The Gods of the Aztec, Mayan and Inca Empires
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This paper will discuss the gods of the Aztec, Maya and Inca empires. In particular, the paper will be concerned with the perceptions held by the Aztec, Maya and Inca peoples regarding the anger of their gods. The Aztecs, who arrived in central Mexico in the twelfth century A.D., borrowed many of their religious ideas from the Toltecs and the Maya who had lived in the area before them. However, the Aztecs differed from these earlier cultures in that they were far more bloodthirsty and warlike. It can be seen that the Aztecs placed a great deal of faith in their gods. In fact, it was their god Huitzilopochtli who had led them to central Mexico in the first place. As the Aztec empire developed over the following centuries, the practice of human sacrifice among the Aztec people also grew. In the view of the Aztecs, the reason behind human sacrifice was that it kept the gods satisfied. Thus, according to the Aztec priests, "the gods hunger and thirst; their hunger and thirst must be sated with human flesh and blood" (Keen 43). The Aztecs provided many such human sacrifices in order to feed their gods. On the one hand, the Aztecs did this in order that they might give worship and blessings to the gods in thanks for being provided with food and the other necessities of life. on the other hand, it can be seen that the human sacrifices of the Aztecs also represented an effort to appease the gods and keep them from becoming angry. In this regard, "the Aztec perception of t
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, including rocks and trees, could be filled with the power of the gods and thereby I come alive (165). Because of this belief, the Maya were always careful to show great respect for the world around them. In addition, this belief caused the Maya to always serve the needs of their gods in order to keep the gods from becoming aroused.
One of the gods that the Maya were most concerned about appeasing was Itzamna, the father of the gods, who can be related to the Aztecs' Huitzilopochtli. The Maya were also worried about the anger of the planet Venus, whose aspects were often "malevolent and dangerous, particularly when the planet first rises as the morning star" (Henderson 85). Whenever there was a harsh storm or earthquake, the Maya believed that the gods were expressing their anger. In this regard, it is interesting to note that the Maya believed their world to be flat, with four giant gods holding up each of the four corners. The movements of these gods were believed to be the cause of such phenomena as earthquakes and thunder (Thompson 262-263). The Maya, like the Aztecs, believed that their world would end with earthquakes. Therefore, they were extremely concerned with keeping these and the other gods of their pantheon
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Approximate Word count = 2571
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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