us to research the existence of other Metro murals. We found a goodly number. We presented some that convey specifically revolutionary themes. Our post "Reverberations of the Mexican Revolution" explored how representations of themes of the Revolution spread out across the cityscape over the years.

But there are other Metro murals, some with themes we have seen before:

Encounter of the Cultures
 A primal theme for Mexico

Mayan Mother Goddess Ixchel
extends her hand—ala God to Adam in the Sistine Chapel—
to European woman, also ala Leonardo DaVinci.
Similar to the "New Adam" of Diego Rivera in San Ildefonso
and the New Woman of Arturo García Bustos
in the University Station mural,
her force is atomic, a symbol we saw at the National University
Map of Latin America from crest of National University.

Graziella Scotese,
Italian artist who came to Mexico in 1970s
to study mural art.
1986
Station División del Norte, Line 3

Civilización y cultura
by José de Guimaraes
(Portugese)
Gift of the City of Lisbon
1996
An homage to such Mexican artists as
David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and Rufino Tamayo;
and writers, including Sor Juana de la Cruz (17th century nun and poet),
Octavio Paz and Juan Rulfo, among others.

Upper right: Ancient symbol of world creation and destruction — two serpents eating each other's tails.
Upper left: Aztec/Mexica jaguar warrior

Chabacano Station, Line 9, where it intersects with Line 2

Crossroads in Space and Time

However, it is in Tacubaya Station—southwest of Centro on what used to be the western shore of Lake Texcoco, where East-West Line 1 intersects with North-South Line 7 and East-West Line 9—that we come across another of the tours de force that characterize Mexican muralism in its grandeza, its grandest expression.

Because three lines meet at Tacubaya, it is a major Metro system crossroad. Multiple passageways had to be constructed to make possible the correspondencias, connections, between the three lines. This construction resulted in large spaces through which thousands of people pass daily. David Siqueiros, we think, would have been drawn to such a public space, where el pueblo, the people, go about their cotidianidad, daily life.

Passageways in Tacubaya Station

 

Guillermo Ceniceros, Muralist Apprentice of David Siqueiros

Guillermo Ceniceros, an apprentice of Siqueiros, was attracted to this space. He was born in 1939 in a small pueblo in the state of Durango in northwest Mexico. but in 1951, when he was twelve, his family moved to the eastern city of Monterrey, in Nuevo León. When he was fourteen, he entered the Fabricación de Máquinas, S.A. (Manufacture of Machines, FAMA), a commercial school and business, where he studied industrial drawing.

In 1955, Ceniceros enrolled in the Taller de Arts Plásticas (Plastic Arts Workshop) at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, graduating in 1958. He continued with FAMA and married fellow artist Esther González. In 1962, they moved to Mexico City where he obtained work with Luis Covarrubias painting ethnographic murals at the National Museum of Anthropology and History. During this project he also met artist Rufino Tamayo.

In 1965, David Alfaro Siqueiros hired Ceniceros to work on his murals of the Mexican Revolution at the National Museum of History in Chapultepec Castle. Subsequently, he worked on The March of Humanity on Earth and Toward the Cosmos at the Siqueiros Cultural Polyforum. In 1986, the Metro system hired Ceniceros to paint murals in the Tacubaya Station.

Returning to Mexico City's Founding Legend

Rather than present images of the Revolution or visions of a future Mexico in the utilitarian, literally pedestrian space of Tacubaya Station, Ceniceros chose to go back to the indigenous origins of what is now Mexico City; that is, the legend of how some seven hundred years ago the Mexícas (Me-SHE-kahs) came to arrive in what was then the Valley of Anáhuac and found México-Tenochtitlán.

Legendary Beginnings: Emerging from Caves, Many Tribes Settle Around Lake with Island in the Middle

Nahuatl legends relate that, at the beginning of their history, seven tribes lived in Chicomoztoc, or "the place of the seven caves". Each cave contained a different Nahua-speaking group: the Xochimilca, Tlahuica, Acolhua, Tlaxcalteca, Tepaneca, Chalca, and Mexica. These groups are collectively called Nahuatlaca" (Nahua people) because of their common linguistic origin. In Mesoamerican legends of human origins, people are often created by emerging from caves—wombs of Mother Earth.

