30 May 2025 / 10 House
Article suitable for Top Juniors and above
Find out moreHow did Aztec warriors train?
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - Jedidiah Juke Hawkins: How did the Aztecs train in fighting Did they have a training regimen? (Answered by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
Good question. The truth is we have virtually no historical details at all about this. One thing is certain: as an Aztec boy you have to learn from a young age how to face death on the battlefield. The Spaniards noted just how brave and strong Mexica warriors were in battle. The following are a series of facts relevant to warrior training:-
• Military training was part of the curriculum that Mexica youths received at the telpochcalli school for commoners
• Hands-on training in battle came from veteran warriors who had novice fighters under their charge and protection
• During certain festivals youths were encouraged to take part in mock combat, competing as teams against each other for rewards.
• All experts agree that some kind of martial arts were encouraged and taught, since the prime objective in battle was to physically subdue enemy warriors, get them to surrender and capture them alive - so hand-to-hand combat techniques such as grappling must have been a key part of the training
• Taking part in the ritual ballgame would be an ideal way to develop agility, speed and endurance
• The Aztecs themselves saw the ‘Flower Wars’ that they regularly staged with undefeated enemy city-states as prime training grounds for their novice warriors.
Sources - all three authors are ‘heavyweights’ in this field:-
• Cervera Obregón, Marco Antonio (2011) Guerreros Aztecas, Ediciones Nowtilus, Madrid
• Hassig, Ross (1995) Aztec Warfare, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman
• Pohl, John (2001) Aztec Warrior AD 1325-1521, Osprey Publishing, Oxford.
Image sources:-
• Main pic: image scanned from the front cover of Ross Hassig’s book (see above) - adapted from carving on the Stone of Tizoc
• Codex Azcatitlan: image downloaded from https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15280/?sp=14&r=-0.056,-0.089,1.111,0.571,0.
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