How Did The Cults Change Aztec Society

The Aztec rise to power and formation of an imperial state was both rapid and spectacular. Aztec domination extended from the Tarascan frontier about a hundred miles north of present-day Mexico City southward to the Maya area. The people were forced to pay tribute, surrender lands, and sometimes do military service for the empire. Aztec society had changed in the process of expansion and conquest. The loose association of clans, which was the previous form, the Aztec Empire transformed into a stratified society under the authority of a supreme ruler. Human sacrifice became a large practice involving the military, using their captives as victims. The cult of human sacrifice and conquest was united with the political power of the ruler and the

The gods were supported yearly by festivals and ceremonies that involved feasting and dancing along with the penance and sacrifice. There were three major themes or cults in the Aztec religion. The first were the gods of fertility and the agricultural cycle, such as a god of rain, the god of maize, and the god of fertility. The second were the gods of creation, the ones who brought the universe into being. The third was the cult of warfare and sacrifice built on a pre existent tradition in Mesoamerica. Warrior cults and militaristic images of jaguar and eagles devouring human hearts were characteristic of the typical art. Although the bloody aspects of Aztec religion have gained much attention, historians also recognize that the

Aztecs concerned themselves with many of the same great religious and spiritual questions that preoccupied other civilizations.

The Aztec labor production by peasants and tributes provided the basic food supply. In each Aztec community, the local clan apportioned the lands, setting aside lands to support the temples and the state. Individual nobles typically had private estates that were worked by conquered slaves or servants. Most trade was done by barter, with the exceptions of gold