Here (for some unknown reason), eight tribes  are presented, around the lake of Aztlán

These tribes subsequently left the caves and settled around Aztlán, an island in a lake. In his book "Fragmentos de la Obra General Sobre Historia de los Mexicanos" ("Fragments of the General Work About the History of the Mexicans"), Cristobal del Castillo (c.1458–1539) mentions that the lake around Aztlán was called Metztliapan or "Lake of the Moon."

While some legends describe Aztlán as a paradise, the Codex Aubin says that the Aztecs were subject to a tyrannical elite called the Azteca Chicomoztoca. Guided by their priest, the Aztecs fled, where, on the road, their god Huitzilopochtli forbade them to call themselves Azteca, telling them that they should be known as Mexica.

Ironically, scholars of the 19th century—in particular Alexander von Humboldt and William H. Prescott—would name them Aztec. Humboldt's suggestion was widely adopted in the 19th century as a way of differentiating "modern" Mexicans from pre-conquest Mexícas.

Mexica on their migration
In the backpack, the apparent child with beaked cap
is a totem of their god, Huitzilopochtli.

Some codici indicate that the southward migration began on May 24, 1064 CE. The "Anales de Tlatelolco" says the exit from Aztlán took place on "4 Cuauhtli" (Four Eagle) of the year "1 Tecpatl" (Knife), which correlates to January 4, 1065.

Mexicas en route honor Huitzilopochtli

Entering the Valley of Anáhuac and Mesoamerican History

The Mexicas were the last to arrive in the Valley of Anáhuac, sometime around the year 1248, nearly 200 years after their legendary departure from Atzlán. The shore around Lake Texcoco was fully settled. Each of the other six groups from Aztlán had arrived before them and founded an altepetl, a city-state, governed by a council of  pipiltin, nobles, headed by an elected tlatoani, "speaker", chief) Thus, at this point, they also moved from legend into the recorded history of Mesoamerican civilization. Wikipedia

Anáhuac Valley lakes, and altepetls, city-states, (left is north, right is south)
Left-North: Lake Xaltocan
Center: Lake Texcoco
Right-South: Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco

The most powerful of the altepetls were Culhuacan (on peninsula jutting from southeast (upper right) shore dividing Lake Texcoco from Lake Xochimilco), and Azcapotzalco on the west shore of Lake Texcoco (bottom, center of mural). 

The Mexica first tried to settle in Chapultepec (just to south, i.e., right of Azcapotzalco). The Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco soon expelled the Mexicas. In 1299, the tlatoani of Culhuacan, Cocoxtli, gave them permission to settle in the empty lava beds of Tizapan (southwest of Coyoacán, lower right, now the area of the National University). In turn, they served as mercenary soldiers in his army, learning military skills they put to successful use some years later.

Island in Middle of a Lake Becomes Center of the World

According to Mexica legend, in 1323, they were shown a vision of an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus, eating a snake, indicating the place where they were to build their home. It may have been that they had been expelled from Culhuacan territory. They found the combination of snake-eating eagle on a cactus on a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco.  In 1325, they founded the settlement of Tenochtitlán, "Prickly Pear among the Rocks"—reminiscent of the archetypical island of Aztlán in the middle of Lake of the Moon.

The Mexicas arrive on Tenochtitlán,
"Prickly Pear among the Rocks"

Fifty years later, their settlement was big enough to become an altepetl. In 1376, they elected their first tlatoani, Acamapichtli, son of a marriage between one of their leaders and a daughter of a tlatoani of Culhuacan. Despite its ties to Culhuacan, for the next 50 years, until 1426, Tenochtitlán remained a tributary of its closer neighbor, Azcapotzalco. 

Upon the death of the Azcapotzalco tlatoani, Tezozomoc, in 1427, a series of power struggles broke out among the leaders of the altepetls subordinated to Azcapotzalco. In these struggles, Maxtla, son of Tezozomoc, killed Chimalpopoca, tlatoani of Tenochtitilan. In retaliation, his successor, Itzcoatl, allied with Nezahualcoyotl. the tlatoani of Texcoco (northeast side of Lake) and Totoquiatzin, tlatoani of Tlalcopan (aka Tacuba, west side of lake, between Chapultepec and Azacapotzalco).

In 1428, they defeated Maxtla. This coalition became what is known as the Triple Alliance, and Tenochtitlán became the dominant partner.  Over the next 100 years, Tenochtitlán was to expand its domination over most of Central Mexico. Its tlatoani became huey tlatoani, "senior speaker," ranking him above the lords of subordinate altepetls.

