30 May 2025 / 10 House
Article suitable for older students
Find out moreMany partners or one?
Sculpture of an Aztec couple
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - Caitlyn Krueger: I have a question, did many men or women have many spouses or were they only to have one spouse? (Answered by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
Though the Spanish accused the Aztecs of polygyny (men being married to more than one wife at the same time) it seems that this was limited entirely to the Mexica élite. For the vast majority of ordinary Aztecs, marriage was ‘monogamous’ (between one man and one woman). The marriage ceremony was a very public event - though it took place within the home - and cemented not just the relationship of a couple to each other, but also of the two of them to the wider community, through the roles of both mothers and matchmakers.
Even among members of the élite, in the few cases where it was reported that a tlahtoani (Great Speaker, or ruler) had many wives - Moctezuma II was supposed to have had 150 partners pregnant at the same time - there was a vital difference between the official, primary ‘wife’ and any other women partners. The principal relationship - often to a woman chosen from among the Aztecs’ most valued ally of the time, and so clearly someone who would have had considerable influence - involved special ceremonies and ritual meaning that didn’t feature in relationships with other, secondary, ‘wives’ or partners. It seems clear that the aim of ‘multiple’ marriages for rulers was to engage in marriage alliances, to strengthen the position of the Aztecs in control of neighbouring territories and peoples.
Source/more info -
Bonds of Blood by Caroline Dodds Pennock (2008)
Photo sources:-
• Photo (sculpture of an Aztec couple, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City) by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
• Image from the Codex Mendoza scanned from our own copy of the James Cooper Clark 1938 facsimile edition, London
Comments (2)
Sage
8th Nov 2022
can Aztec women marry other woman
Mexicolore
That’s a definite No!
Katia of Tonkam
16th Aug 2011
Could polyandry (one woman being married to more than one man at the same time) ever occur in Aztec society?
Mexicolore
There doesn’t seem to be any evidence of this, but it’s an interesting question...
Sculpture of an Aztec couple
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