Chapter 7 - Religion, Science, and the Arts

Summary

This day of nine dogs [Nine Dog] was dedicated to sorcerers, who were those who transformed themselves into other things like animals or snakes and other similar things. And for this reason on this day they were very fearful and shut themselves up in their homes in order not to see these things, that is, not to see men like that walking through the town.

Codex Telleriano-Remensis, folio 22r; originally composed by 1563; translation in Quiñones Keber 1995: 268

It is difficult to disentangle religion, science, and the arts in the Aztec world. Indeed, it is unlikely that it would have occurred to any worthy Aztec to do so, as these realms of life were closely interconnected and meshed together almost seamlessly. To wit, art served state religion and politics as well as individual household rituals, and corporal ills were attributed to both supernatural and natural causes. The visible world of humans and nature lay suspended between supernatural levels above and below. The Aztecs were at once keen observers and experimenters of the world around them and staunch believers in the supernatural foundation and control of that world.

Understanding Aztec religion, science, and intellectual life is a daunting task. The most detailed and vivid accounts of these spheres of life are found in the early Spanish chronicles (especially those of Sahagún and Durán), in Nahua legends such as the Legend of the Suns (Bierhorst 1992), and in native-style pictorial codices (see Chapter 1 for an assessment of these types of data). Recently, important archaeological discoveries have significantly boosted our grasp of religious beliefs and ritual behavior (Smith in press a, in press b). The most extensive of these discoveries are those associated with Tenochtitlan’s Templo Mayor, which have revealed not only the dual temple itself, but also other structures (or portions of them) and thousands of ritually deposited artifacts in more than 162 offerings (to date) (Matos Moctezuma 1995; López Luján 2005, 2006). Beyond this political and religious center of the Empire, other places have yielded archaeological remains that pertain to ritual behavior and offer a sense of ritual diversity (e.g., Elson and Smith 2001; Brumfiel 2001; López Luján and Urcid 2002; Smith 2002; Guilliem Arroyo 1999, 2008a, 2008b).