The Aztecs were a very artistic civilisation. A lot of ... · The Aztecs were a very artistic...

The Aztecs were a very artistic civilisation. A lot of their art featured animals or their gods.

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Every Aztec child went to school. There were separate schools for nobles and commoners.

The Aztecs never called themselves Aztecs. Instead, they called themselves Mexica.


The Aztecs believed in hundreds of gods and goddesses who governed different aspects of their lives.

The main Aztec language was called N'ahuatl. It was written in pictures and symbols and only highly educated priests and scribes could read and write it.


The Aztecs had two calendars. One of these told them when religious festivals were (Tonalpohualli) and the other helped them to keep track of the seasons (Xiuhpohualli).

The Tonalpohualli calendar had 260 days and the Xiuhpohualli calendar had 365 days!


In 1790 a huge circular calendar stone was found in Mexico City. It is 3.7 metres in diameter and weighs 25 tons!

Aztec slaves were usually treated well and protected by laws. If someone was very poor, they could sell themselves as a slave but people also became slaves as a punishment.


Aztec men could have more than one wife. Only the first wife had a grand wedding ceremony though!

The Aztecs sacrificed animals and humans. It is estimated that thousands of people were sacrificed every year to pay a blood-debt to the gods.


Different gods demanded different types of sacrifice. For example, people sacrificed to the fire god (Huehueteotl) were burned alive.


The Aztecs liked to play a ball game. The object of the game was to get a heavy rubber ball through a stone hoop.

The Spanish conquistadors brought smallpox to the Aztec civilization and because they had no immunity to it, the disease spread quickly and killed many people.

The Aztecs built their ball courts as part of their religious buildings and sometimes the losers of a game became human sacrifices.


In the Aztec creation story, five gods created the world; Ometecuhtli, Huizilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca and Xipe Totec.

When the Aztecs conquered the Mayan people, they made the Mayans pay tax in cocoa because the Aztecs could not grow their own.


The Aztecs’ staple foods were maize, beans, squashes, fruit and vegetables. They also fished and hunted with bows and arrows.

Wealthy Aztecs drank hot chocolate (chocolatl) flavoured with chilli peppers and spices and sweetened with honey.


Cocoa beans were used as currency by the Aztecs and forgers made counterfeit (fake) ones from wax or dough.

The Aztecs were a very artistic civilisation. A lot of ... · The Aztecs were a very artistic...

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