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ASTRONOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE AZTEC EXPRESSION OF HISTORY

Eclipse data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1999

Anthony F. Aveni  and
Edward E. Calnek
Anthony F. Aveni
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346, USA
Edward E. Calnek
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
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Abstract

In this paper, we present a complete list of eclipses documented in the Mexica manuscripts. We use this list together with information in the chronicles to outline a possible method used by Mexica chronologists for linking historical with retrodictable cosmic events that were deliberately chosen to fit historical circumstances. Solar events, particularly eclipses, figure prominently in a scheme that stresses the recurrence of like-in-kind events positioned at multiples of the Xiuhmolpilli (52-year) cycle. Thus, both the foundation of the empire and calendrical adjustments related to the fictional chronology of World Ages are connected to eclipses that were visible at Tenochtitlan and that fell either at the solstices or the equinoxes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 1999 , pp. 87 - 98
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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