Sacrificing humans to the Aztec Gods

It is claimed that for the re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs sacrificed about 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days. If this is an example of one single ceremony, the numbers of human sacrifices performed by the Aztecs must be astounding.

Michael Harner, in his 1977 article The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice, estimates the number of persons sacrificed in central Mexico in the 15th century as high as 250,000 per year.

Who were the sacrificial victims?

Human sacrifices were performed on specific days.It is believed ceremonies occurred for each of the 18 Aztec months. Purified Aztec pottery was used to burn sacred copal during these ceremonies. Each god required a different kind of victim: young women were drowned for Xilonen the goddess of maize; children were sacrificed to Tláloc the god of rain; Huitzilopochtli the war god required prisoners, and a single volunteer would be accepted from many who wished the honor for Tezcatlipoca, god “Smoking Mirror”. Aztec priests often personified an animal or god by wearing elaborate Aztec masks.

The Aztecs trained all the male population to be warriors. Every Aztec warrior would have to provide at least one prisoner for sacrifice. The warrior elite class was reserved for those who continuously succeeded in providing captives. Those that were unsuccessful were delegated to a less desirable status. They could however redeem themselves by providing prisoners during “Flower Wars” for the next festivities.

Debate continues over what social groups constituted the usual victims of these sacrifices. Often it is assumed that all sacrificial victims were commoners. This is not accurate, victims seem to have been persons from any status level even of Aztec society who had fallen into debt or committed some crime. Likewise, it is believed that virtually all child sacrifices were siblings of noble lineage, offered by their own parents as the ultimate gift to demanding gods.

So How Many Sacrifices Occured?

This question is very difficult to answer with certainty because the pre-Columbian, indigenous codices that depict the rites were not written texts but pictorial and highly symbolic ideographs. Furthermore, Catholic priests burned all obtainable texts because they believed the images depicted were evil.

To reach the 80,400 human sacrifices during the four-day re-consecration of the Great Pyramid the Aztecs would have had to average 14 sacrifices per minute during the four-day ceremony using only 4 sacrificial altars.This is physicaly impossible.

Furthermore human sacrifice was probably used as a propaganda tool to terrorize subjugated populations and most likely grossly over exaggerated.

Old Aztecs who talked with the missionaries told about a much lower figure for the re-consecration of the Great Pyramid, approximately 4,000 victims in total, according to Codex Telleriano-Remensis.

Current best estimates from recognized historians and archaeologists for the total number of human sacrifices range from 250,000 to 20,000 per year. Learn more on the Aztecs and Maya pottery.

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