the-amazing-aztecs

The Amazing
Aztecs

• Write something you already know
about the Aztec Empire!

• Write something you would like to
find out about the Aztec Empire.



3 • The Aztecs were
million rich and powerful
people
people from the
valley of Mexico.

They were farmers,
warriors, traders,
engineers, artists and

sculptures.

Settling Down

• They arrived in Mexico about 700
years ago, looking for a new home.

• After a long journey, they arrived at
Lake Texoco in a large Mexican
valley.

• A god had sent them a sign telling
them where to live.

• An eagle with a snake in its mouth
perched on a cactus.

• It was very hard to build on the
lake because the Aztecs only had a
small piece of land in the
surrounding marshes.

• The Aztecs made the swampy,
shallow lake into chinampas. They
made islands by piling up mud and
reeds in the water. They used them
as their city foundations.

• Built canals, gardens,
aqueducts, temples and a
very grand palace.

• They named their new home
Tenochtitlán.

• Largest and most beautiful
city in the world.

Then they built bridges to connect the city to
the mainland.

The
palace
was so
big, there
was even
a zoo
inside.

What do you think
these buildings were

used for?



What to Wear?

• What do you think they wore?
(Discuss in Pairs)

• Only rich nobles were allowed to
wear bright, patterned clothes.

• The best warriors were allowed to
wear clothes with lots of feathers
and decoration.

• Ordinary Aztecs wore plain clothes
that were made out of rough
material.

What do you notice??
• Men and women painted

their bodies.
• They dyed their hair

black with mud or a
deep blue colour.
• For women, the
fashionable colour to
paint themselves was
yellow made from
crushed insects!

Aztecs and Food

• What do you think they ate?
(Pairs)

• Maize, beans, tomatoes, chilli
peppers and other vegetables.

• People also ate dogs, monkeys,
frogs, tadpoles, lizards, ants,
caterpillars and insects.

• Many kinds of animals and birds
were sold live at Aztec markets.

• They used cocoa beans, feathers
and tools as money.

• The Aztecs even had
a god of chocolate!

• They used cocoa
beans to make a rich
chocolate drink.

• They added chillies
to make it spicy.

Religion

• Religion was very
important part of Aztec
life.

• The Aztec religion was
based on worship of
gods who represented
the Earth, Rain and Sun.

• They held lots of festivals
to worship them.

• Can you guess the names of these
Gods and what they did?

• The god of sun and war was
Hummingbird on the Left.

• Hummingbird on the Left’s
mother was an earth goddess
called Snake Skirt.

• The Aztecs believed that the god
of water brought rain, thunder and
lightning.

• Smoking Mirror was god of the
night sky. He decided if people
would be lucky.

Human Sacrifice

• The Aztecs believed that
their gods had to be fed
with human hearts and
blood.

• People thought this was a
good way to die as it
helped the gods.

• More than 10,000 people
were once sacrificed in
just four days.

Other
Aztec
Customs

• The Aztecs bound their
babies’ heads so they
grew into a flatter
shape.

• Cross-eyes were
thought to be attractive.
Parents used string
down the middle of the
face to encourage them.

• They tried to make
children taller by
pulling on their necks.

Would you like to visit the Aztec
Doctor?

• To mend a broken leg, they put a
paste of cactus and lime and made a
splint.

• To clean cuts and wounds, they
used urine!

• If someone had a cold, they gave
them a steam bath and dribbled dew
from the fields into their nostrils.

• For earache, the Aztecs poured
liquid rubber into the ear.

Quiz….

• What year did they build their city?
• What was the name of the city?
• How did they build their city on water?
• What did warriors wear?
• How did normal people dress and look?
• What did they eat?
• Name a God they believed in.
• Name an odd custom they had at the time.

Ball Sports

• Their favourite sports included a rough ball
game that often ended in injuries or even
death! TLACHTLI

• This ball game was played by teams of players
using a hard rubber ball on a stone court.

• Players scored points by knocking the ball
through goal rings high up on the walls of the
court.

• They were not allowed to kick or handle the
ball. They had to use their elbows, hips or
knees.

• The winners could claim clothes or jewellery
worn by spectators. The losing team was
sometimes killed as a sacrifice to the gods!

• Let’s give it a go!

Art and
Sculpture

•

• This is the mask of a
very powerful god
called Feathered Snake.

• It was made from
turquoise stone.

Aztec
Masks

Aztec Calendar

Aztec
Costumes

Aztec Children

• Strict rules and punishments to make them good,
obedient citizens.

• If children were rude or naughty, they were tied up
and left outside in the cold all night.

• Many children died as infants from diseases or
accidents at home.

• Working from the age of four.
• Girls: cook and clean.
• Boys: worked in fields or hunted and

fished with their fathers.
• 10: the boys were sent to school to do

military training and to learn a craft.
• 15: some boys went to a special school

where they learned about the history
and religion of the tribe.
• These boys became religious leaders.

Childhood
Punishments

• If they didn’t pay
attention in school, the
teacher punished them by
pinching their arms or
ears or pricking them
with cactus spines.

• If the girls were naughty,
they were given extra
housework.

• The worst punishment
for naughty children was
being held over a fire of
roasting chilli peppers,
so the smoke stung their
throats and eyes.

• If a family was very
poor, children were
sometimes sold to
passing slave traders.

Music

• Music was a huge part of religious
ceremonies, festivals and story-
telling.

• The instruments they used were
shells, rattles, whistles, horns, bells
and drums.

• Let’s make our own Aztec music: Write
the music using graphic notation and
incorporate all of these instruments.