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Basic Aztec facts: AZTEC PUNISHMENTS

11th May 2014

Aztec criminal being strangled, Florentine Codex

What were the consequences of being a naughty child, a haughty priest or a wayward adult in Aztec society? The Aztecs lived in the Valley of Mexico from 1325 to 1521. They were highly organised, and had firm rules and laws that people could not break! Let’s find out what they were and how they might be punished. (Written by Julia Flood/Mexicolore)

From an early age, Aztec children knew the value of family and hard work. They would learn to do daily chores at home with their mums and dads. From the age of four, boys would carry water, buy goods at market, and learn fishing and farming from their fathers. Girls were taught by their mothers to weave, grind corn, make tortillas, and look after the house. All this was quite tiring, but kids couldn’t rest too long! Parents annoyed by their child’s laziness or lack of skills might punish them...

Punishing the young
Young children under the age of 10 were usually forgiven for mistakes like oversleeping, gossiping, mumbling, and dressing shabbily. Still, their parents might threaten them with the sharp spines of a maguey cactus. See the spines here (pic 2), lying between father and son...

At the age of nine, a child might be pierced by the spines – you can see a girl’s wrist being pricked here (pic 3)... The Aztecs thought children under the age of ten couldn’t commit really bad crimes but if they did, their parents could take them to court! By twelve, children could be punished for their bad behaviour in a variety of ways. This son (pic 4) is lying naked and bound while his father tells him off. The boy’s tears show that he has learned his lesson.

If you look at the picture below (pic 5) you will see a boy being held directly over smoking chillies. The girl to his right is threatened with the chillies by her mother. Both are crying – perhaps from feeling bad after what they’d done or maybe from the smoke burning their eyes!

Aztec society believed in obedience, honesty, politeness, respect, moderation, modesty and energy which were seen as moral ideals. Adults and children alike were subject to them. Although it may look like rebellious children received tough treatment from their parents, we must remember that punishments were not used often and only in order to make them good citizens and workers.

Guess...

...what was the punishment for cutting down a tree without permission?

Find out

Q. How do we know Aztec teenage boys obeyed their dads?
A. They were bound to...!

Learn more about adult crimes and punishments...

Comments (8)

Philip

3rd Sep 2024

What is the source for the images used here? The drawings look pretty similar to Aztec art I’ve seen, but the letters are clearly european (Spanish?) I’d love to know more about this source.

Mexicolore

They’re all from the Codex Mendoza, except for the very first one which is from the Florentine Codex - both put together by Spanish chroniclers in the early years after the invasion but with massive input from local Nahua elders and scribes. The Spanish writing is what’s called ‘gloss’ - commentaries added after the pictures have been drawn.

eric

6th May 2024

WHat if the person commited really serious crimes like arson, rape and etc what did they do to them
Q2. same as above but what did the children get as punishment?

Mexicolore

Q1. Adults would be stoned to death - like in many societies around the world.
Q2. We haven’t come across any sources that mention punishments for children who committed horrific adult crimes... But obviously they would have incurred VERY severe punishments.

John

11th Oct 2023

I find this really interesting. Would the harsher punishments be for harsher crimes (in terms of children)? And would any children be killed and why?

Mexicolore

Generally yes, and they would be harsher if the child had previously been warned. Children were NEVER killed as a punishment - they were only sacrificed in times of severe drought or if they had the bad luck to be born on one of the five ‘useless’ days at the end of the calendar year...

Read the link learn the real history

23rd Jan 2022

https://historycollection.com/details-showing-the-brutality-of-the-aztec-empire-in-mesoamerica/8/
Please educate yourself

Mexicolore

Your advice strikes us as just a weeny bit hypocritical. The online article you give a link to is biased, one-sided, hasn’t got a single good word to say about the Aztecs, is clearly driven by an agenda, and is riddled with errors: the very first image (of a Chacmool figure) is described as ‘a statue to the Aztec god Tlaloc’...’ (it’s no such thing), ‘each year was divided into 28 “months” (wrong), ‘None of the members of Aztec society possessed social mobility other than the warriors’ (not true)... etc. etc., and where is the author’s evidence for a deliberately gory suggestion that the Aztecs constantly carried out ‘the slaughter of children – which included severe torture’?
Can we politely suggest you undertake some serious research before recommending a shoddy article like this. Is this the best you can offer??!!

Notadumbleftistgaslightinghistory

23rd Jan 2022

To the author, it’s quite disturbing how you make it seem like Aztecs were actually good. Forgot to mention the sacrifices of their own children of the babies of the torture that they did I think you need to read up more on the history and publish it instead of trying to make them seem like they were good people.

Mexicolore

You seem to see the world in blinkered, black-or-white terms. The Aztecs were good and bad just like every society around the world.

holly edwards

30th Apr 2017

I think there could be more information and the pictures could be bigger but apart from that brilliant!

natalie.oxenreider

21st May 2015

OMG! How could they do such a thing! Don’t they feel bad at all! they are only CHILDREN. they should know better but they don’t have to be hung over a pile of burning CHILLIES! I feel super bad and I am REALLY glad I live in PA.

Lina L.

21st May 2015

I am so interested by the punishments of the Aztecs, but what would they do to adults?
P.S. I love this site

Mexicolore

The Aztecs had the general idea that if you wronged someone, you had to pay back the ‘value’ of what you’d done: for instance, if you stole something from someone in the market, you would be made to work for that person until you’d paid back the price of what you’d stolen. Then you were free.
If you committed a serious crime, like killing someone, you’d be stoned to death - grim!
They were super strict, but at least seemed to have a notion of ‘fair play’ or ‘fair’s fair’...

Aztec criminal being strangled, Florentine Codex