30 May 2025 / 10 House
Who were more barbaric, the Spanish or the Aztecs?
The Spanish described Aztec beliefs and rituals - especially human sacrifices and cannibalism - as misguided, barbaric and led by the devil.
But the Spanish wrote and said these things to justify their conquest of the Aztecs. It was in their interest to ‘write the Aztecs off’ as evil and primitive.
Although Spanish priests thought many Aztec practices to be evil, they preached in the name of an empire (the Holy Roman Empire) that regularly tortured people for the Inquisition!
The eating of human flesh by the Aztecs was a solemn religious act, performed even with compassion. It reinforced their belief in the gods’ roles as lords over the earth and encouraged their attachment to the land and to the farming cycle.
Far from being ‘backward’, we now appreciate that the Aztecs were brilliant at engineering, architecture, art, music, craftwork, education, calendars, astronomy, herbal medicine and much more besides...