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Sacrifice of a war captive (Image based on the Codex Magliabechiano) The tecpatl or sacrificial knife, was an important element in Aztec rituals. The tecpatl was used by Aztec priests to open the chest of the victims of human sacrifice to extract the heart that would feed the gods, in the hope that the offerings would bring blessings to mankind ...
The serpent labret with articulated tongue is a gold Aztec lip plug from the mid-second millennium AD. Designed to be inserted in a piercing below the lower lip, it depicts a fanged serpent preparing to strike, with a bifurcated tongue hanging from its mouth.
Coiled Serpent, unknown Aztec artist, 15th–early 16th century CE, Stone, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States [1] The use of serpents in Aztec art ranges greatly from being an inclusion in the iconography of important religious figures such as Quetzalcoatl and Cōātlīcue, [2] to being used as symbols on Aztec ritual objects, [3] and decorative stand-alone representations ...
A representation of the goddess can be found on each side of the 1503 CE Coronation Stone of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II, alongside the glyphs for fire and water — traditional symbols of war. Historian Mary Miller even suggests that Tlaltecuhtli may be the face in the center of the famous Aztec Calendar Stone (Piedra del Sol), where she ...
These five cobs were also symbols for a seemingly separate goddess. [10] This highly worshipped goddess was known as Lady Chicomecoatl, Seven Serpents. [ 10 ] She was the earth spirit and the lady of fertility and life, seen as a kind of mother figure in the Aztec world and was the partner of Centeotl.
An Aztec sculpture representing the left-facing head of Xiuhcoatl. Typically, Xiuhcoatl was depicted with a sharply back-turned snout and a segmented body. Its tail resembled the trapeze-and-ray year sign and probably does represent that symbol. In Nahuatl, the word xihuitl means "year", "turquoise", and "grass". Often, the tail of Xiuhcoatl is ...
Toniatuh's mouth is open, and the tongue (now broken off) was intended to stick out in the form of a sacrificial knife. The protruding tongue was used as a crosspiece to tie sacrificial victims to. [5] Surrounding the carving of Toniatuh is a band of concentric circles, representing the precious green stone, or jade.
A drawing of Yacatecuhtli in the Codex Borgia In Aztec mythology , Yacatecuhtli ( [jakaˈtekʷt͡ɬi] ) was a patron god of commerce and travelers, [ 1 ] especially business travelers. His symbol is a bundle of sticks.