Pilcher, J.M. (2017). Planet taco: A global history of Mexican food. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.184–185. Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin; Domingo de San Antón Muñón (1997) [c. 1621]. Arthur J.O. Anderson; Susan Schroeder (eds.). Codex Chimalpahin, vol. 2: society and politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and other Nahua altepetl in central Mexico; the Nahuatl and Spanish annals and accounts collected and recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin (continued). Civilization of the American Indian series. Translated by Arthur J.O. Anderson; Susan Schroeder. Susan Schroed

King, Authors: Heidi. "Tenochtitlan: Templo Mayor | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . Retrieved 27 April 2023. McCaa, Robert (1995). "Spanish and Nahuatl Views on Smallpox and Demographic Catastrophe in Mexico". Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 25 (3): 397–431. doi: 10.2307/205693. JSTOR 205693. S2CID 145465056. Archeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, in his essay Symbolism of the Templo Mayor, posits that the orientation of the temple is indicative of the totality of the vision the Mexica had of the universe ( cosmovision). He states that the "principal center, or navel, where the horizontal and vertical planes intersect, that is, the point from which the heavenly or upper plane and the plane of the Underworld begin and the four directions of the universe originate, is the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan". Matos Moctezuma supports his supposition by claiming that the temple acts as an embodiment of a living myth where "all sacred power is concentrated and where all the levels intersect". [82] [83] Other major city-states [ edit ]Gillespie 1989 argues that the name "Motecuzoma" was a later addition added to make for a parallel to the later ruler, and that his original name was only "Ilhuicamina". McCaa, Robert (1997). "The Peopling of Mexico from Origins to Revolution (preliminary draft)". Archived from the original on 12 July 2017 . Retrieved 17 February 2018. O'Leary, Devin D. (3 May 2007). "The Other Conquest Conquers America". Alibi. Vol.16, no.18. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018 . Retrieved 12 April 2018.

Smith 1997, p.4 writes "For many the term 'Aztec' refers strictly to the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan (the Mexica people), or perhaps the inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico, the highland basin where the Mexica and certain other Aztec groups lived. I believe it makes more sense to expand the definition of "Aztec" to include the peoples of nearby highland valleys in addition to the inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico. In the final few centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519 the peoples of this wider area all spoke the Nahuatl language (the language of the Aztecs), and they all traced their origins to a mythical place called Aztlan (Aztlan is the etymon of "Aztec," a modern label that was not used by the Aztecs themselves)"Martz, Louis L.; Lawrence, D. H. (1998). Quetzalcoatl. New Directions Books. ISBN 978-0-8112-1385-1. Although the form of government is often referred to as an empire, in fact most areas within the empire were organized as city-states, known as altepetl in Nahuatl. These were small polities ruled by a hereditary leader ( tlatoani) from a legitimate noble dynasty. The Early Aztec period was a time of growth and competition among altepetl. Even after the confederation of the Triple Alliance was formed in 1427 and began its expansion through conquest, the altepetl remained the dominant form of organization at the local level. The efficient role of the altepetl as a regional political unit was largely responsible for the success of the empire's hegemonic form of control. [67] Economy [ edit ] Agriculture and subsistence [ edit ] Cultivation of maize, the main foodstuff, using simple tools. Florentine Codex Franco, Jean (2004). "The return of Coatlicue: Mexican nationalism and the Aztec past". Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 13 (2): 205–219. doi: 10.1080/1356932042000246977. S2CID 162346920.

The second class were the mācehualtin, originally peasants, but later extended to the lower working classes in general. Eduardo Noguera estimates that in later stages only 20percent of the population was dedicated to agriculture and food production. [55] The other 80percent of society were warriors, artisans and traders. Eventually, most of the mācehuallis were dedicated to arts and crafts. Their works were an important source of income for the city. [56] Macehualtin could become enslaved, (Nahuatl languages: tlacotin) for example if they had to sell themselves into the service of a noble due to debt or poverty, but enslavement was not an inherited status among the Aztecs. Some macehualtin were landless and worked directly for a lord (Nahuatl languages: mayehqueh), whereas the majority of commoners were organized into calpollis which gave them access to land and property. [57] The first Aztec murals were from Teotihuacan. [128] Most of our current Aztec murals were found in Templo Mayor. [128] The Aztec capitol was decorated with elaborate murals. In Aztec murals, humans are represented like they are represented in the codices. One mural discovered in Tlateloco depicts an old man and an old woman. This may represent the gods Cipactonal and Oxomico.

Chi erano gli aztechi, dove si stanziarono, fin dove si estendeva il loro impero

Further information: Society in the Spanish Colonial Americas Codex Kingsborough, showing the abuse by Spaniards of a Nahua under the encomienda Spanish labor system

The Aztecs did not have a fully developed writing system like the Maya; however, like the Maya and Zapotec, they did use a writing system that combined logographic signs with phonetic syllable signs. Logograms would, for example, be the use of an image of a mountain to signify the word tepetl, "mountain", whereas a phonetic syllable sign would be the use of an image of a tooth tlantli to signify the syllable tla in words unrelated to teeth. The combination of these principles allowed the Aztecs to represent the sounds of names of persons and places. Narratives tended to be represented through sequences of images, using various iconographic conventions such as footprints to show paths, temples on fire to show conquest events, etc. [110] Townsend, Richard F. (2009). The Aztecs (3rd, reviseded.). London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28791-0.

Quiñones Keber, Eloise (1996). "Humboldt and Aztec Art". Colonial Latin American Review. 5 (2): 277–297. doi: 10.1080/10609169608569894. Bright, W. (1990). " 'With one lip, with two lips': Parallelism in Nahuatl". Language. 66 (3): 437–452. doi: 10.2307/414607. JSTOR 414607.