Tenochtitlán at its height, just before the Spanish arrived
(viewed from the south; the lake is not to scale or actual form)
Other Nahua altepetls around the lake are named.
Tacubaya is lower left.

Left: First three tlatoani of Tenochtitlán,
subordinate to Azcapotzalco:
From left: Acamapichtli, Huitzilihui and Chimalpopoca

Right: Six huey tlatoani, senior speakers of the Triple Alliance period
Itzcoatl, Moctezuma Ilhuicamina (the Elder), Axayacatl,
Tizoc, Ahuizotl, Moctezuma Xocoyotzin (the Younger)

Left: Cuauhtémoc, last huey tlatoani, executed by Hernán Cortés.
Right: Leaders of the initial Triple Alliance
Itzcoatl of Tenochtitlan
Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco
Totoquiatzin of Tlalcopan/Tacuba

Union of Political and Sacred Powers

Tlacaelel I (1397 – 1487)
portrayed as Eagle Warrior
Principal architect of the Aztec Triple Alliance 
and hence of Mexica hegemony over Central Mexico.

Tlacaelel: Mind Behind the Throne

During the war against the Tepanecs, Tlacaelel, nephew of tlatoani Itzcoatl, son of tlatoani Huitzilihuitl and brother of Chimalpopoca and Moctezuma I, was given the office of tlacochcalcatl (top general of the army), but after his great victory, he was named first adviser to the ruler, a new position called cihuacoatl. He held the office during the reigns of four consecutive tlatoani, until his death in 1487. His was the mind behind the throne.

It was Tlacaelel who rewrote the story of the Mexicas as a chosen people, elevated the tribal god Huitzilopochtli to the top of the pantheon of gods and promoted the State's militaristic identity. He is said to have increased the quantity and frequency of human sacrifice, particularly during a period of natural disasters that started in 1446 (Diego Durán, History of the Indians of New Spain, 1581). Durán also states that, during the reign of Moctezuma I, Tlacaelel invented the "Flower Wars", in which the Aztecs fought Tlaxcala and other city-states not to subdue them, but to collect captives for sacrifice. Wikipedia

Chac-mool Figure for receiving sacrificial offerings, human hearts.

(Name is modern, created by archeologists)

Blood Sacrifice: Fuel that Keeps Sun Turning and World Going On

The Aztec cosmos, like that of their Central Mexico predecessors, was believed to be kept going by the sacrifice of human blood to feed the Sun, so it would rise again each day, driving away the forces of darkness, the underworld and chaos through which it traveled in peril each night. 

In Aztec mythology, there had been four previous "Suns", creations of the world, but they were unsuccessful and destroyed by various natural forces. The Fifth Sun, the Aztec world, was created in darkness at the site of Teotihuacan, the first major Mesoamerican city thirty miles north of Mexico City (See: Teotihuacan-Where the Gods Are Made). In order to get the Sun to rise and move across the sky once again, and hence for life and time to go on, a god had to sacrifice himself by jumping into a fire. 

This cosmic event was ritualistically repeated in the New Fire ceremony held once every fifty-two years, when the beginnings of the 365-day solar calendar coincided with the 260-day divination calendar. The divination calendar was based on the length of human gestation and used to predict personal fate. The coincidence of the two calendars—of the cosmic cycle and human fate—made for a highly dangerous juncture; that is, at this juncture it was very possible that the Sun might not rise again and the era of the Fifth Sun would come to an end. The Stone of the Five Suns, in the National Museum of Anthropology and History, portrays this cosmology.

Sacrifice, of course, also kept in place the power of the State as the unique employer of "legitimate violence" (Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan).

Gods Who Rule

As we have seen, the Mexica, according to their legend, evidently as retold by Tlacaelel, came into existence as a people through the intentional act of a god, Huitzilopochtli, who separated them out from their cousin Aztec tribes, gave them their unique identiy and led them to a promised land. 

The Mexica were initially nomadic hunter-gatherers. Upon their arrival in the Valley of Anáhuac, they first became part of a settled agrarian culture, then further developed into an urban civilization. Their many gods—originating in their hunting days or adopted by them from surrounding tribes when they settled down—likely reflect the various stages of their history.

The Wikipedia article on their mythology names two dozen or so godsHowever, as in the religions of many other cultures, gods and goddesses, primal forces of existence, can appear in various guises and bearing different names. Taken for granted in primal cultures, the "same" god or force can even appear in both male and female forms, confusing the "modern" mind that prefers neat categories.  

