Examine the fascinating and often controversial details of the daily lives of the ancient Aztecs through this innovative study written from the perspective of the history of religions. The Aztec people come to life for students, teachers, and interested readers through the exploration of the ceremonial character of their social and symbolic imagination. Insights into the communities they created, the games they played, the education they received, the foods they harvested, and the songs they sang, as well as the sacrificial rituals they performed, enable the reader to gain a better understanding of this complicated culture. The Aztecs organized their society as a microcosm of the cosmos that intricately linked all aspects of their daily lives to the natural and supernatural world. Carrasco explores the details of the Aztecs' lives and provides an in-depth look at all of these connections to help the reader comprehend the complexity of this ancient culture: The Aztec calendar, Aztec religion and myths, Aztec marketplace, Aztec art and architecture, Aztec war, and autosacrifice and sacrifice are just some topics among the vast number that are colorfully presented. Actual Aztec poems and riddles scattered throughout the text, provide an even deeper understanding of their world view. Carrasco also examines the Aztecs' violent encounter with Europeans and illustrates the long-term significance of colonialism and Aztec culture reflected in modern-day Mexican and Mexican American imaginations.

"Cave, City, And Eagle's Nest" is the culmination of an international research project and series of conferences, organized by the Moses Mesoamerican Archive, focused on the sixteenth-century pictorial manuscript known as the "Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2." Painted on bark paper and measuring 109 x 204 centimeters, this extraordinary document contains over seven hundred images and symbols relating the story of the emergence of ancestors at Chicomoztoc (Place of Seven Caves), their migration to the sacred city of Cholula, their foundation and settlement of Cuauhtinchan (Place of the Eagle's Nest), their community's history and claim over the surrounding landscape, and many other occurrences along the way.

Dating from around the 1540s, barely two decades after the fall of the Aztecs, the "mapa" recently underwent extensive physical analysis, conservation, and a systematic photographic survey. These rare images--including sixteen full-size sections and a nearly quarter-size facsimile--accompany fifteen richly illustrated essays that explore the meanings and uses of the document, its complex narrative, and the social and ritual memory of an indigenous community struggling to hold its own in the turbulent atmosphere of early colonial Mexico.

Cueva, ciudad y nido de aguila es la culminacion de un proyecto internacional de investigaciones y una serie de reuniones organizadas por el Moses Mesoamerican Archive y centradas en el manuscrito pictorico del siglo XVI llamado el Mapa de Cuauhtinchan num. 2. Pintado sobre un soporte de papel de amate que mide 109 x 204 centimetros, este documento extraordinario contiene mas de setecientas imagenes y simbolos que relatan la historia del surgimiento de los ancestros en Chicomoztoc, su migracion a la ciudad sagrada de Cholula, su fundacion y asentamiento de Cuauhtinchan, la historia de su pueblo y sus reclamaciones sobre el paisaje circundante, y muchos otros sucesos a lo largo del camino. Datado aproximadamente de los anos de 1540, apenas dos decadas despues de la caida de los aztecas, el mapa recientemente ha sido sometido a un exhaustivo analisis fisico, tratamiento de conservacion y un registro fotografico sistematico. Muchas de las imagenes resultantes acompanan a los quince ensayos profusamente ilustrados que examinan los sentidos y usos del documento, su compleja narrativa y la memoria social y ritual de un pueblo indigena, luchando por sobrevivir en el entorno turbulento del Mexico colonial temprano.

Examine the fascinating details of the daily lives of the ancient Aztecs through this innovative study of their social history, culture, and continuing influence, written from the perspective of the history of religions. Utilizing insights from the discipline known as the history of religions, as well as new discoveries in archaeology, pictorial manuscripts, and ritual practices, Daily Life of the Aztecs, Second Edition weaves together a narrative describing life from the bottom of the Aztec social pyramid to its top. This new and surprising interpretation of the Aztecs puts a human face on an ancient people who created beautiful art and architecture, wrote beautiful poetry, and loved their children profoundly, while also making war and human sacrifice fundamental parts of their world. The book describes the interaction between the material and the imaginative worlds of the Aztecs, offering insights into their communities, games, education, foodways, and arts, as well as the sacrificial rituals they performed. The authors also detail the evolution of the Aztec state and explores the continuity and changes in Aztec symbols, myths, and ritual practices into the present day. Images and interpretation of the recently discovered Aztec Codex "Mapa de Cuauhtinchan Codex" from 1542 and from new excavations in Mexico Aztec poems and riddles An updated glossary