Ceniceros portrays some of the Mexica gods on the walls of Tacubaya Station. There, they watch over modern Mexicans as they pass by, not unlike the saints on the walls of the city's many Catholic Churches. 

Gods of Primal Forces and the Four Cardinal Directions (Hunter-Gatherer Origins)

The four cardinal directions are probably the earliest way available to human hunter-gatherers for creating their "world"; that is, as a means for organizing the terrestial space within which they roamed about. The four directions are marked by the Sun's East-West daily journey and, perpendicular to it, a North-South axis marked in the Northern Hemisphere by the North Star and the Big Dipper or Big Bear. 

Nowadays, in Tacubaya Station, commuters—today's "hunter-gatherers"—follow yellow signs reading "Correspondencia a Linea 1, 7 or 9", Connection to Line 1, 7 or 9.

Left: Tezcatlipoca, god of twilight, ruler of the night, hence of the invisible,
associated with the Great Bear constellation;
hence, lord of the cardinal direction North.

Right: Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent (a creature combining forces of earth and sky),
god of light, life and wisdom. Associated with the morning star (Venus), lord of the East.

Mictlantecuhtli, god of the underworld, 
where death and chaos threaten human existence.
Lord of the West

The Mexica's Huitzilopochtli was originally a god of the Sun and, hence, Lord of the South, where the Sun rules.

Gods of Agrarian Life

Left: Tlaloc, god of water

Center: Chalchiutlicue, goddess of rivers and springs.
(Ceniceros gives her a human visage. She would have had a symbolic one.)

Ehécatl, god of the wind, who comes before the rains, announcing them.
(critical for an agrarian culture with half-year-long dry and rainy seasons.) 

Centeotl, goddess of corn
(she would also have had a symbolic representation)

Mayauel, goddess of maguey and pulque beer
(likewise, she would have had a symbolic representation. 
We think Ceniceros has "westernized" these goddesses,
ala classic Greek style)

Gods of Familial and Tribal Conflict; hence, of History and War

Coatlicue, goddess of human life.
Serpent-headed, she gives life and takes it in death.

The original statue is in the National Museum
of Anthropology and History

Coyolxauhqui, daughter of Coatlicue
She and her brothers kill their mother when they find her pregnant once again. 
Huitzilopochtli, the immaculately conceived child, son of the Sun, is born full-grown. 
He slays and dismembers his half-sister.
She becomes the Moon, with its phases.
Her brothers are chased into the heavens as stars.

The original statue is in Museum of the Templo Mayor.

Huitzilopochtli, sun god and god of war. Lord of the south, 
Ceniceros' painting, portraying the god as a sun,
is, paradoxically, in a dark corner, which we couldn't photograph.

This 16th century representation is from
Codex Telleriano-Remensis

Postscript

Curiously, Ceniceros' largest mural in Tacubaya does not portray either a Mexica or Aztec personage or god. Set apart from the Mexica story, on a two-story high wall between two passageways, it is the jade death mask of a Mayan ahaw or lord, K'inich Janaab' Pakal I, Great Sun Lord Shield, of Palenque, who reigned from 615 to 683 CE. The Maya were, of course, the other major indigenous civilization in what is now Mexico.

The Maya city-states, south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec—far from Central Mexico but in trade relations with it—had their heyday during the so-called Mesoamerican Classic Period, from about 300 to 800 CE. They emerged during a political hiatus and resulting power vacuum that took place in Central Mexico between the decline of Teotihuacan (ending around 500 CE) and the rise of a successor power, the Toltecs in Tula, Hidalgo, north of Teotihuacan (800 to 1200 CE).

The rise of the city-states in the Valley of Anáhuac came with the decline of Toltec power. The Mexicas were the last of a long series of dominant powers.

Jade death mask of Mayan lord Pakal I

Ceniceros's Other Murals

Guillermo Ceniceros has created over fifteen other large-scale murals in public places in Mexico City, Monterrey (his "home town") and his home state of Durango, as well as in the Mexican Mission to the United Nations in New York City. A few years after recreating the history of the Mexicas and Teotihuacan in the Tacubaya Station, Ceniceros undertook portraying an even grander concept in an even larger space, in Copilco Station on Line 3. That, if you'll forgive the pun, is our next stop.

Now 77, Ceniceros continues to live in Mexico City at his studio/home in Colonia Roma.